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In the Time of the Butterflies - 4 stars
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Susan
(last edited Jul 25, 2019 08:16PM)
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Jul 25, 2019 08:11PM
In the Time of the Butterflies tells the story of the four Mirabal sisters, starting in the 1930 and 1940s during the terrible times of the dictator, Rafael Trujillo, in the Dominican Republic. We know from early on that only one of the sisters (speaking from 1994) survives beyond 1960. We follow the lives of the four girls through their teens and twenties, their involvement in the political resistance, their marriages and babies, all the time wondering how and when three of the sisters will die. They are privileged girls in a close-knit Catholic family and I was amused by some of the details of their lives in a “girly” culture. Each chapter is devoted to one sister’s POV. I appreciated this straightforward style (being tired of the effort required to read some authors who switch POV frequently and within single chapters). Even though the four girls have decidedly different personalities sometimes I still had to remind myself which one I was reading about, but for the most part this structure worked very well. I liked the way the surviving sister was never maudlin when she spoke from the post 1960s years. Nor did she hint at what was to come when she was in the pre 1960s scenes. There are some nice sentences evoking the beauty of the island.
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I loved this book when I read it years ago.
This is on my trim list so if it doesn't get picked I hope to read it next year.
I loved this book when I read it a few years ago - glad to see you enjoyed it too! I'm reading another one of her books now for Trim - How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents. For me, it's not as good as In the time... but it is getting more absorbing towards the end.
I also loved this book when I read it a few months back. You have reminded me I need to read more of this author-thanks!
Nileema wrote: "I loved this book when I read it a few years ago - glad to see you enjoyed it too! I'm reading another one of her books now for Trim - How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents. For me, it's not as g..."Interesting that you don't like Garcia Girls as well as Butterflies. I read the former about 20 years ago and (in memory) loved it. In fact, some of the malapropisms -- I guess that's what they are -- of the mother still stick in my mind and make me laugh.
Susan wrote: "Nileema wrote: "I loved this book when I read it a few years ago - glad to see you enjoyed it too! I'm reading another one of her books now for Trim - How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents. For m..."There were definitely parts of Garcia Girls that I loved - including the mother and her malapropisms as you say! I just feel like there was a bit too much going on in terms of narrative style for it to have the same impact as Butterflies, for me. I'm glad you enjoyed it more, though!!
Nileema wrote: "Susan wrote: "Nileema wrote: "I loved this book when I read it a few years ago - glad to see you enjoyed it too! I'm reading another one of her books now for Trim - How the Garcia Girls Lost their ..."I'm half tempted to read it again. One thing I like about books is that the same book affects me differently at different times in my life. And since I recently started writing myself I'm far more aware of things like narrative style than I used to be. Thanks for that insight. Will keep that i mind if I re read!
