Pete McAleer’s Reviews > The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao > Status Update

Following up on a brief footnote in Oscar Wao referencing the real Mirabal sisters, I read In the Time of the Butterflies, a novel by Julia Alvarez, which I highly recommend!

I need to put that on my list. Thanks! I did think a lot of the footnotes were really interesting, that one in particular.

What was your overall take? I like the story, but I don't love the constant use of spanish without any translation. I get why he switches back and forth, it does add a certain flavor, but he does it so often that it really slows things down to have to figure out the translation. A guide at the end of the book would've been nice.

Funny, in that I mentioned the Spanish in *my* review as well; however, we lived in Puerto Rico from 1985-1989 with my husband's company... and moved to South Florida in 1992, so I know enough Spanish to get by... :-)

May 2021, my review (with a quote at the beginning, which I've left out here); I gave it 3 stars:
"There is some beautiful writing in this book which, in my opinion, was overshadowed by a crazy amount of footnotes (shades of David Foster Wallace!), inclusion of Spanish words and phrases without translation (although, because we lived in Puerto Rico 4 1/2 years, I got most of them), confusing narration, graphic language (which could be construed as misogynistic), an abundance of violence, and oh so much sadness. I didn't feel I could relate to, nor even really like, any of the characters. I appreciated it all more after our book club discussion this past Tuesday night, which shed light on most of the historical backstory (Trujillo), and In the Time of the Butterflies was recommended as a follow-up, which I will probably read... so there's that."