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this book is a book about storytelling - the stories that get told during our lifetimes and those that remain untold. The protagonist is an author who, at the end of her career moves back to her homeland of DR where she buys a plot of land and builds a cemetery for her unfinished/untold novels. But some stories don‘t want to stay untold. With a touch of magical realism and a mix of historical & cultural elements from DR, this was my sort of book.

Finished tagged #RealLifeBookGroup⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lovely & lyrical & I liked the intertwining stories. But while I understood why some things weren‘t wrapped up, I still missed a cpl ribbons. 🎀

Listening to Villain, 9th of my #tenbeforetheend #10beforetheend

And Pic of sisters & @Malachi & I last wknd 🥰

Also, mailed #coffeebeanbookclub #cbbc for Dec - @Mommamanzi it d/n have the next book bc I don‘t have it yet, but 👇🏼 (see comments for rest)

I wanted to like this book but I just couldn‘t get into it. I love the concept but the stories of the ‘buried‘ just didn‘t appeal much to me, and I wasn‘t into the writing style.

This book doesn‘t have good reviews, but I think the plot is interesting. Discovered in an issue of Book Page from my local library; the title and especially the cover art captivate me. AI came up with this image.
Hoping I‘ll like this one…I‘m reminded of the cemetery scene from the 1994 Interview With the Vampire.

Book club pick. Some of the story was interesting but I find the end really dragged on and I skimmed some of the last chapters.

While the blurb may lead the reader to expect this book will be about ghosts, more, it is about the loneliness and stories which make up each life. The beginning and end are hidden in the ebb and flow. I still love In the Time of Butterflies best. #Caribathon

My first Alvarez. It had a dreamy quality of reality I really liked and was not afraid to get dark.

I'm just leaning into my relatively harmless ADHDisms at this point. I finally got a photo of my full Independent Bookstore Day haul...from April 27 😂
I suppose it's a good reminder to support our local indie bookstores even when it's not their national day! 📚❤️

Interesting book. I listened to the #audiobook version and thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. The story was worth reading even though it wasn't my favorite.

⭐⭐⭐

3.5 ⭐️ Alma returns to her native Dominican Republic when she decides all her unfinished stories will never be finished. After her father passes she inherits a piece of land near a barrio, and she decides to burn and bury all the boxes of papers with her unfinished stories. Brava, a talented sculptress creates statues and fills the cemetery. Philomena who lives across the street whispers her story at the entrance and is therefore allowed to ⬇️

“Tell me a story” Julia Alvarez certainly gave us a few stories in this wonderful book. It is filled with history, aging, family, and culture, some told with heartache, and of course heartwarming magical realism.

This book has a great premise—a successful, aging writer uses an inherited land plot to bury the stories that didn‘t work out, whose ghosts then whisper in the cemetery. But this end up being a bit of a gimmicky way to approach a group of stories which are quite compelling on their own but didn‘t work for me as a whole. I feel like a different approach would have made a much better book.

I love magical realism, but this book had several missteps that were hard for me to get past. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Full review at: https://erinkonrad.com/2024/04/19/the-cemetery-of-untold-stories-book-review/

Since I‘d already read the book for April‘s book club, I decided to read this runner-up instead. Magical realism isn‘t usually a fictional aspect that I enjoy, but I loved the premise of an author burying her creations to put them to rest… and yet to have their whispers still filter back in. The threads of the stories connected more than expected but some of the transitions in the audio format were harder to follow. Physical reading may be better!

This book is an example of why we should, most definitely, read outside our comfort zones and moods. Read my full review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#the-cemetery-of-untold-stories

Publication day was April 2.

#NetGalley #RBMedia #TheCemeteryofUntoldStories

I‘d forgotten how much Julia Alvarez‘s writing feeds my soul!

I loved the story, this cemetery that could possibly exist, the stories that could‘ve easily been the family stories I‘ve heard from my own Mami and Tíos.

The descriptions of DR in the present day are so accurate that it sometimes felt like I was reading a passage about my day. And her writing? Beautiful!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #NetGalley Pub Date: 4/2/24

#BBGiveaway @BarbaraBB
Massive congratulations Barbara on your 6 year Litsy anniversary. You have introduced me to many marvellous books and your posts never fail to inspire and delight me!
Look @Reggie Julia Alvarez has a new book coming out next year! This giveaway made me look at books slated for 2024 publication and that was an exciting rabbit hole to fall down! I tag @Reggie who introduced me to Alvarez and @Rissreads