Welcome to Litsy!

I just adore Julia Alvarez's writing. This is the story of a family with 4 daughters that immigrates to the United States from the Dominican Republic. The story starts in 1989 and moves backwards in time. The opposition of 2 different cultures, as well as 2 different generations, allowed Alvarez to explore many themes, including the meaning of language, cultural identity, and gender roles. What a great book.

I was a bit disappointed with this novel, I expected a heartwarming tale of nerdy Oscar trying to find his place in life but it was mainly about sex, with some long tangential sections (and footnotes) thrown in. It reminded me of House of Spirits but its central characters are all crass, horny misogynists. Insight into the history of the Dominican Republic seems an important story to tell but it felt disjointed from the narrative. 5/10

I picked this book up at a used bookstore on a trip to NM this past spring. I think we were supposed to read it in HS? I didn‘t remember it. Anyway. It recently was challenged at a Tillamook HS and has been removed from the curriculum so I bumped it to the top of my list. It was phenomenal.

Based on true events, this novel covers the Mirabal sisters‘ involvement in the fall of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. It‘s an amazing novel that depicts sisterhood, courage, and the fight for freedom.

Penguin vitae editions. So tempting...
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/PNT/penguin-vitae/

“And what about the cook, Marco Antonio, a one-legged, no-ear grotesque straight out of Gormenghast” (107). Nothing like reading a book that has lingered forever on your tbr only to have it shame you for ANOTHER book that has been on your tbr way too long! 🤦‍♀️ Okay, okay, I‘ll read Gormenghast next! 😂

“Everybody else going through the terror and joy of their first crushes, their first dates, their first kisses while Oscar sat in the back of the class, behind his DM‘s screen, and watched his adolescence stream by. Sucks to be left out of adolescence, sort of like getting locked in the closet on Venus when the sun appears for the first time in a hundred years” (23). A nod to Bradbury!! ❤️❤️

“High school was . . . for a fat sci-fi-reading nerd like Oscar, a source of endless anguish. For Oscar, high school was the equivalent of a medieval spectacle, like being put in the stocks and forced to endure the peltings and outrages of a mob of deranged half-wits” (19).

Sigh… This book is too familiar and I‘m just not enjoying it. I‘m tired of the too-similar narrative that Dominican American authors seem to lean towards.

I probably read this book way too late, I‘ve seen too much of the same now to be impressed.

The NYT list reminded me that I had not read this 😅

I‘d forgotten how “in your face” Junot‘s writing is. Having fun with it, so far.