Bookish Thoughts: In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (Banned Book Week)

She is plucking her bird of paradise of its dead branches, leaning around the plant every time she hears a car. ~ Opening of In the Time of the Butterflies

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Algonquin Books, 1994
Fiction (Historical); 354 pgs
Source: I own a copy of this book, purchased in 2007.

I have had a copy of In the Time of the Butterflies sitting on my To Read shelf for quite a while now—drawn to it by the pretty cover and the subject matter. It is the story of four sisters, the Mirabels, three of whom would go on to become known as Las Mariposas, or the Butterflies, helping to lead a revolt against Trujillo, a dictator in The Dominican Republic during the mid-1900’s. Based on real people and events, In the Time of the Butterflies is a story of grief, fear and courage, and of oppression and hope.

The novel is narrated by the four sisters, some through journal entries. Julia Alvarez has given each of the sisters very distinct voices, and their stories are very compelling. They were all drawn into the rebellion for their own reasons and in different ways.

I read this novel with an online reading group, and it was interesting to see how some of our opinions of the sisters varied. Whereas I saw Minerva as courageous and admired her for her focus and dedication to her cause, a couple others saw her as reckless and without regard to the danger she put herself and her family in by her actions. Maria Teresa seemed to be more of the romantic of her sisters, hopeful and loyal to her sister Minerva. Then there is Patria who dedicated much of her life to God and family. Many of us in the reading group identified most with her, given her devotion to her children and need and desire to protect them at all costs. The fourth sister, Dede, may not have been actively involved with the rebel group, but she is the survivor who has carried her sisters’ story and memories into the present long after their untimely deaths in 1960.

Alvarez takes readers into the childhood and teen years of the Mirabel sisters as well as their adult lives—their family life and eventual involvement in the resistance. Their own father,a farmer, had been quite successful in their small town. He was well-respected and liked. As the sisters got older, the truth about their country’s leader could no longer be hidden. Trujillo was a cruel leader who controlled the media and did not hesitate to order his dissenters jailed and killed. I appreciated Alvarez’s narrative in how each of the sisters felt about their government and eventually came to rebel against the suppression and oppression. They each had to make sacrifices in one way or another. The reader gets to see how the women’s actions impact their family life, the support—or lack there of—they received.

I thought In the Time of the Butterflies was a well told account of what life may have been like for the Mirabel sisters. It took a little bit to get into the novel as I got a fuller picture of each of the sisters, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is an emotional read, especially in the later chapters. I couldn’t help but to see some parallels in contemporary times to the Dominican Republic at that time. I am ashamed to say I hadn’t known much about Las Mariposas before reading this novel. These woman are known worldwide for their efforts, and I found the author’s notes at the end of the novel very enlightening. The United Nations declared November 25th, the anniversary of the three sisters' murder, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to raise awareness of violence against women, including rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence, the scale of which is often under-reported.


Reason for being banned: Inclusion of a diagram of a homemade bomb. (although not a detailed or accurate one)

[I love the response after the book was banned from Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York in 2000. Two students from the school wrote an opinion piece that was published in the New York Times: "We believe that the purpose of education is to expose students to all areas of reality so that we can make our own judgments. Isn't that why we are able to read Romeo and Juliet without committing suicide, or The Lord of the Flies without being violent? We should not ban a powerful piece of literature just because of a diagram."]

You can learn more about Julia Alverez and her books on the author's website. 

A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart." ~ Julia Alvarez


Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? 

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