Week 32 Book 30--In the Time of Butterflies

It's pretty obvious from this blog that I don't read much adult fiction. One, it's part of my job to read young adult fiction, and two, I just enjoy YA reads more. YA gets to the point faster in my opinion whereas adult fiction can be so over-detailed (again, just my opinion). But since I am the English coach for our Academic Superbowl Team, I had to read In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. It's set in the Dominican Republic in the 1950s-1960s and centers around the four Maribel sisters (who were real people although this book is fictionalized). These sisters lived in a dictatorship and desperately longed for freedom from their "leader" Trujillo. But the decisions they make for their country could cost them their lives or the lives of their families. I really enjoyed this book. The story is told in the alternating voices of the four sisters, which really helped move the plot along; it also gave me great variety in perspectives/opinions. I didn't think the book was over-detailed at all and really found myself connecting with the characters. The book is a tragedy (the back of the book will tell you that) so it really kept me interested in knowing how the sisters would get to that tragedy...kind of like knowing ahead of time that Romeo and Juliet will die but wanting to find out how/why. I read this pretty quickly--four days--which is a big accomplishment for me with adult fiction! Give it a try if you'd like a challenge and a little piece of history.