gerbie

Alvarez is one of my favourite writers. Obviously I'm biased. She's from Dominican descent, a country where I spent a year of my life, a defining one for me. Her first novel (In the time of the butterflies) was outstanding, it is one of my all time best books ever. She manages to combine a good story with a lot of history. The butterflies in her first book were three sisters who were in the resistance against the dictator (Trujillo) in her native Santo Domingo. It is a true story, that every Dominican knows. Only she has managed to write a whole book about it, turning facts into fiction. I can only think of one other person in the world who can do the same: Isabel Allende. Not a wonder she is being labelled the new Allende so often. Both Latin American women, both similar styles.

But Alvarez deserves her own place in history. This is her 4th book of fiction, the 5th I have read by her. And again she uses the same success formula. Politics, history and the life stories of two fascinating women are intertwined throughout the book. Salom, the poet of the people during the first chaotic days of the new republic and her daughter, decades later, floating between her native country, post revolution Cuba and the US. Chapter after chapter you get to know more about them, how one decision in one life influences the other one decades later. Great story, keeps the attention. Definitely someone who deserves more attention and fame.