Julia Alvarez

Alma Cruz, a Dominican novelist and professor nearing retirement, has enjoyed considerable professional success since emigrating from her native land to her current home in Vermont. Like all writers, though, along with the successes, there have been failures in the form of books she cannot seem to finish. These untold stories haunt Alma to the point that when she and her three sisters inherit some rundown properties in the Dominican Republic, she returns home to commit the symbolic act of burying those failed literary efforts in the ground. But the characters in those stories refuse to give up on their tales being told, even if Alma has. Two characters in particular—Bienvenida Trujillo, the second wife of the brutal dictator who terrorized the island for decades, and Manuel Cruz, Alma’s own father who was exiled for his political views—find a way to communicate with each other as well as Filomena, the caretaker in the unique cemetery. While most unfinished books go away quietly—as one of Alma’s colleagues put it: “Some stories don’t want to be told”—these are two that insist on being heard. And what surprising and heartbreaking accounts they end up telling.

In The Cemetery of Untold Stories, celebrated author Julia Alvarez spins this inventive tale, which effectively combines elements of historical fiction and magical realism with a multi-generational family saga in roughly equal measure. That is an impressive feat, especially given how tricky magical realism can be to pull off on its own, much less in concert with other genres. Alvarez does a nice job of moving between the plethora of storylines, starting in the present day with Alma and her family before regressing through the decades where we learn the histories that the spirits of Bienvenida and Manuel have come alive to tell. The writing throughout the novel is sharp and affecting; these are characters that we come to care about, both those in the present (Alma and Filomena) and those from the past. If there was any shortcoming in the book it would be that some of the family dynamics and backstories—usually a strength in the author’s fiction—were a little underdeveloped, particularly those involving Alma’s sisters and mother. Still, this is a minor complaint about what was a highly enjoyable reading experience. It is an easy book to recommend without hesitation.… (more)

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez is a magical book about the life stories take on, with or without their creator. It is also a vibrant commentary about whose voices are heard and who gets to tell whose story.

I'll admit upfront I am a big fan of Alvarez, so I came to this expecting something spectacular. My expectations were met and I don't think I am saying that blindly, I have been (once) underwhelmed with something she wrote.

Anyone who has written a lot but published little to nothing understands how that can play with your mind. Even the healthiest will still harbor self-doubt, and the rest of us quit often (which also means we start again often, writing is something many of us simply have to do, even if we believe it will end up being just for ourselves). My personal "cemetery" is actually a couple of file cabinet drawers, but every now and then I hear murmurings, so maybe I need to open myself to possibility.

While I loved this novel, it made me want to go back and reread some of her essays and nonfiction. In particular I plan to go back to Something to Declare, it has been a very long time but for some reason I want to put these works in conversation with each other, and me. Then again, maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. But even if that is the case, I'll still enjoy rereading it.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy, even if just for the duration of a short novel, believing in the power of magic and of story.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)