Molly Bellefeuille
Ø A Book Review of "In the Time of the Butterflies"-
<http://www.conectados.net/mirabal/butterflies.html>
This source answers the main question, who were the Mirabal sisters or
butterflies? The source talks about how the sisters fought for the
political
freedom of their country. It talks about how their courageous acts against
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, the leader of the Dominican Republic, resulted in
their death on November 25, 1960. This source says that is why November
25th
is the International Non-Violence against Women Day, in honor of the
Mirabal
sisters. Cristian Vasquez did this book review and it was last updated
March
19, 1999.
Questions-
1. While reading this book review I wondered what Cristian Vasquez
personally
thought of the book and how she could relate to it?
2. I had never heard of November 25th being International Non-Violence
against Women Day and I wondered how many people actually celebrate or even
know about it?
Ø An Interview of Julia Alvarez-
<http://fronteramage.com/issue5/Alvarez/>
This is an interview of Julia Alvarez done by Marny Requa. The interview
gives the basic information, like how she was born in the Dominican
Republic
and how she came over here. Marny Requa asks a lot of questions like,
"Do you
write for certain audiences? Do you consider yourself part of a
movement or
more of an independent writer?" and she asks if all the writing she
does
about the lives of girls stems from her childhood. This whole source is a
question and answer interview. Marny Requa asks a total of seventeen
questions in the interview.
Questions-
1. I wondered if Marny Requa knew Julia Alvarez personally and if they were
friends?
2. While reading the interview I wondered how long ago it took place and
how
old it was and whether or not Julia Alvarez would have changed some of the
answers to the questions?
Tarra Kidwell
Source Summaries
First source: Http://it.stlawu.edu/quack/~reviews/alvarez.htm
The first source that I have chosen to write my summary on is a book review written by a
man named Andrew Van Alstyne. It reviews the book which I am reading for this class,
called "In the Time of the Butterflies," written by Julia Alverez.
This
review begins by summarizing what the book is about in the point-of-view of the man
writing it whose name is Andrew Van Alstyne. He thinks that this story
"fictionalizes the rebellion against the director Trujillo in Julia Alvarez's birth
country of the Dominican Republic" (Alstyne, par.1). He then goes on to
say that the reason that he uses the word "fictionalize" is because he believes
that "while the events portrayed in the book are accurate, Alvarez has developed her
own versions of the Mirabal sisters" (Alstyne, par.1).
He also
says that what makes the book so powerful is "Alvarez's decision not to defy the
sisters, but to show the human side of the national heroes" (Alstyne, par.1).
He then goes on to say that this decision to show the human side of the girls allows the
readers to better relate to them and helps to "remove the gap that tends to exist
between heroes and common people" (Alstyne, par.1).
After
this writer is finished describing his summary of the book, he adds to his review by
listing some interesting quotes from the book, which also help to summarize the events of
the story. These also offer a slight insight to the style of writing a reader can
expect from the author of the book, Julia Alvarez.
Second Source: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/Authors/JuliaAlvarez.html
The second source that I have chosen to summarize is another website which I discovered
when finding sources for our litweb. This source is one, which shows an obvious
interest in the author, Julia Alvarez, and tries to give the total picture of what's
available on the web. This website is found as a link on an organizations website
called "Voices from the Gaps, Women Writers of Color."
It
begins by giving the reader a small sense of what Alvarez in interested in writing by
Quoting a short line from "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents." It
then goes on to give a biography of Julia Alvarez, starting by describing her arrival into
the United States from the Dominican Republic, at the age of ten. It states that she
has always had a passion for writing and that being in the United States really helped her
to pursue a career in writing because she was inspired by the way that women were
encouraged to discover their talents here.
The
biography goes on to describe her wonderful career in writing and summarizes many of her
works and accomplishments over the years. Of these accomplishments, we learn that
Alvarez has not only written many popular pieces of poetry, but also has written many
great books. Among these are the titles, "Homecoming", "How the
Garcia Girls Lost their Accents","In the Time of the Butterflies," and her
most recent work called "Yo."
Following
this biography, there is also a list of all of the works by this great author, not just
the ones I have mentioned. Then the site also gives a list of related links that
give even more information related to Julia Alvarez.
Chris Arsenault
Site #1.
www.Frontermag.com/Issue5/Alvarez.htm
This site is gives a very descriptive interview by Marny Requa on Julia Alvarez. Marny
Requa asks Alvarez many different questions about her writing and what influences her.
Here are some of the questions Marny Requa asks of Alvarez; What was it like when you came
to the United States? Did you have culture shock returning to the Dominican Republic as
you were growing up? Was it a source of inspiration to have a foot in both cultures?
Regarding In the Time of the Butterflies, you have said that you wanted to bring
the tragic, historic events of the dictatorship in the D.R. to the consciousness of people
in the United States. In general, do you look at yourself as being a teacher through your
work, or is it a way to express yourself? What language was spoken in your home as a
child?
You write about the lives of girls very intensely. Does that stem from your childhood? Do
you write for a certain audience?
There are all these and many more questions being answered by Julia Alvarez at this Web
site.
Site #2.
www.MostlyFiction.com/Latin/Alvarez.htm
This site gives a detailed biography on Julia Alvarez and also a very good book review
of In the Time of the Butterflies. This site also gives many different links to
Alvarez's site and sites that she is in. It gives reviews of her other books also. There
is a Link on the site to Amazon.com where you can buy any of her books. You are able to
visit other Latin authors. There is also a link to Latin poetry. This is a good site for
all your needs.
Amanda Dimuzio
http://it.stlauw.edu/~quack/reviews/alvarez.htm
This web site offers a summary of Julia Alvarez: In The Time Of
Butterflies. A man named Andrew Van Alstyne
does the review. The website contains
information about the four Mira BAL sisters and the fictional rebellion against the
dictator Trujillo. It also contains
interesting quotes such as “Minerva is up to old tricks again. She wraps a towel around the radio and lies under
the bed listening to illegal stations (123).
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/ba2000-07-19.htm
This website gave information on the history of the authors writing career and the book
she has written. It then goes into an
interview of the author and her life. She
talks about the books and poetry Julia has written, and why she wrote it. The interview also touches on her teaching career
and how she teaches literature classes.
Mary Bolks
Summary # 1
The first website that I have decided to use for a summary is "Voices from the
Gaps, Women Writers of Color, Julia Alvarez." The link to the web site is
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/JuliaAlvarez.html. This is one of the best sites I have
found as far as information about the author, her books, as well as other links. First
off, the site begins with an excerpt of one of Alvarez's novels, which draws the viewer in
to read on. The site also contains a photo of Julia Alvarez. From there, the site moves on
to discuss Alvarez's childhood and her life thus far. Her education is discussed, as well
as her many accomplishments and her other pieces. There are also small, short summaries of
her best selling books and novels included. As the site nears the end, viewers find
related links, and lists of works by the author and works about the author.
Summary # 2
The second site is simply titled "Julia Alvarez." The address for this site is
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Alvarez.html. This site is informative because the
information is mostly about Alvarez personally. The site includes a biography, major
themes, and lists of works by and about Julia Alvarez, related sites and links. The
biography of this site seems more personal and in tune with Alvarez than some of the other
biographies on other sites. Yet the one thing that this site contains that the other Julia
Alvarez sites didn't is the section on major themes. It is sort of a continuation of the
biography; only it contains quotes and support. This site also contains a photograph of
Alvarez.
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