In Julia Alvarez’s Cemetery of Untold Stories, Alma, an author and professor, decides to retire from writing. She returns to the Dominican Republic, where her father has left her some property, and literally buries her unfinished works.

To gain entry to the cemetery, you first must tell a story. And this is how Filomena becomes part the cemetery’s caretaker. As she cleans and sits with the graves, the stories come alive and intertwine with each other as well as Filomena and Alma’s pasts.

Alvarez weaves together magic, history, memory, and family trauma and secrets. It’s a beautiful story that can be funny but also heart breaking and I loved all the connections between “real” and “fictional,” past and present.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Algonquin Books in exchange for my honest review.

Julia Alvarez has written a new writer (Alma Cruz) into the world grown wearied of writing, and ready to be done with its detritus. Alma herds her cats (metaphorical), bags them and heads to the Dominican Republic to bury them in inherited land she will "cemetery" and ensure they can Rest In Peace. Those cats, of course, are not cats, they are Untold - Unfinished Stories that she wants to finally put to rest. They are having none of it. You can't keep a good story buried.

As for me, I wish she'd repent of her " Este cuento se ha acabado. ", and give us the stories after all. I long for more of Bienvenida, Doc Cruz and even Filomena, and find myself thinking of them, and other "cemeteries" we keep of our own stories, untold and unfinished. All are conversations worth revisiting and are begging for revisions that bring them up for air and sunshine.

A read that rearranges thinking about stories, if you let it.

*A sincere thank you to Julia Alvarez, Algonquin Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #TheCemeteryofUntoldStories #NetGalley

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez is a magical realism historical fiction novel.

I initially picked this up because I read In the Time of the Butterflies in college and that book made me feel things. Like that book, this one is also set mostly in the Dominican Republic and leans heavily into historical fiction around the dictatorship of El Jefe.

I borrowed the audiobook from my local library. It's narrated by Alma Cuervo and she does a great job. There are a lot of different point-of-view characters.

Listening to the audio was a wonderful storytelling experience for me, but if I wasn't also following along with my eARC I would have probably gotten confused about some of the time period jumps. There are also a ton of heavy topics in this one, so be mindful of CWs.

I'm always a fan of good magical realism. Here, author Alma Cruz literally buries her unfinished manuscripts in hopes that will help them "rest in peace." There's a lot of cool allegories about story and memory, and how we share our family histories.

The whole thing felt very lyrical and magical.

CW: violence, assault, sexual assault (briefly mentioned, not on page), animal death, suicidal ideation and attempt, infidelity, Alzheimer's, dementia

This was atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful. I loved how unique this was and the characters I didn’t expect to like but ended up loving.

Alma is a writer who buries her stories, quite literally, when they don’t make it out into the world, and thus we have the cemetery of untold stories, an actual graveyard for her untold stories. When Filomena is hired to be the groundskeeper, things take a turn for the mysterious as she begins to listen to the tales of the characters whose stories are buried in the cemetery of untold stories.

This was one of the most beautifully written books I have read in a long time. It is steeped in history, culture and family in the most unexpected way. This is one of those books that I will find myself forever recommending.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily.

The synopsis said the book’s about Alma Cruz, an acclaimed writer, who inherits a small plot of land in her homeland, the Dominican Republic, and decides to use it to bury her untold stories and characters. However, things get complicated when these characters refuse to stay buried and start talking.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories has several layers that come together and make sense towards the end. With a bunch of interesting characters and captivating storytelling, the book has plenty to keep you engrossed. There’s family drama, intergenerational trauma, twists and more. I loved the sibling bond threads that run throughout the book.

Its stories-within-stories format is another aspect I loved, along with the fact that these narratives differ in tone. While some, like Alma’s story, sound contemporary, Bienvenida’s story feels like a tragic tale of yore. The stories twist and weave together, all of them coming to a climax by the end.

It took some time for me to get into the book, but I was invested in it by the halfway mark. While it felt a bit difficult to keep track of the shifting timelines and numerous character names, I got a hang of it towards the second half. Even the use of Spanish words in the story felt a bit jarring initially. Also, I felt a sense of incompleteness towards the end, like there were questions left unanswered.


3.5/5⭐️

Thank you @algonquinbooks and @netgalley for this eARC.

Years ago I read and loved How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Stylistically The Cemetery of Untold Stories reminded me of that book right away. Julia Alvarez is not afraid to push the boundaries of storytelling.

This literary fiction tinged with a bit of magic realism tells a number of stories within a story while simultaneously exploring the art and process of storytelling itself. The beginning was on a slower side but once the various characters started sharing their stories I couldn’t get enough!

Upon retiring from her career as a writer, Alma decides to return to her roots in the Dominican Republic. With the help of an artist friend she creates a cemetery of untold stories. But some stories always find a way to be told. Stories of Bienvenida, the first wife of country’s infamous dictator El Jefe, then the ones of Alma’s father and cemetery’s groundskeeper Filomena, intermix in an unexpected way.

I’ve visited Dominican Republic before but this book felt like a different kind of visit. I felt immersed in sounds and culture of DR especially as the stories include a decent amount of Spanish phrases and vocabulary. My Spanish was good enough to follow along but prepare to use Google translate on occasion!

If you’re a fan of contemporary fiction or like traveling through stories, I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to Algonquin Books & NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A journey through time and imagination, where the past intertwines with the present in a dazzling display of literary prowess......…..

Book Information

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez is a 256-page work of fiction with a publication date of April 2, 2024. Thank you to Algonquin Books for providing me with an Advance Readers Copy for review.

Summary

Alma Cruz, a renowned writer, creates a cemetery in the Dominican Republic for her unfinished manuscripts and characters. However, her characters defy her, rewriting their narratives and prompting reflection on whose stories are told.

My Thoughts

In "The Cemetery of Untold Stories" by Julia Alvarez, readers are transported to a world where history intertwines with imagination in a mesmerizing blend of genres. Alvarez's prose is nothing short of enchanting, painting vivid landscapes that evoke a strong sense of place and atmosphere.

At its heart, the novel presents a unique concept reminiscent of a pet cemetery, but instead of pets, it's stories that find their final resting place. Each tale buried within the pages holds a piece of history, a fragment of culture, and a wealth of emotion waiting to be unearthed and ultimately, live a new life. With the precision of a master storyteller, Alvarez breathes life into each character, infusing the cemetery's soil with the echoes of their untold stories.

While some readers may find themselves enthralled by the rich tapestry of historical fiction, literary fiction, and magical realism woven throughout the narrative, I struggled with the intermittent use of Spanish without translation. While the Spanish adds authenticity and depth to the story, it can create a barrier for those who don't speak the language fluently.

The pacing of the book is deliberate, allowing readers to savor each moment as they journey through the interconnected stories. However, the abundance of characters and plotlines, along with frequent time and storyline jumps, left me feeling disoriented and struggling to keep track.

Despite Alvarez's masterful character development, connecting with the diverse cast proved challenging for me. While each character is impeccably crafted and imbued with depth, there's a sense of detachment that prevents a deeper emotional resonance.

Recommendation

Despite my challenges with immersion into the story, “The Cemetery of Untold Stories" is a good read that rewards patient readers with its exquisite prose, intricate storytelling, and thought-provoking themes. It's a book that lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned, leaving behind a haunting echo of the untold tales that shape our lives.

Rating

3 Beautiful Prose Stars

First of all, I adore this author. I own her other books. I was so excited to read this one...but I didn't love it. I am not a fan of magical realism, and that shows up on this book. Also, it's very characters driven, with a lot of characters, so it fell very slow. It took a long time to move forward with the story. I liked the "stories" part-hearing all the background of the characters, and thought that was well done, but ultimately, this one wasn't for me and it makes me sad!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of "The Cemetary of Untold Stories" by Julia Alvarez.

"The Cemetery of Untold Stories" by Julia Alvarez is a touching collection of short tales that dive into the struggles of identity, family, and the importance of storytelling. Alvarez paints vivid pictures of different places and cultures, making each story feel like a journey.

The characters in Alvarez's stories are real and relatable, facing love, loss, and the search for meaning. However, the jumping around in time and place might confuse some readers, and not all the stories hit the mark equally.

Overall, "The Cemetery of Untold Stories" is a moving read that highlights Alvarez's skill as a storyteller. While some stories may resonate more than others, the collection as a whole offers a glimpse into the complexities of life and the stories we carry with us.

I adored this book. It was lyrically written, and I enjoyed the stories and how they wove through each other, particularly the story of Alma's Father and Buenavita. It did such a good job of showing that everyone, no matter who they are, has a life of stories, and there is hope in them.

“She needed a place to bury her unfinished work, a space honoring all those characters who had never had the chance to tell their stories. She wanted to bring them home to their mother tongue and land.”

I love Julia Alwarez’s writing style, she has such a unique and beautiful way of crafting a story. Her sentences feel like poetry. In this book Alvarez focuses on the storyteller, and more importantly, the stories that are begging to be told.

We follow Alma, an acclaimed author nearing the end of her life. When her father passes away she inherits an unwanted plot of land in the Dominican Republic. Leaving her life in the US behind she moves back, builds a small casita and dedicates the land to being a cemetary. But this is no ordinary cemetery, this is a place to bury untold stories and to gain entrance through the gates you must offer your own story.

I really liked this book, all the different characters and all the different stories delighted me.

Thanks, Algonquin Books and LibroFM for sending me an advanced copy of the book and the Audiobook.

Towards the end of her career, Dominican-born writer, Alma, moves back to her homeland and inherits a plot of land. Alma uses this land to lay her unfinished stories and characters to rest and hires a local woman, Filomina, to be the cemetery’s caretaker. With gorgeous prose, Alvarez weaves together the lives of these characters to craft a captivating blend of magical realism and historical fiction about the impact of storytelling on our lives.

This is a book that you could read again and have a different deeper experience discovering literary references, Spanish phrases and nuances that you missed the first time through. Alma, the esteemed writer and her cemetery's stories evoke a charmed premise. Tthrough Trujillo's regime and Domenican history, harshness and brutality is experienced by the various story narrators. List love and lost family and grief are common themes. Each untold story grabs attention although the transition between characters can be a bit awkward. Overall, Alvarez combines many elements and comes out on top.

Copy provided by the publisher and Netgalley

Pro
* Writer writing about writing
* Love song to both writing and the Dominican Republic
* Smooth, lyric prose well-performed by the audiobook narrator
* Variety of world lit references
* Magic realism elements

Con
* Multiple point of views is terribly overdone lately, even if Alvarez handles it deftly.

Thank you to Julia Alvarez, Alma Cuervo, Algonquin Books, RB Media, and NetGalley for an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Do our stories ever really die, or do they linger for those who are willing to listen? Alvarez takes us on a journey that makes us ponder why some stories get told and some don't and invites us to think about the missing pages in the stories of our loved ones. A beautifully developed story that made me eager to turn each page.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Firstly, thank you to Algonquin Books, Libro.fm, and NetGalley for giving me both an e-advanced reader copy and an advanced listener copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This title published April 2, 2024.

As a huge fan of In the Time of Butterflies, I was really excited to see that Julia Alvarez was coming out with another book, and that the premise sounded intriguing. We're following Alma Cruz, a soon-to-retire professor and beloved writer who just inherited some land in the Dominican Republic. As she's packing up her office, she has to face all of the manuscripts she's started over the years and never finished. Instead of keeping them in boxes, knowing she'll never finish them, she decides to turn the land she's inherited into a cemetery for all of these unfinished manuscripts so she can lay these characters to rest.

I liked the idea of this, and I went into this novel thinking it would almost read like a series of short stories as we got to know all of these characters or story ideas that she started but never finished. I liked the setting, and how Alvarez always infuses her novels with Dominican history that informs readers who may not know about the brutal regime the island was under with Trujillo. I also really love how Alvarez is able to write great characters that are fully formed on the page.

However, I found I really struggled with this. In audio form, while I loved the narrator (who I think also narrated There There by Tommy Orange), it was really difficult for me to stay in the story and to keep track of all the stories happening. Because, unfortunately, this didn't read like short stories. We only got to know, really, about two of the stories Alma buried, and that was because they were stories that she started based on real people. The rest of the stories were about the people Alma meets or knows, which is fine, but the storylines often felt forced without a good flow or transition into the next one. Additionally, mostly all of the men in this story were terrible, so I hope that isn't representative of how all Dominican men are in reality. Lol.

Overall, I'm so grateful that I received the ARC for this book, but it wasn't my favorite one from Alvarez. A clever idea, but it didn't quite meet the expectation I had for it!

I absolutely loved THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES. It’s gorgeous, compelling, and has this lovely ethereal moodiness about it. Alvarez has written this novel as if she – like her main character, Alma – may be embarking on the end of her writing career, and for that, it feels like an especially significant work. Perhaps this will be her last, perhaps it won’t, but either way, it seems that THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES will be a shining star in her repertoire.

I found that when I was describing the book to my husband, it seemed like there is a LOT going on... and there is... but it really all worked together so well. I found each storyline compelling and wanted to know what happened next.

I’m so glad to see this book getting so much buzz and attention, because it is well-deserved, both for this novel itself, but also for shining a light on Alvarez’s whole body of work. I hope new devoted readers find her with this release.

If you love the art of storytelling you will love this novel. When Alma inherits a small plot of land in her homeland of Dominican Republic, she decides to turn it into a cemetery for all the characters whose stories she could not finish. Filo becomes a sort of grounds keeper for her, tasked to listen to the stories whispering up from her characters who refuse to lay silent in their graves.
I would love to have Filo's job of listening as the characters change their own stories, and whisper with each other.
It is a reminder that our stories are never truly finished and that they are ever evolving.
I did get a little muddled in the middle with all the different character POV's, but I sorted myself back out.
An excellent read overall!

This was a lovely palate cleanser for me between some historical romance and YA fantasy, but Julia Alvarez is so much more than a little lemon ice. The concept here may not be for everyone, but I loved the beginning of this set of stories that focuses on Alma and her struggle with her father’s death and her place in the world. A successful author, she finds her office full of unfinished stories which she feels the compulsion to bury. She regrets all the lost stories from her family, and wants to control her own unfinished and potentially lost stories by burying them where she began - in the Dominican Republic.

Alvarez explores the intricate family relationships that occur between Alma and her sisters, her parents, and even with the land in the Dominican Republic. The stories are complex and sometimes meandering, which requires attentive reading. This would make a thoughtful book club selection with discussion focusing on our own untold stories. What draws everything together is Alvarez’ beautiful prose.

Recommended.

Wow. This isn't the book I was expecting, but I liked it still. The premise is fantastic and while it was more about the characters than the stories, Alvarez's writing is top knotch and made this unputdownable. I loved it.