Not my first Alvarez but I had a hard time following along with this one. It jumps time and characters frequently and I felt like it took away from the plot at times.

Whose stories should be told?

This is the story of Alma, a writer with roots in the Dominican Republic, who as she nears the end of her writing career is faced with a dilemma. What does a writer do with the stories, the characters, the bits and pieces of writing which have never been fully developed or finished? A writer friend had once cautioned her that if she left things insider herself unsaid that it would destroy her. Since that same friend became obsessive over a story she was trying to write and ended up going slightly mad….well, Alma took the warning to heart. When Alma and her sisters inherit several properties in the DR upon their parents’ deaths, Alma decides to turn her plot of land into a cemetery for her unfinished works. She commissions an artist friend, Brava, to create monuments for the different unfinished projects she has….one based on stories told to her by her father Manuel of an imaginary place called Alfa Calenda; another the life of Bienvenida Inocencia, former wife of the brutal Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, known as El Jefe; others just a scene, a phrase, or even a description, none of which ever morphed into a full story. And so this novel also becomes the story of Manuel, of Bienvenida, and of others who are or have been part of the writing or the lives of Alma and others. So many stories left untold…..the question becomes, do the stories need or deserve to be told? Who makes the decision, the writer or the character? Must a story be written and published in order to be fully told, or can oral storytellers do the job equally as well?
This is a story of people, of families, of stories and storytelling, of language, and of the country of the Dominican Republic. Author Julia Alvarez is an amazing writer, and here as in her previous works her use of words and evocation of place are an absolute joy to read. Her characters are beautifully developed and hauntingly real, and while I did need to draw upon what remains of my knowledge of the Spanish language at times (when words in that language were woven in with English) it was well worth the effort to fully understand as characters bantered back and forth. Even the names of the characters matter…..Alma (soul) has three sisters, Consuelo (consolation), Amparo (refuge) and Piedad (pity); the abandoned wife of the dictator’s name translates to Welcome Innocence. As new characters emerged and told their stories, threads of interconnectivity appeared;. If you have read Ms Alvarez before, then you know the gorgeous prose and beguiling stories that await you; if you have not, then please start now. Readers of authors like Elizabeth Acevedo, Lauren E. Rico and Sandra Cisneros should add The Cemetery of Untold Stories to their list of must-reads. It’s is a story about stories, about the writing of and the telling of stories, and the only thing about it that I did not like was that it had to end. Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for allowing me the pleasure of access to an advanced copy of this beautiful novel, and to Julia Alvarez for sharing her singular gift with us all.

Alma is a successful, published writer, but she has many stories that she never finished. After inheriting land in her homeland, the Dominican Republic, she decides that is the perfect place to bury these stories … literally. Alma hopes this will give her characters and stories a place to rest. Her stories have other plans, and the cemetery becomes a place for these untold tales to finally be heard. Some of her characters talk back to Alma (or each other) and a few even revise themselves.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories is a twisting story that is not an easy read and those who choose to explore these pages need to know that it is complicated yet satisfying. Alvarez has taken a few different storylines and crafted a narrative that blends them together. I thought this was going to be a collection of stories, but it ended up delivering so much more. A fulfilling read even if it wasn’t a fun one.

There are stories within stories in this book about a sister who returns to the Dominican Republic from New York after inheriting a plot of land from her father. She is an author and decides to build a cemetery on the land for the stories that she has written but never finished/published. Each story/plot line was interesting and beautifully written but the back and forth between the stories of the present day ("real life") people and the untold stories in such a short book made for a jarring reading experience for me.

I don't even know how to describe this wonderful mix of magical realism and historical fiction. Most of all it's a meditation on the power of storytelling: those that get told and those that do not. The latter ones can haunt us and begs the question, whose story is it. The prose is dazzling and is highly recommended

How do we escape from stories that haunt us all the time? Imagine being an author who has files full of ideas and partly written stories abandoned for one reason or another. Julia Alvarez has created an ingenious novel to try to quiet the characters creating chaos in the brain.

Alma Cruz, pen name, Scheherezade, a prolific author and one of four sisters, has decided to retire from Vermont to her native homeland, the Dominican Republic. After trying for years to write her father’s story and link it to the first wife of the brutal dictator, Trujillo, she has decided to give up the quest. Her father always told the girls stories of his youth but became aloof and would not answer any questions put to him. He suffered from dementia, eventually dying, and leaving his daughters property and money in the DR.

Alma asks only for a parcel of land next to a dump in the slums. It is there she decides to build a cemetery and bury her stories so she can get some piece. She hires Filomena as a groundskeeper with the additional duty to listen to the stories arising from the graves. Filomena,a great listener, has her own stories that become important to the overall theme. Filomena listens intently to Bienavenida, Trujillo’s ex and Dr. Manuel Cruz, Papi to Alma. From these stories, we learn certain truths that were buried but needed to be told.

Alvarez, through Alma, elegant prose and magical realism, shows the importance of family, stories, listening and possibly returning to our roots to open us the words and worlds of others. An exciting and interesting read.

Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Books for this advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this one, but for me the writing style just took away from the story. By that I mean the lack of chapter or section breaks while going through a large amount of time passing, the changing of characters quickly but also keeping one main character all in the 3rd person. Nothing against the book, the way it was written just wasn't for me.

I really loved Julia Alvarez’s latest novel “The Cemetery of Untold Stories.” The novel which takes place in the D.R., the U.S. and Canada has so many compelling stories and so much wisdom in a relatively short book, reflecting Alvarez’s skill as a writer. With elements of magic realism and historic fiction, this is a novel about writing that may be inspired by Alvarez looking at her career as a writer. I loved the interweaving stories and how they spanned from the living and the dead. I also love the concept of burying untold stories and how it gave an ongoing life to the stories. I would love to read more about some of these characters in the works that Alma and Pepito were drafted. Highly recommended.

First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for this arc! My opinions are my own.

“Do you have time for a story?”

Dominican American Alma Cruz has had a successful career as an author. Now in her 70’s, she’s ready to retire. However, she still has manuscripts and research from previously unfinished novels haunting her every move. When Alma and her sisters inherit four different properties in the Dominican Republic, she takes the undesired plot of land to lye her stories to rest in a cemetery of her own making. In need of help to care for the cemetery, she enlists Filomena, a local to the area, who finds that the cemetery carries the voices of those untold stories. Some of these voices include Alma’s own father and Bienvenida, the former wife of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. Two voices that are ready to finish their stories.

I loved this book! I have never read anything quite like this book before. Magical realism and I have a complex relationship. I was worried going into this one I would have a problem with it, but it ended up being what I loved most about it. Hearing the “ghosts” tell their stories and speak to each other was so hauntingly beautiful. I never felt bored going back and forth between perspectives. I was equally invested in each character’s story.

I loved learning more about the Dominican Republic, which I have to admit I’m rather ignorant of. I look forward to reading other works from Julia Alvarez.

Overall, this story is about family, grief, acceptance, forgiveness, and much more! I highly recommend it.

4.25 Stars

Julia Alvarez's "The Cemetery of Untold Stories" is an exploration of storytelling, memory, and the power of the human voice. This novel is a celebration of the story.

Alma is a writer struggling with unfinished stories who does not want to end up like her friend, who in the end was consumed by the story she needed to tell. Alma inherits land in he home land of the Dominican Republic. She is undecided what to do with it, and then has the idea to bury her unfinished manuscripts, creating a literal "cemetery of untold stories." But we learn that the characters refused to be silenced.

With the use of magical realism the buried stories come alive, their characters crying out to be heard, giving a voice to the voiceless. The book isn't just about the stories themselves; it's about the stories that shape us all. As Alma interacts with her buried characters, she explores her own family history and the stories of her ancestors. This allows her to confront past hurts and gain a deeper understanding of who she is.

Ultimately, the novel is a testament to the enduring power of storytelling. It champions the voices that have been marginalized or forgotten, urging us to listen to the whispers of the past and give voice to the unheard. Alvarez's lyrical prose and captivating characters make this novel a must-read for anyone who has ever dreamt of telling a story, or who simply appreciates the beauty and power of a well-told tale.

This was my first time reading a book by Julia Alvarez but it won't be my last.

The writing style is not one that I am used to. However, the plot and characters hooked me. I loved how Alvarez created such unique and complex characters. She touched on trauma, both from toxic relationships and generational, without it being too graphic or too soft about it. She/her characters were honest and open about their lives and it was such a pleasure to read. The author also beautifully weaved the characters' stories together.

I also loved that the novel was unapologetically tied to Dominic Republican culture and history. There were a lot of Spanish words and phrases in the novel. The e-ARC I received did not include a glossary, but I didn't mind it. In fact, I think it added a lot to the novel, as well as to the author's voice. While I don't speak Spanish fluently, I understood enough of it. Even then, I thought it was a beautiful nod to the characters' home country.

10/10 recommend if you enjoy historical fiction, magical realism and multiple POV/timeline.

I've loved Julia Alvarez's work since reading In the Time of Butterflies as a college freshman. She is such a skilled storyteller and I was very excited to see how she would write about writing and stories themselves. The Cemetery of Untold Stories uses her strengths of weaving in history, especially Dominican, and depicting a family's dynamics clearly - you can instantly picture Alma's sisters and late parents and learn the effects of Dominican history on the family. However, I found this book surprisingly hard to get into and didn't feel connected. The writing felt oddly stilted and distancing, almost flat, which made it especially hard for me to be drawn in, knowing how well Alvarez can write.

This is a lovely book about the power of story, how it can build up and break down a family, a neighborhood, even a country. I found the overarching idea -- the cemetery Alma and Brava build for the stories Alma left untold -- so intriguing. I could see this place and hear it. I appreciated Filomena's story arc, finding herself after a lifetime of service. The narrative drags just a little in the middle, but Alvarez does a good job pulling everything together at the end.

This is very meta if you've read any Alvarez. It might not be the best place to start reading Alvarez's work.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

This isn't my usual kind of read but I enjoyed the idea of it. Broadly speaking, I love magical realism blended with literary fiction.

That being said, I found this one a little hard to get into and was hoping the cemetery would be developed more. This was my first read by Julia Alvarez but I think I will still check out some of her other work.

Astute and beautifully written commentary on the power and sometimes -violence of storytelling. Alvarez is among my very favorite authors, and this novel did not disappoint. The blend of magical realism with the real-realism of sibling dynamics, parental failings, the intergenerational trauma of forced immigration was perfect.

This book is so heartbreaking, for any readers who cannot handle graphic child loss, this would not be a book for you. I definitely had to put this book down and walk away a few times because it is a very heavy read. With that being said, it is a heartbreaking story that ties together the history of the Dominican Republic and multiple characters.

Alma is the primary character, and she is an author who has used her family's stories as the basis for her books. When both of her parents die, she inherits a parcel of land in her homeland of the Dominican Republic. She decides to move home and create a cemetery of sorts for her untold stories. These stories create both real and fictional historical characters. Through the construction of the cemetery, we learn more about the first wife of El Jefe, a brutal dictator in the Dominican Republic's recent history, and the history of Alma's own father.

The secondary plot of this story follows Filomena, the across-the-street neighbor of Alma who becomes the caretaker of the cemetery. Filomena grew up in a rural campo and later was a live-in maid/caretaker for a wealthy family. Her story is outside the main story until closer to the end, where it starts to intertwine. The beauty of this novel is how the characters touch each other's lives and the rich as well as brutal history of the Dominican Republic.

This book is a brutal read in places. The only reason I didn't give this five stars is that I found this book to be a little bleak. I wanted more hope at the end of the novel. I also really hated Perla and her storyline, though it does serve as a way to show the crooked prison system and how it can be bought.

Overall, this is an achingly beautiful story that could have used a little more hope.

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

The novel follows Alma, a writer who, after retirement, decides to move to the Dominican Republic where she inherited a property. She turns this place into a cemetery of untold stories and hires a woman named Filomena to assist her running the place. People will be able to use the intercom and tell a story. These stories are going to put to rest in the ground.

One of the characters is Bienvenida, the ex wife of the dictator Trujillo, through this character we learn about Dominican Republic during the dictatorship and all the atrocities commmited during his power such as the massacre of Haitians in the border, the murder of the Mirabal sisters and some other cruelties, as well about the daughter that they had, who still lives in the present. This and the other characters have a secret background story carrying it to their graves, including Alma's.

I enjoyed this novel, and I found it beautiful. I must admit that at the beginning it was a bit unrealistic and the stories were sounding like a tvnovela but then they started getting stronger and I started connecting with the novel and with its characters so before noticing I was already wrapped in its lines.

I liked that it portrays the importance of letting the pain out in order to heal and how everybody carry stories, and some of them help to make novels like this one.
It surprised me the way the stories ended connected to each other.

This is the first novel I read by the author, and I like her writing style. She used some Spanish words popular in DR, and I think it was a well-written book.

Thank you Algonquin Books and Netgalley for the digital ARC.
Pub date: April 2nd, 2024

I've read Alvarez stories before and they've never resonated with me, but this one was gorgeous.

A novel about what makes a story and what happens to the ones we don't tell.

Finished a little weak but overall I enjoyed this a lot.

I loved this story and the unique way it was told. The use of characters and story will keep readers enthralled and wanting more. It's a thriller that would be perfect for spooky season or if you just want to cozy up with a good mystery.

As my second Julia Alvarez book I am quickly becoming quite the fan! I don't know if it is her style of writing that does not include quotation marks, or a side effect of a pre-publication edition, but my only complaint is the challenge of adjusting to reading with out those cues of speech.
This fantastic multi layered story brings us to the protagonists home land in the Dominican Republic. A renowned author with stories unfinished that haunt her, she decides to use land she inherits to make a cemetery. Not for bodies, but for stories. Each marked with beautiful creations of art, a special ear can still hear the characters and the bits they have to tell. A unique experience for sure is this masterful novel of tales unfinished, but not forgotten.
Thanks to Algonquin Books and Netgalley for this wonderful pre-pub e-book in exchange for an honest review.