Helpful Score: 1
This book is about the atrocities that were endured under Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic and about 4 amazing women who stood against him in which 3 died because of doing so. There names were Patria, Minerva, Dede and Maria Terese who are now known as "Las Mariposas" which means The Butterflies.
This little gem of a book would have never crossed my hands if not for the recommendation from a good friend. I never knew about Trujillo and probably never would have. My friend's father was against Trujillo and ended up having to flee to the US until things settled down.
The story is a fictional account of these women's lives starting from their childhood and moving up from there. This brings depth of character to each individual one. They grow up and each one goes in their different way (getting married, going to the university, kids, etc.)but there is one thing they end up having in common... the anger over how Trujillo runs things. These women stand up for what they feel is right. Three of the sisters end up going to jail where they are tortured. When they finally get out the only thing they want now is for their husbands to be out of jail as well.
Even though I really enjoyed this book and I know that it is a fictional account, it just didn't show the sisters as being much of a threat to Trujillo. Throughout the book he seemed to be after the family for doing what a lot of what other families were doing. At the end when the sisters got out of jail it seemed they settled down in hopes their husbands would be let out as well. Still Trujillo saw them as a problem. I did a little more research and found that these sisters never kept quiet. They always said what they thought. Even after getting out of prison, they went right back to their ways. Especially Minerva, who was always a rebel. When Trujillo had them murdered, that was the turning point of the revolution. Many were outraged at what happened to these women. So although I enjoyed the book and would recommend it, I don't think it showed just how strong these women actually were.
This little gem of a book would have never crossed my hands if not for the recommendation from a good friend. I never knew about Trujillo and probably never would have. My friend's father was against Trujillo and ended up having to flee to the US until things settled down.
The story is a fictional account of these women's lives starting from their childhood and moving up from there. This brings depth of character to each individual one. They grow up and each one goes in their different way (getting married, going to the university, kids, etc.)but there is one thing they end up having in common... the anger over how Trujillo runs things. These women stand up for what they feel is right. Three of the sisters end up going to jail where they are tortured. When they finally get out the only thing they want now is for their husbands to be out of jail as well.
Even though I really enjoyed this book and I know that it is a fictional account, it just didn't show the sisters as being much of a threat to Trujillo. Throughout the book he seemed to be after the family for doing what a lot of what other families were doing. At the end when the sisters got out of jail it seemed they settled down in hopes their husbands would be let out as well. Still Trujillo saw them as a problem. I did a little more research and found that these sisters never kept quiet. They always said what they thought. Even after getting out of prison, they went right back to their ways. Especially Minerva, who was always a rebel. When Trujillo had them murdered, that was the turning point of the revolution. Many were outraged at what happened to these women. So although I enjoyed the book and would recommend it, I don't think it showed just how strong these women actually were.
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