Before We Were Free (ebook)
by Julia Alvarez
Before We Were Free follows a girl named Anita and her family. They are in the Dominican Republic during 1960-1961 and they have a terrible dictator (El Jefe) who becomes important in Anita’s life when she discovers her dad and uncle are part of an underground group who plan to kill the dictator to free the people and start a revolution. While this is going on, Anita is growing into a young woman. She begins to worry about her hair and her looks, she gets her period, and discovers boys, particularly her best friend Sam and her maybe-cousin, Oscar. When El Jefe is killed, her dad and uncle are captured and she and her mom have to go into hiding. This story is about before Anita and those in the Dominican Republic were free.
What I liked about this book was that it was a snapshot of what life was like not only for people living in the Dominican Republic during a dictatorship, but also what it was like for a girl, becoming a woman, during 1960s. I appreciate historical fiction that teaches me about history, but also shows that the struggles girls go through today are similar (if not the same) as girls back then. Anita got her period, worried about what a boy would think about her hair, wondered if they liked her back, and fought with her older sister much the way girls do today. It is comforting knowing that that aspect of childhood hasn’t changed!
What I didn’t like about this book was that while it is historically accurate, I’m sure, it didn’t seem to be a horrific as I know it was. I think the author focused on a coming of age story rather than a war story, and so many of the brutal details were left out. It could also have been that it is told from Anita’s point of view, and she doesn’t know the graphic details of what went on. She has a naivety about her, being 12, and that is what we as the readers are limited to. That doesn’t make it bad, though. The was a great book to read, considering I had never even heard of it before.
Book 36 of 40
(Book 2 of 2018)
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