By Julia Alvarez
Historical fiction is not typically my lane. I decided to give it a shot to participate in this month’s book club. I decided it would minimally disrupt my other reading plans if I listened to the audio book. I ended up splitting my consumption between the audio book on Spotify and the eBook which I was able to download from Libby. That was very convenient. I look forward to improving my book consumption with those tools.
I found the book itself to be ok. I was unfamiliar with the Dominican history that it referenced and the stories of the actual Mirabal sisters. It felt slow to start. While the book described the girls entering puberty at their Catholic school, I found myself eager to get to the part where they started trying to overthrow the government. Eventually it got there. The book described less of their rebellious actions and more of the consequences to their family for opposing the dictator Trujillo. I appreciated the author’s explanation following the story that she didn’t stick entirely to confirmed facts, nor did she reiterate the legends. She intended to humanize these important women. With that aim, I think the book was successful. Rather than being caricatures of heroic figures, the book showed the intense sacrifice that must have been involved. I think it would have been more impactful to me if I had more connection to the history. Consuming such a treatment of Abraham Lincoln or another crucial American, for whom I already have familiarity, might have increased my interest.
I heard echos of Frankl having recently read Man’s Search For meaning. A couple of the Mirabal sisters were imprisoned as well as their husbands. At one point, they refused parol because the terms of admitting guilt were unsatisfactory. Certainly they found meaning in their suffering. The fourth, surviving sister had to recon with her lack of participation. What did it mean for her? Was she right to protect her family rather than fight for the country? It’s not a simple, easy answer.
All of that humanity and complexity was lacking in the film version. It’s understandable that a story that took 14 hours of an audiobook would not fit neatly into a 90 minute film. The film was condensed down to the story of Minerva, the most committed rebel of the bunch. There were no layers, no tales of the other sisters, no weight of the human impact. Although I initially thought the book was a little slow, the movie was much too fast and removed too much context to make sense. It does nothing to achieve the author’s stated goal. There’s no reason to watch it.