Saving the World by Julia Alvarez
Saving the World by Julia Alvarez
My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I really loved the parallels that Alvarez created in this book:
Smallpox-AIDS
Alma (woman touched by idealistic man in today’s world)-Isabel (woman touched by idealistic man in yesterday’s world)
Richard (idealistic man today)-Francisco Balmis (idealistic man yesterday)
Basically Alma’s husband is trying to develop a vaccine for AIDS in the Dominican Republic and Isabel is in charge of a group of orphans who are carrying the small pox vaccine to the New World. This story is about the casualties that are involved when you try to save the world. Who is affected? Who can be saved? Are people worth saving when there’s war and poverty and all kinds of man-made badness?
Alvarez avoids being preachy and she doesn’t judge her characters, which I really, really appreciate. This is all about what the reader puts in and pulls out. And, like I said before, the parallels are very interesting as they develop.
My only issue was the pacing–and it was slow. Very slow. Plus there is a subplot involving Alma’s dying neighbor that I’m still a bit fuzzy on. However, none of this put me off going out and buying How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. So we’ll see what else Alvarez has got up her sleeve….
jenny maloney View All →
Jenny writes dark fiction that her mother hates. Her stories and essays have appeared in Across the Margin, Pantheon, Shimmer, Black Denim Lit, Skive, and others. When she’s not writing her own stuff, she’s reading mysteries for Criminal Element. When she’s not writing fiction or reviews, she’s writing/directing/performing/designing plays at Springs Ensemble Theatre.
Other Worlds, and This 