Reading Julia Alvarez

Gr 12 Up—After an initial biographical chapter, this thorough, densely written companion to Alvarez's writings focuses on literary criticism and interpretation. Trupe covers the writer's novels, poetry, and works for young readers. Each novel is discussed, examining Alvarez's complex and multilayered storytelling. The author looks at her subject's strong political, feminist, and Latina influences, as well as the craft and nature of writing. Additional chapters explore contemporary issues found in her writings, Alvarez's website, and the television and stage adaptations of her works, and give reader's advisory suggestions. Discussion questions in each chapter are conducive to book-group meetings. Lacking photographs or time lines, the complicated text features lengthy sentence structure full of literary terminology. Silvio Sirias's Julia Alvarez: A Critical Companion (Greenwood, 2001) is an accessible biography and examination of Alvarez's four novels. In Julia Alvarez: Novelist and Poet (Lucent, 2008), Clarissa Aykroyd delivers a lively, well-written biography suitable for grades 7—10. With 15 pages of notes and a 9-page bibliography, Reading Julia Alvarez offers detailed and perceptive literary criticism and analysis. However, the scholarly tone makes this challenging work better suited to undergraduates, librarians, and adult readers, with limited appeal to high school students—June Shimonishi, Torrance Public Library, CA