Before We Were Free [Audio CD]

Julia Alvarez (Author)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Listening Library (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400089956
• ISBN-13: 978-1400089956
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,032,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julia Alvarez has bridged the Americas many times. Born in New York and raised in the Dominican Republic, she is a poet, fiction writer, and essayist, author of world-renowned books in each of the genres, including How the García Girls Lost their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, and Something to Declare. She lives on a farmstead outside Middlebury, Vermont, with her husband Bill Eichner. Visit Julia's Web site here to find out more about her writing.

Julia and Bill own an organic coffee farm called Alta Gracia in her native country of the Dominican Republic. Their specialty coffee is grown high in the mountains on what was once depleted pastureland. Not only do they grow coffee at Alta Gracia, but they also work to bring social, environmental, spiritual, and political change for the families who work on their farm. They use the traditional methods of shad-grown coffee farming in order to protect the environment, they pay their farmers a fair and living wage, and they have a school on their farm where children and adults learn to read and write. For more information about Alta Gracia, visit their website.

Belkis Ramírez, who created the woodcuts for A Cafecito Story, is one of the most celebrated artists in the Dominican Republic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cost of Freedom, September 28, 2004

By 

Michael Kear (Enid, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Before We Were Free (Mass Market Paperback)

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two thirds of an island in the heart of the Caribbean Ocean called Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus claimed this island for Spain in 1492, and it is here that he later returned, died and was buried. Over the years the Dominican Republic has struggled for freedom and independence. They fought for their independence from the nation of Haiti, which lies on the western one third of Hispaniola, and they suffered through the dictatorship of General Trujillo. This book takes place during the last years of the Trujillo dictatorship, in 1960 and '61.

In this book you will meet a colorful cast of characters from many different cultures and backgrounds. First there is Anita de la Torre, the 12-year-old narrator whose life changes dramatically over the course of a few months. You will meet her familia, her parents, siblings, cousins, uncles and aunts, who all live together on the family island compound. As the unusual and dangerous circumstances unfold in the story, many of Anita's relatives are forced to flee their tropical home for the colder climate of New York City. The dictator's men are everywhere. Those who oppose the dictator are often "disappeared" by the men in black, never to be heard from again. Then there are the mysterious phone calls about butterflies and tennis shoes. And just who is "Mr. Smith?"

You will also meet Chucha, Anita's long-time nanny. She is one of the most interesting people in the story. Chucha is from Haiti, wears only purple clothing (even her underwear has to be dyed!), sleeps in a coffin, and has dreams where she can see the future. She also won't go into the Wimpy's Supermarket because the automatic doors have convinced her that the place is cursed and haunted. There is also blond-headed Sammy Washburn, the American consul's 12 year old son, whose family moves into a house at the de la Torre compound. Together, Sammy and Anita, explore the land of the compound - including the mysterious caves and the ancient cemetery. They encounter ghosts, and search for the treasure that was buried on the land many years ago.

Anita may not understand all the political things that are happening in her life, but she certainly feels the fear that permeates her family's life. Parts of the story are told from the perspective of Anita's diary, which provides an even more personal approach to the apprehension she faces. Her favorite uncle, Tio Toni, is missing. Have the secret police in the dark sunglasses, who drive the black Volkswagens, taken him? Has he been "disappeared"? Who is it that she sees lurking around his casita at night?

In spite of all the danger, Anita's parents make a decision to keep their family in the Dominican Republic and work for change. While Anita deals with all the frightening events that are unfolding in her life, she also struggles with growing up and her own personal endeavor for freedom. Before We Were Free is an exciting and fast moving book about growing up in a time of political intrigue and civil unrest. It is about decisions that must be made from the heart rather than the head and the courage that backs up such decisions. The fact that the author experienced much of what she writes in real life makes the story even more real and intriguing

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has touched me deeply., February 8, 2006

By 

N. Salazar "Cristy Salazar" (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before We Were Free (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the books I have liked the most. This book has many similarities with "Anne Franke's diary" both girls living in a cruel situation. Julia Alvarez did a terrific job creating an environment with a lot of tension. It was sad for me reading about a regimen I did not have known before and the lives that were gone in a country's attempt to obtain peace and freedom.

I loved how the author portrayed all the innocence in Anita's words so this book can be read for adolescents without describing the cruel and explicit violence lived in those times. I highly recommend this book not only to Dominicans or to adolescents, but for everyone from all ages. This book has touched me deeply.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspense, love, adventure? This is your book!, April 28, 2003

By 

Chris & Ed Turner (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before We Were Free (Hardcover)

As a 6th grade teacher, I like to keep on top of recent novels published for young adults. I read this and found it to be one of the best novels to be written recently for teens. I have also recommended it to many of my students who in turn have read it and have thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
Full of suspense (what will become of Anita and her new love for Oscar? what will become of the family? what will happen to the country?), Before We Were Free keeps students' interest yet does not steer away from good writing. Beautiful writing, suspenseful action, and characters worth caring about make this a book every young adult should read.