Something to Declare [Library Binding]

Julia Alvarez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1417646551 | ISBN-13: 978-1417646555 | Publication Date: September 1999

The first nonfiction work by acclaimed novelist Julia Alvarez--twenty-four personal essays on the experience of immigration and the writing life

The rich and revealing essays in Something to Declare offer Julia Alvarez's dual meditations on coming to America and becoming a writer. In the first section, "Customs," Alvarez relates how she and her family fled the Dominican Republic and its oppressive dictator, Rafael Trujillo, settling in New York City in the 1960s. Here Julia begins a love affair with the English language under the tutelage of the aptly named Sister Maria Generosa. Part Two--"Declarations"--celebrates Alvarez's enduring passion for the writing life. From the valentine to mythic storyteller Scheherazade that is "First Muse," to a description of Alvarez's itinerant life as a struggling poet, teacher, and writer in "Have Typewriter, Will Travel," to the sage and witty advice of "Ten of My Writing Commandments," Alvarez generously shares her influences and inspirations with aspiring writers everywhere.

"Reading Julia Alvarez's new collection of essays is like curling up with a glass of wine in one hand and the phone in the other, listening to a big-hearted, wisecracking friend share hard-earned wisdom about family, identity, and the art of writing."--People

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Having transformed her tumultuous life story?a passage from childhood in the Dominican Republic and Queens, N.Y., to a career as a celebrated author and creative writing teacher?into a body of startlingly lyrical fiction and poetry (!Yo!, etc.), Alvarez here chronicles that journey in nonfiction form. These 24 autobiographical essays are meant to answer various questions her readers have posed about her life and her writing. For Alvarez, these questions ultimately can be summed up in one line: "Do you have anything more to declare?" The first section of the book, "Customs," paints with vibrant, earthy clarity?in classic Alvarez style?the author's Dominican girlhood, surrounded by the rich cast of characters that made up her extended family and the constant menace of dictator Rafael Trujillo's police state. She also describes her escape to the U.S. with her parents and sisters, along with the assimilation that made her a "hyphenated American." The seeds of her writerly beginnings are picked out here and then further explored in the second part of her book, "Declarations." These essays examine the difficult balance between the writing life and "real life"; the joys of teaching; the daily process of writing; and an unsuccessful trip to Necedeh, Wis., to research a potential novel. Alvarez also includes her "ten commandments" for writing, which consist of some of the author's favorite quotes (beginning with a Zen saying and ending with Samuel Johnson's well-known credo, "If you want to be a writer, then write. Write every day!"). Taken together, the pieces are as open and lively as Alvarez's readers have come to expect from her work, although the inspiration and guidance they offer to aspiring writers are less striking. (Sept.) FYI: Plume has just published the Spanish-language edition of Alvarez's second novel, In the Time of the Butterflies; Plume's Spanish edition of !Yo! will be out in 1999.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-The poet and novelist brings together two dozen pithy autobiographical essays that are by turn humorous, thoughtful, or frightening. The first third of the book follows Alvarez's early Dominican childhood-when she was one of the wild cousins who was seated between well-behaved ones at family gatherings-through her family's immigration to the United States and their assimilation. Later essays take up the author's college years, budding career as a writer, marriages, and return trips to the Dominican Republic. Alvarez presents her personal experiences with a literary skill that converts them into universal moments. This book will delight her fans, attract new readers to her previous work, and open the possibility for discussions about experiences with emigration, immigration, growing apart from one's family, and discovering one's own career path and status as an adult.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: San Val (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417646551
• ISBN-13: 978-1417646555
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take time to visit with Alvarez, February 25, 2001

By 

dikybabe "admeyer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something to Declare (Paperback)

Ever since reading In the Time of the Butterflies, I have been convinced that Julia Alvarez was a gifted writer. This collection of her essays was purchased for our library to add to our creative writing teacher's curricular tools. I couldn't resist being the first to sample same. Alvarez has a way of talking to the reader that makes her essays ever so readable. I especially love the personal illuminations of her family in the Dominican Republic and in the states. What a fascinating immigrant story! One of my favorite essays is "Chasing the Butterfies" which put chills on me as I recalled the power in her novel that made me into her fan. I am not surprised that she is connected to the Bread Loaf writers. What quality comes from that group! I was a late-in-life discoverer of writers outside of the CANON, but I never again shall believe that only the canon has quality. The multicultural writers that I have discovered since 1992 as a member of the NEH sponsored Common Ground at the University of Houston, have enriched my life and the lives of my students. Any would be writer should read these Alvarez revelations. Being able to come and go from the entries makes the work so very user friendly. Brava, Julia!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful and inspiring....., July 23, 2005

By 

D. Pawl "Dani" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Something to Declare (Paperback)

I am a great fan of Julia Alvarez's writing, and am also greatly appreciative of her strength of character as an inspirational Latina writer. Many of you may be familiar with her books "In the Time of Butterflies" and "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents." In this book, we get a better sense of Julia Alvarez, the woman, the writer, the artist and (in her words) a "hyphenated American." (i.e, Dominican-American) These twenty-four essays offer a glimpse into her life, and what inspired her to persue writing. Alvarez had a lot of great material from her childhood, growing up the daughter of a revolutionary who was part of the opposition against Trujillo, the former dictator of the Dominican Republic. Julia also possessed a great wit and imagination, throughout her academic and personal life.

We are so honored that this great woman decided to convey her thoughts and stories through writing. This is definitely her true talent. What a true inspiration for all aspiring writers (Latina and otherwise). This book is engaging, warmly accessible and insightful. Highly reccomended!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For anybody who loves to read -- or to write., August 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Something to Declare: Essays (Hardcover)

I spent much of last night reading the galley of Alvarez's first essay collection. It's so alive and so beautifully drawn. Nothing surprises me more than when a novelist or poet allows the reader to get to know her directly -- Alvarez does with remarkable results.