In “The Cemetery of Untold Stories” by literary icon Julia Alvarez, Alma Cruz is a successful yet burdened novelist who inherits a plot of land in the Dominican Republic. Instead of conventional use, Alma transforms this land into a cemetery for her unfinished manuscripts and the characters within them that never fully came to life. The novel’s concept is both innovative and deeply resonant, reflecting on the stories that define us and the ones we leave behind (and making it a hauntingly unique setting I wish were real). The story explores themes of storytelling, memory, and the power of unspoken histories through multiple timelines and character perspectives. As the characters narrate their hidden tales to Filomena, the cemetery's caretaker, they find a kind of peace and recognition that had previously eluded them.

As a Dominican, I appreciated the authentic reflections of our culture, subtly woven into the characters' actions and the broader narrative, reminiscent of Junot Diaz's storytelling. The rich, cruel history of the Dominican Republic is poignantly interlaced, intensifying the impact of characters' journeys. Twice I gasped out loud and had to put the book down because, after being connected with the humanity of the characters, they still shocked me with their choices.

Overall, “The Cemetery of Untold Stories" is a captivating piece that marries the allure of magical realism with the poignant depth of historical fiction. I bought a physical copy for my personal bookshelf after listening to the audiobook. Highly recommended.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Algonquin books for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Alma Cruz is a writer who inherits a small plot of land in her homeland of the Dominican Republic following the death of her father. After witnessing the decline of a close author friend who fought to finish a book but ultimately succumbed to an untimely demise, she decides that she will avoid the same fate and use her property in the DR to literally bury all of her untold stories. Upon arrival, she comes in contact with a local woman named Filomena whom she soon hires to be the groundskeeper of her "cemetery".

As Alma tries to write her story, her characters come alive and we begin to learn the true stories of the people that she is featuring in her book. They include a history of her father, Dr. Manuel Cruz who escaped from the DR to the United States and the history of Bienvenida Trujillo, the second wife of a Dominican dictator who was relegated as a cast off after she was replaced by his mistress. As Filomena wanders the grounds, she soon realizes that she can actually hear the stories of these "buried" characters and starts to weave her own personal story in between the details of theirs. Woven together, the stories reflect the struggles of the citizens of the Dominican Republic, the challenges presented by family and, ultimately, how people can connect with each other by sharing their own personal stories.

This was a really interesting story to listen to. The narrator did an excellent job of interpreting all of the different characters' stories in her own voice and her inflection definitely lent well to the magical realism qualities of the book. At times, it was a bit hard to follow along when listening because I didn't quite get it at first that Filomena was actually hearing the voices of the buried characters but, once I understood that, I truly enjoyed the rich emotion and compelling stories of all of the characters in the book.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I struggled to follow the audiobook and plot overall. I think it has a lot promise and I doubt I am the target audience.

I picked this book as it was advertised as a novel telling bits of the story of Bienvenida Trujillo, spouse of the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Trujillo. I had heard of the man through another book and learnt tons about this far country, so I was genuinely curious, about the input one could get through the story of his wife.

Unfortunately, the book is only superficially touching the bigger story throughout the small one(s). Because this book is not one story, it is mostly a story about stories. Alma, a praised author, decides to bury her unpublished stories, to give them a place to rest, and not let these consume her. But the untold stories escape their earthly graves, whispering to visitors ready to listen, what they have to tell. The characters awake to life and their lives and muted stories intertwine with those of the listeners.

Though there is poetry in the idea of burying stories and have them more or less tell themselves, it felt a bit forced and crazy to begin with. Though most stories make sense in the end, it did not feel naturally brought up and the different characters seemed to be too far apart to justify such length. It lacked a bit of a red line to follow, so that I never got to get attached to any of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for providing me with a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

3,5

Not bad at all, but ultimately forgettable I fear. Alma, a successful American author close to retirement, returns to her native Dominican Republic and with her she takes all her unfinished manuscripts, the untold stories that she knows she'll never have the time or energy to finalise and publish.

Instead, she conceives of the idea to bury the stories in a cemetery, designed by an artist friend.

Once at the cemetery, the stories start talking to each other, gradually revealing the past of Alma's family and, interestingly, unearthing the tragic story of Bienvenida Trujillo, the first wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo, whom he divorced when she couldn't have children.

Interesting if you want to know more about the Dominican Republic, but as a novel I was not completely convinced.

Thank you to the publisher and RB media for granting me access to the audiobook in exchange for a review.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories is an original, intriguing book that follows an author’s mission to put to rest all her drafts that never came to be stories. When going back to her home country of the Dominican Republic, her characters take on minds of their own and tell their stories to anyone willing to listen.
Meanwhile, two storylines are being told and merged together to form one succinct view of stories and family—hold them tight and pass them on.
I liked the book, but sometimes it was hard to follow with all the different viewpoints and the ending was very anticlimactic.

THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES is the latest from Julia Alvarez (In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents). Alvarez focuses on four sisters, particularly Alma, the second eldest and a writer. She decides to retire and to bury her untold stories in some land she inherits in the Dominican Republic. A sculpture friend works with her to install statues and a local caretaker, named Filomena, is hired. With a touch of magical realism surprising stories are shared. They build on themes of family, secrets, and prejudice and seem to link the local caretaker, Alma’s father, and the ex-wife of dictator Rafael Trujillo, named Bienvenida. THE CEMETERY OF UNTOLD STORIES received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus (“a rich and moving saga of Dominican history emerges, embodied in the lives of irresistible characters”).

The audiobook (from Recorded Books) lasts almost nine hours and is narrated by Alma Cuervo who also contributed to readings of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, plus Alvarez's Afterlife and multiple titles written by Isabel Allende and Robert Jackson Bennett. She does an excellent job.

I really like this author’s writing style. I enjoyed In the Time of the Butterflies. I also enjoyed this book, though maybe a bit less. Like In the Time of the Butterflies, the story is not told from just one point of view. Also, like In the Time of the Butterflies, one theme of this story is sisterhood. I like the sisters’ relationship between one another. I appreciated how each sister had her own unique personality. I wish I got to read more about Alma and her sisters.

There are a lot of different stories being told within this one book. Some stories I thought were more interesting than others. Sometimes, it could get confusing and difficult being able to follow all the different stories. In the end, the author attempts to weave together the stories a bit. I thought Bienvenida’s story was so interesting. I’m not sure how accurate it is (I’m not a historian). The former dictator, Trujillo, is not a focus of this book like he is in In the Time of the Butterflies. However, his character does make significant appearances in this book.

Though it took me awhile to get through, I liked this book. I think it’s pretty solid.

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media & Julia Alvarez for an audio galley of Cemetery of Untold Stories in exchange for an honest review.

There were multiple things that drew me to request this book – the beautiful cover, the attention-grabbing title and the general premise of the book.

Unfortunately, I was let down by everything in between the covers.

First, I will give props to the author. I do believe that the author is very talented and that the writing in this book was done well. I enjoyed the richness of culture by her use of a mixture of English & Spanish.

This just wasn’t the book for me. None of the “untold stories” were particularly great to me. In addition to that, the switch between POVs was oftentimes confusing because it would go from one POV to the next without any kind of signal that it had done so.

I can see where many readers will enjoy this book. It just wasn’t for me.

This is closer to a 3.5 for me. The beginning was so strong for me and I loved the idea behind the story of the cemetery, but as the story went on some things got a little disjointed and it was hard for me to follow who was who and how some characters were connected. I absolutely loved the lush writing style, which created a strong atmosphere. I think if I were to reread this, I would enjoy it more and it would clear some things up for me.

This book brought about such a mixture of feelings for me. I laughed and I cried, felt anger, loss, sorrow and hope.

I listened to the audiobook version and I fell in love with the accent and language that the narrator was speaking with. One drawback of the audio version is that with the frequency of jumping between characters and with there being so many, all with multiple names or precursors in Spanish, it was very hard to know whose story I was listening to and keep track of who was who and what had happened.

I enjoyed the relationships between the characters and there were so many different ones to choose from. Sisters, parents, spouses, lovers, neighbours, children. The book touched on so much, loss, grief, abandonment, cheating, murder, spurned lovers, control, political dictatorships, dementia, just to name a few. But among those, hope, love, family, legacy, and the importance of stories.

One of my favourite quotations went something like, 'When an elderly person dies a library is extinct'. So beautifully put and it really puts in focus the knowledge and tales that we accumulate over our lifetimes.

I didn't really ever understand what was happening in the cemetery. Was it paranormal? Was it like that only for a privileged few? Or could anyone who paused long enough to listen hear the voices on the breeze? The ending was a little rushed after the beginning and most of the book was so slow moving but it worked if you were in a mood to absorb all the feelings.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author and publisher for a temporary copy in exchange for an honest review.

The audiobook was a joy to listen to. The writing was lyrical and magical listening to the narrator tell the story. This story was rich in culture telling the story of Alma’s time in Dominican Republic. While the writing was captivating, the story was a bit slow for me. I do feel this is one to be read because of the story and following Alma’s journey. It’s just a slow burn.

Cemetery of Untold Stories follows the efforts of Alma, a retired author who has returned to the Dominican Republic, as she establishes a cemetery for her unfinished manuscripts. She meets new people (Philomena was my favorite) and we get experience their stories. BUT wait there’s more! The cemetery brings her stories to life as the markers (made by her artist friend) begin whispering, some not so whispery, their tales. We learn about heartbreak and joy, and fill in different lines of story as we go.

This is a book I knew would be perfect savored slowly with una cafecita. I ended up receiving the ebook and audiobook so I mixed and matched to my mood.

The audiobook added to the lyrical storytelling and fleshes out the contributions of the Spanish language used through out as well. The ebook felt like visiting a classic story, with the patterning of storytelling melting with the shifting narrative. This is multi-POV and multi-timeline as it shifts from living people to living characters. It felt a little overwhelming shifting back and forth, but the author gives the characters such distinctions you learn them like an old friend. The audio book narrator also lends her character building voices to assist with this literal distinction too.

This is my first Julia Alvarez book, and it was a decent experience overall! Despite initially grappling with her style, I admired the vivid personalities she crafted in each character. However, the frequent jumps in time and storyline, along with the number of characters, was a bit challenging. While the connections between storylines come together in the end, the execution could have been more cohesive. But, I did find the overall themes of this book engaging, though tighter storytelling would have enhanced the experience.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories is an ambitious novel that combines multiple family sagas, magical realism, and historical fiction. Julia Alvarez's writing is truly beautiful, and while this is the first book I've read by the author, I recognize why she is held in such high esteem.

What I enjoyed:
- As mentioned above, I loved Alvarez's style of writing. I found myself getting totally lost in her descriptive vignettes. Using few words, Alvarez is able to build tension, establish meaningful connections between characters, and describe a setting in a way that makes you feel like you're there.
- There were many characters in this novel (perhaps too many, but I'll elaborate more below). One of my favorite aspects of the book was reading about the relationships between the different characters, particularly the romantic relationships, as well as the relationships between mothers and their children, and those between sisters.

What didn't quite work for me:
- There were so many characters, and the chapters would jump so abruptly between different stories, characters, and timelines. I found this quite jarring. Sometimes I would have to go back and re-listen to entire minutes of the book because I couldn't figure out whose story I was meant to be following. Additionally, she would often switch to someone else's story right at the moment when I felt most invested in the character she had previously been following.
- Given the scope of the novel, I found the resolution to be a bit anticlimactic. The ending felt a bit rushed, and it didn't hold the same emotional resonance as much of the rest of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced listener copy.

I will be picking this book up as a physical copy verses the audio as there were just too many characters for me to follow. I would rather be able to page back and familiarize myself with the characters again. Audio narrator was great and I could tell the story was going to be good though.

I listened to the audiobook version.
⭐⭐⭐

The story starts with Alma Cruz, a Latin American novelist. She has many stories that she has never finished and decides to create a cemetery for all the unfinished works after inheriting a small piece of land from her father after he dies.

I absolutely loved the idea of this book. I was captured straight away from the book cover & the description. The story was so unique! A cemetery for unfinished books? Absolutely magical. Unfortunately I did find it a bit hard to follow all the different stories & names. The pacing of the narration was a bit off for me with no pause after sentences had finished. I found myself having to go back to previous chapters to double check who was who. I will eventually pick up a physical copy of this book to read.

Thank you to Algonquin for giving me the opportunity to listen to this ALC via NetGalley.

This is a review specifically for the audiobook.

I enjoyed the book and all the different story lines. However, the audiobook format was hard to follow. I don't know if the structure of the book makes it easier to follow in print than in audio. I was never really able to click into exactly what was happening. I was able to follow what was going on within each chapter but struggled to understand how each chapter connected to the overall story.

This is a beautiful book about how people's stories are never truly done. I was enraptured with Filomena and her story and could not get enough. I struggled to connect with Alma and the style of writing was difficult for me to follow at times. The narrator choice was perfect for this audiobook.

Thank you RB Media and NetGalley for the ALC of this book!

This story was not was I expected, but in a wonderful way. This book transported me directly into the story, to the cemetery along side the families and all the journeys they took.

This story was very sad at times, but other parts were exciting. Julia Alvarez does a great job of immersing the reader in the culture of the Dominican Republic while joining Alma on her journey. Not only does the reader find out about Alma's life across the world, but also as some Dominican Republic natives.

Highly recommend this book to anyone ready for an adventure and who loves to hear or tell stores.