I picked this book for the concept but it could not hold my interest and find myself not wanting to finish it.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars, rounded up

“It’s a cemetery for stories” the woman replies. “con su permiso, how does one bury a story? If a story is never told, where does it go?” the woman answers with a question. The story she told her sister, where has it gone all these years of her silence. It’s a question Filomena has never asked herself before.”

This is one of those novels where I feel conflicted on how I should go about rating it. Based on my own experience, this was a 3-star read; well-written and polished, but lacking the emotional resonance to make it truly memorable. That being said, objectively, I think this deserves more than that. I can 100% picture a large audience that will adore this book, and will hail it as the “instant classic” the blurb promises.

The story:
Cemetery of Untold Stories is a novel about storytelling, and the way our own narratives and how we choose to pass them on define our legacy. We follow Alma, an acclaimed author nearing the end of her life, as she inherits an unwanted plot of land near her hometown in the Dominican Republic. She immediately has a vision on what to do with the land: dedicating it to be a place to bury her untold stories—literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and revisions, and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her.
During her time putting together this cemetery, Alma begins to relay these stories to her groundskeeper Filomena, and soon the two form a beautiful connection to each other, and these stories alike.

What I liked:
Already a veteran author, it’s beyond doubt that Julia Alvarez knows how to tell a vivid story. Cemetery of Untold Stories lives up to that legacy. The prose polished to perfection, its (at times almost meta) themes of storytelling and creating ones own legacy are consistent throughout and feel quite personal to the author as well.
I can always appreciate a novel with a strong sense of setting and place. Through the combination of her atmospheric descriptions, as well as the frequent intersplicing of Spanish sentences, Alvarez honors her own Dominican roots, as well as those of her characters.
In more than one way, the story feels very personal to the author, paralleling elements of her own life as a storyteller too. I appreciated that human connection, and think it added to the strengths of the book.

What I didn’t like:
My main complaint is that this novel, ironically, felt a bit like a cemetery of “lost stories” in itself at times: a collection of scraps that happen to be put in the same place over time, but don’t share a deeper connection. It brought a bit of a disjointed feeling to the whole at times, and made it hard for me to follow the different storylines.
That disconnection carried through the entire story for me. Do you know that feeling of walking across a cemetery ground and feeling slightly empty upon realizing that all these gravestones represent full people and lives lived… Yet because all you see of them is their headstones, you can never truly grieve or care for them, the way you would someone you knew personally? That’s the way I felt about all Julia Alvarez’s characters; like they were cardboard (or gravestone) outlines, slightly too polished and slightly too impersonal to care about…
Despite the fact that I didn’t personally resonate with the story, I still feel comfortable recommending it, especially to fans of the likes of Isabel Allende (whom work I personally feel very similarly about).

The audiobook is a great way to experience this novel, specifically considering its themes of oral traditions and telling stories over the course of generations. The narrator does a beautiful job voicing the characters and does their bilingual nature justice.

Many thanks to Algonquin and Recorded Books for providing me with an audio-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a cool concept and the writing was great but I had a hard time keeping track of the characters and the changing POV. It was slow and sometimes it didn’t keep my interest. I seem to be in the minority so if the synopsis sounds good to you, read it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

3.5 Stars

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez is a captivating exploration of the power of storytelling and the struggle of authors to bring their characters to life.

What unfolds is a mesmerizing exploration of the complexities of storytelling as characters rewrite and revise themselves, challenging Alma's authority over their narratives. Through this, Alvarez prompts readers to ponder whose stories are told and whose are buried, ultimately underscoring the enduring vitality of storytelling itself.

Thank you, RB Media, for the ARC audiobook.

Beautifully written 👏 a masterful storyteller. I loved the book. All the characters in real life and in unfinished stories, Alma, Bienvenida, and Filomena, are wonderful. The setting in Dominican history is exceptional. It's about love and complex family relationships with all their secrets and struggles. It was a thoughtful, funny, and mesmerizing book. Just couldn't stop listening. The narrator did a brilliant job in portrayal of the characters. Spanish phrases in between add the charm. Highly recommended. Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the publisher for the audiobook.

Alma, a writer and English professor returns and retires to her plot of land in her homeland, the Dominican Republic that she has inherited from her parents. On the land she creates a cemetery, but not for people - but for untold stories, for manuscripts that have never been sold, and for those stories that have never been shared (for reasons of shame or for lack of power of the author), now these tales have a resting place. The groundskeeper, Filomena, has her own stories to share as well and she has a compassionate ear as she (and the reader) listens to the secret tales of the graveyard’s storytellers.

I have loved everything this author has written so I was very excited for this one as well. While parts of the books got a bit confusing at times, I found the stories themselves to be wonderful (maybe confusing because the POVs and timelines kept switching back and forth and there were quite a few to keep track). I loved the magical realism concept that the storytellers in the cemetery were speaking and telling their stories to each other (and that they were rekindling old friendships since they all had some connection to each other). The book reminded me a bit of an Allende novel and kept bringing me back to when I read House of Spirits. I thought the audio narrator was wonderful in this one and was able to handle all the different POVs but I do feel this is one where the book is probably necessary to not be so confused (so maybe don’t do only audio but use is to augment the experience because the narrator is so good).

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC to review

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez was such an unexpected joy. The audiobook was fantastic and did a wonderful job of telling this beautiful story.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories
By Julia Alvarez

Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
Genre: Literary Fiction
Format: audiobook 🎧
Publication date: 2nd April 2024

🌟: 4/5

Magical realism has never been my favourite genre but I found this to be thought provoking and emotive.
A story about stories, about people and lives lived. Everyone has a story to tell and this tale is woven beautifully, through lyrical prose and the interconnecting lives of its characters.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, the narration is perfect and gave life to the women’s lives portrayed here. Definitely worth a read.

Fantastic and unpredictable. I appreciated that the protagonist also wasn't a 20-something writer who was burying her feelings about stories she wrote in middle school. There are elements of magical realism in this book that drew me in, and Julia Alvarez is definitely a consistent writer worth continuing to add to a library collection. I would recommend this book for fans of literary fiction, and also book clubs looking for something slightly different.