Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A good book told from the point of view of a girl who lives through the terrors of a dictator's regime. It's about the struggles that her family, friends, and country suffered at the hands of their President, Trujillo. It definitely makes you sympathetic to what others had to do to in order to gain the freedom that we sometimes take for granted. As a Latina, I laughed at loud at some of the stories, phrases, and typical "Latin Mother's" attitude.

Had I not read Alvarez's other books I would have given this one a higher rating. However, after reading In the Time of the Butterflies, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent, and Yo, this book falls a little short. It was a good read and I recommend it - it just didn't get me like the other books did.

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