Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
by Reyna Grande
List Price:
Our Price: $0.31
You Save: $15.69 (98%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Reyna GrandeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-06
ISBN: 1439109060
Number of pages: 392
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Book Reviews of Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
Book Review: a wonderful read that draws your attention even when you don't have it open
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This riveting book writes on a micro-scale about the day-to-day lives of 4 Mexican-American women that are involved in a Folkloric dance company in Los Angeles. Although the book focuses on their daily lives and not with suspense or action, the characters are so well portrayed that the reader is drawn in. And there WILL be at least one character if not more that you can relate to. They all have their flaws, and their charms, and are fully three-dimensional. Each chapter is labelled by the voice it will be written in, and to the author's credit, each voice is authentic. It is easy to forget that these are not true stories but fiction.
I was immediately drawn into Yesennia's story. I'm a dancer myself and if you replaced Folklorico with Bellydance, there are many similar feelings. You do it for the love of it, not money, and you come to love and care for the dance, the music, the culture. Yesennia was living my dream, running her own studio and company. But, like me, she has a knee injury. Her knee injury however is bad enough that she is forced to give up dancing. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. She turns to plastic surgery, focusing on her appearance as a way to regain the joy in her life that she lost with dancing - dancing had made her feel forever youthful.
Adriana is an interesting character. She suffered a lot of abuse from her family, and as a result, she is drawn to abusive men. Although she has a kind Gringo neighbor who would love to treat her well, she keeps returning to the same relationship that she had with her father. The experiences written here perfectly capture the experiences and feelings of a battered woman, and it's so visceral that I remember physically clenching up my whole body as I read certain passages. It shows how Adriana can want the abuse, can keep returning to it, even though it's clearly not good for her. This portrayal is so real you can taste it.
Then there's Elena. She has a troubled marriage after her miscarriage, and the sadness from that has also caused her to give up dancing. One of my good friends lost her soulmate and likewise was not able to dance again. So I, again, saw echoes of real people and real lives here.
Finally, one of the most eye-opening segments of the book focuses on Soledad. Soledad is the seamstress for the group, an illegal. She goes back to Mexico to see her grandmother on her deathbed, knowing she may never be able to return. She sacrifices everything she has for her family. She's a very compelling character, and I haven't read too many narratives of this nature. This story within a story - of all of them - really brings in some issues of the day - immigration - and raises awareness without seeming like it was intended to do that.
I only wished we had learned more about Ruben/Ruby's story. She was introduced as such an interesting character, but turned out to be only a foil for Soledad as well as a way to reflect upon cosmetic surgeries in comparison with Yesennia. True, the book chose to focus primarily on four women, with other women and men in their life only seen through the eyes of these women. However, it seemed like Ruben/Ruby completely disappeared from the story after serving her part. That said, the author did well in portraying a transgendered person sensitively, although I cringed reading that Ruby was out of the hospital and drinking so soon after surgery. Likewise, the surgical adventures of Yesennia also made me uncomfortable. I can tell you one thing - I will not be having plastic surgery after reading this book (not that I was planning on it anyway).
Summary of Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
Dancing with Butterflies uses the alternating voices of four very different women whose lives interconnect through a common passion for their Mexican heritage and a dance company called Alegría. Yesenia, who founded Alegría with her husband, Eduardo, sabotages her own efforts to remain a vital, vibrant woman when she travels back and forth across the Mexican border for cheap plastic surgery. Elena, grief stricken by the death of her only child and the end of her marriage, finds herself falling dangerously in love with one of her underage students. Elena's sister, Adriana, wears the wounds of abandonment by a dys-functional family and becomes unable to discern love from abuse. Soledad, the sweet-tempered illegal immigrant who designs costumes for Alegría, finds herself stuck back in Mexico, where she returns to see her dying grandmother.Reyna Grande has brought these fictional characters so convincingly to life that readers will imagine they know them.
Hispanic Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Hispanic Books
Stone Horses: Sallie Gallegosby Sallie Gallegos, S. Gallegos
University of New Mexico Press; Published: 1996-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $49.97
From This Wicked Patch of Dustby Sergio Troncoso
University of Arizona Press; Published: 2011-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Mother's Day: El Dia De Las Madres (Multicultural Celebrations)by Ana Consuelo Matiella
Modern Curriculum Pr; Published: 1993-04; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
The Invisible Mountainby Carolina De Robertis
Random House Audio; Published: 2009-08-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings - An Anthologyby Roberto Santiago
One World/Ballantine; Published: 1995-09-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
U.S. Latino Literature Todayby Gabriela Baeza Ventura
Longman; Published: 2004-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $47.25
Price in other shops:
Gente Decente: A Borderlands Response to the Rhetoric of Dominanceby Leticia Magda Garza-Falcón
University of Texas Press; Published: 1998; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
Gente Decente: A Borderlands Response to the Rhetoric of Dominanceby Leticia Magda Garza-Falcón
University of Texas Press; Published: 1998; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $169.00
Puerto Rican Voices in English: Interviews with Writersby Carmen D. Hernandez
Praeger; Published: 1997-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.11
Price in other shops:
Who Would Have Thought It? (Penguin Classics)by Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton
Penguin Classics; Published: 2009-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Storiesby Sandra Cisneros
Vintage; Published: 1992-03-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
500 Years of Chicana Women's History/ 500 anos de la mujer Chicanaby Elizabeth S. Martinez
Rutgers University Press; Published: 2008-02-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.by Luis J. Rodriguez
Touchstone; Published: 2005-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Rain of Goldby Víctor E. Villaseñor
Delta; Published: 1992-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.44
Price in other shops:
Mexican Enough: My Life between the Borderlinesby Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Washington Square Press; Published: 2008-08-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.49
Price in other shops:
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accentsby Julia Alvarez
Algonquin Books; Published: 2010-01-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
The Chronicles of Panchita Villa and Other Guerrilleras: Essays on Chicana/ Latina Literature and Criticism (Chicana Matters)by Tey Diana Rebolledo
University of Texas Press; Published: 2006-01-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops:
Hungry Woman in Parisby Josefina López
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2009-03-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary Licenseby Maria Amparo Escandon
Broadway; Published: 2005-04-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.79
Price in other shops:
Across a Hundred Mountains: A Novelby Reyna Grande
Washington Square Press; Published: 2007-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: