The Other Side: El Otro Lado

By Julia Alvarez

Book Overview

The New York Times Book Review has praised Julia Alvarez's fiction as "powerful...beautifullycaptures the threshold experience of the new immigrant where the past is not yet a memory and the futureremains an anxious dream." These same qualities characterize her poetry--from the "Making Up the Past"poems, which explore a life of exile as lived by a young girl, to "the Joe Poems," a series of wonderfullysensual and funny love poems celebrating a middle-aged romance. The collection culminates in the twentyone-part title poem about the poet's return to her native Dominican Republic and the internal conflict andultimate affirmation that journey occasioned. Bold innovation and invention, the interplay of sound and sense, and the rhythm of two languages all characterize Julia Alvarez's art in transforming precious memory intounforgettable poetry.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525939229
• ISBN13: 9780525939221
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: E. P. Dutton
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 20.0" x 20.0" x 20.0"

Customer Reviews

A Re-Posting of My Review Under the Right Nickname

"I hung back, unsure, if this was the thing I'd die for/ and so perhaps never found what it was I would live for." From The Other Side/ El Otro LadoI found this collection of poetry to be an honest portrait of the poet's experiences. The novelist Julia Alvarez, author of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents", "Yo", and "In the Time of the Butterflies", displays her wide range of poetry in this book, The Other Side/ El Otro Lado. It is divided into four main sections, each with their own topic, and each section has poems about that topic within it. The first section deals with the poet's childhood, as she lived in the Dominican Republic. Then the book moves on to deal with other topics such as her family's hurried getaway to the United States, and her awkward adolescent years, as she tried to adjust as a minority Latina in a world of gringas. The book moves on to her adulthood and encompasses topics which vary from her poetry readings to her boyfriends. Especially touching are the poems which speak about her return visit to her homeland of Dominican Republic, the point at which Julia realizes that she does not fit in here anymore any better than she fit in at her school when she first arrived in the US. This book is a tale of one woman's journey from immigrant to American citizen, and it expressed with the deepest and sincere sense of humanity. Her unique story-telling style of poetry makes this book unique, and her experiences will warm your heart.

Great poems by a great writer

I had read this book before a year ago and never really appreciated it until this year in English class when my class read it. I loved the book in the first place but now i have an ever deeper love for it since i understand it better. This book is great for casual reading but when analyzed and looked into it is excellent. I recommend this book to everyone but especially for young Dominican women trying to find a person, a book, that they can relate to.

Unique and expressive

I found this book of poetry to be an honest portrait of the poet's experiences. It is divided into four main sections, each with their own topic, and each section has poems about that topic within it. The first section deals with the poet's childhood, as she lived in the Dominican Republic. Then the book moves on to deal with other topics such as her family's hurried getaway to the United States, and her awkward adolescent years, as she tried to adjust as a minority Latina in a world of gringas. The book moves on to her adulthood and encompasses topics which vary from her poetry readings to her boyfriends. Especially touching are the poems which speak about her return visit to her homeland of Dominican Republic, the point at which Julia realizes that she does not fit in here anymore any better than she fit in at her school when she first arrived in the US. This book is a tale of one woman's journey from immigrant to American citizen, and it expressed with the deepest and sincere sense of humanity. Her unique story-telling style of poetry makes this book unique, and her experiences will warm your heart.