Creative! Thought provoking! Great storytelling; stories within stories!

The title caught my eye; I'm glad it did.

What happens to untold stories? Are they lost forever? Should all stories be told? ( )

3.25

This is an ARC from netgalley.

The idea of a cemetery of untold stories is beautiful, however, the storyline felt a bit jumbled and the individual stories all swirled together. I listened to this on audio and I think it made understanding the multiple characters tales across different points in time even more confusing.
There were also stories left somewhat unfinished and the ending felt a bit soft for me.
It does remind me of Isabel Allende novels - so if you like those, you may enjoy this.

In The Cemetery of Untold Stories Alma Cruz is a retiring writer and writing professor. She is quite famous and is an icon in her native country of the Dominican Republic. When Alma inherits a plot of land in the Dominican Republic from her father she decides to move there permanently. But what to do with all the unfinished stories she has saved over the years? She has boxes upon boxes of these unfinished and overly revised stories that were never finished or published. Alma's answer is to create a sculpture garden cemetery to honor these unfinished stories by burying them so they can rest in peace. However many of the characters in these stories still have their tales to tell and will not be quiet. Filomena, the hired grounds keeper can hear these characters speak their truths and it is through her that we get to also listen in. This is a magical and thought provoking tale told in a non linear timeline by multiple characters. This book is beautiful literary fiction full of complicated family stories that weave and interact with each other and along the way thoroughly entertain the reader. I especially enjoyed the interactions of Alma and her sisters, that's what sisters are for. I highly recommend this novel for lovers of magical realism and literary fiction. The narrator as wonderful. 5 stars.

Many thanks to Net Galley and RB Media | Recorded Books for a chance to listen/read to an ARC copy of this audio book. ( )

"All stories are good stories if you find the right listener."

I was in awe of Julia Alvarez and Edwidge Danticat's discussion of The Cemetery of Untold Stories at The Center for Fiction. Hearing about the power of storytelling and the importance of oral histories to preserve culture left me inspired and I couldn't wait to meet the characters that I heard so much about.

Reading this one felt like I was listening in on all the good chisme being discussed at a family gathering. I instantly fell in love with Filomena and her ability to receive all the stories from the ghosts of the cemetery. I also fell in love with her own personal story that has yet to be told to the world. It has been difficult to read lately but this completely captivated my attention and I found it so easy to immerse myself in this world and forget everything heavy I was going through in real life. Filomena and Bienvenida are unforgettable and by the end of the book I just couldn't let them go. I find myself wondering about them.

This is a book that is heavily driven by the characters and the stories they share and there is no real plot, but the vibes and the feelings are perfect. I loved how some of the ghost stories were interconnected and how the use of language, including Dominican Spanish, added even more flavor. It wasn't my favorite of Alvarez's work, but it is one that I will always think of because it feels like a warm hug from the Caribbean. Thanks to @algonquinbooks for the gifted copy.

Some thoughts I'm left with are:
• Who decides the validity of stories and oral histories?
• What happens to stories when authors stop writing?
• Every story has its ideal listener, so they all need to be told.
• How do authors reconcile aging and end of life with the amount of untold stories left in them?
• The best stories come from your own families.
• Dominican history has facets that have been erased and can only be uncovered through the stories of ordinary people.
• Where do stories go to die?
• Caribbean stories are a vital part of literary legacy.
• You can't undo harmful history without uncovering stories from different aspects of an event.
• "There are stories in the silence." ( )

I just finished reading The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez. I can sum up my review in these words, I hoped for more.

The beginning was intriguing, a woman writer who got in a rut after her mother died. Her mother complained about the writer exposing family secrets that should have remained buried. After her mother died she started story after story and re-wrote them but they were never good enough for publication. When she inherited a large parcel of worthless land, she wants to make it into a cemetery for untold stories. The land is cleared and some of them are burned, others were put in a plastic lined grave. She hired a woman to take care of the cemetery.

We learn about the writer's family who are bad characters so when the story shifts to the story of the woman who tends the cemetery, I felt hopeful.

Back history brings us to the story of two women, the elder and younger. The younger had a terrible life, she was not even allowed to kept her first name when her old sister demanded that they trade names.

The history of the two sisters unfolds, I did not like the older sister, you can read and find out why. The younger sister's life becomes pitiful and ultimately disappointing.

I wanted to stop reading after a third of the book but got hopeful when the story turned to the younger sister. I did not like the ending. ( )