Parent reviews for Before We Were Free

It was a great novel. Alvarez does a phenomenal job at covering the political unrest and tension of the Dominican Republic under Trujillo.

My 12 y.o. daughter was assigned this book in 7th grade English. While she generally appreciated the theme, she was also very upset at times by what she described as the "dark" parts, which included the deep suffering of the main characters, and by her retelling, fairly graphic torture scenes. She was very uneasy about finishing the book, and had it not been a school assignment, likely would have stopped reading.

Some parts of the book refer to "developing", which might not be appropriate for smaller children, so I recommend waiting until 6th or 7th grade to read this book. Also, there are references to the dictatorship during the time the book takes place in the Dominican Republic. Some are ok references but some are more violent and about assassinating. Also, some of the vocabulary is hard to understand for kids that are under 12 or 13 years old.