Book Review: Saving the World

October 2, 2007

There are books that are amazing to listen to on CD and books that are better read. Saving the World by Julia Alvarez is the latter. We listened to this book on our way out to Idaho in August and while I enjoyed the story, I had to agree with Adam that it was quite slow and I probably could have stopped halfway through without losing any sleep over the ending.

The book tells the story of Alma, an author trying fairly unsuccessfully to write a new novel, and her husband, Richard who is away on a business trip trying to save the world. Intertwined with Alma’s chronicle is the story she is writing of an historical attempt to save the world from smallpox. The two stories wrap around one another in mutually enlightening ways, but the story as a whole drags, seems a bit unrealistic, and fails to make its point in an impressive way.

All in all, I have to say it is probably a book you could live without reading. But, since the rest of Alvarez’s books are quite good, perhaps it would be worth a read with the actual book where you could read a bit faster than listening to someone read it for you.

Posted in reviews by Sarah