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    Saving the World
    Saving the World
    Saving the World
    Audiobook16 hours

    Saving the World

    Written by Julia Alvarez

    Narrated by Blanca Camacho

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award with In the Time of Butterflies, author Julia Alvarez is a beloved voice in modern fiction and poetry. In Saving the World, she weaves the stories of two courageous women-separated by two centuries-into a breathtaking novel of love and idealism in an increasingly troubled world. A best-selling, Latin-American author living in Vermont, Alma stays behind when her husband travels to the Dominican Republic to help fight AIDS. She needs the time to work on her latest book, but she has terrible writer's block. Soon, her focus is diverted to an entirely new story, that of the early 19th-century anti-smallpox expedition of Dr. Francisco Balmis. Accompanying Dr. Balmis was DoNa Isabel, who cared for the orphan boys serving as living carriers of the smallpox vaccine. It is the narrative of the courageous DoNa Isabel that provides hope and inspiration when Alma's husband is taken captive. Mesmerizing and poetic, Saving the World is a visionary tale that raises profound questions about the world we live in-and whether or not it is beyond redemption.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateOct 14, 2011
    ISBN9781456125387
    Saving the World
    Author

    Julia Alvarez

    Born in New York City in 1950, Julia Alvarez’s parents took her back to their native country, the Dominican Republic, shortly after her birth. Ten years later, the family was forced to flee to the US because of her father’s involvement in a plot to overthrow the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Alvarez has written many bestselling novels including: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, ¡Yo!, In the Name of Salomé, and Afterlife. She has also written collections of poems, non-fiction, and numerous books for young readers. The Cemetery of Untold Stories is her most recent novel. Her awards and recognitions include the Pura Belpré and Américas Awards for her books for young readers, the Hispanic Heritage Award, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award. In 2013, she received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama.

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    Reviews for Saving the World

    3.5/5

    112 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I had never heard of the Smallpox expedition to Spanish America. It was interesting to learn about. Francisco Balmis is portrayed as a brilliant yet flawed man. I had never thought about what they would have had to done to keep the smallpox vaccine viable. With no refrigeration it would have to be live carriers. I loved Isabella's struggle to maintain hope in the face of the obstacles that they faces.
    • 4/5
      It was slow to begin with - especially since every other chapter is written in the 3rd person which I find less compelling. But it was good story and I felt like I had read a good book and learned something when I was finished.
    • 3/5
      A historical fiction novel that tells the story of Don Francisco Balmis, the courageous Spainaid who embarked on a two year voyage across the world to rid the world of smallpox. He left Spain with 22 orphan boys who were live-carriers of the disease in order to vaccinate people in an attempt to rid the future populations of this deadly disease. Along with him,Isabel,an orphanage director accompanies and acts as a caregiver and 'mother' to these boys. Along the way, they were met with hostility and skepticism and the travelers grew weary with illness and indifference. Alongside this tale, we hear about Alma, a modern day Hispanic novelist who is intrigued by this story of Balmis and Isabel. Her husband,Richard, a do-gooder and an employee of HI (Help International) goes to the Dominican Republic in an effort to set up a clinic that will research the AIDS epidemic and help the poverty striken population. Richard, is taken hostage by a radical, yet youthful and inexperienced group and global-relations, diplomacy and peacefulness are shattered. Isabel finds she is drawing strength from the tale of Isabel and draws reserve from the calm that Isabel's gift as a story-teller brings to soothe the orphan boys' fears. The two stories are told in tandem and the reader is equally immersed in both tales as they attempt to meld together.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the 2 stories working together. It was especially interesting because of the historical context of the story. I always enjoy books that give me insight into other cultures and especially ones that are historical in nature. A good read.
    • 4/5
      My first Alvarez novel. While I found it hard, at first, to like Alma, with her doubts about her husband & her dithering about her progress on her contracted novel, I did like the love she showed for her elderly neighbor, & the moments of self-awareness that shone thru the more she delved into the historic story she was writing. I loved how Alma's thoughts at the end of one chapter were reflected in Isabel's in the historic chapters.I found some great quotes to inspire me. Living outside of your comfort zone, taking that blind step forward into the future, appeal to me.I was disappointed in the ending, how Alma appears accepting of the way things turned out, yet we aren't shown the struggle this would take (other than in the first few days) so it seemed false.
    • 3/5
      This was a quick read and I found it rather enjoyable. I did not like the way the author killed off the husband. At the beginning, you can see that the marriage is in trouble, and expect them to separate, but his death is too neat for me. Also, the copy of the book I read had a picture of a bed on the cover, and this did not make any sense to me, or to my friend who read it at the same time I did.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. This is literature, not just an amazing compelling read. Julia Alvarez is truly an American treasure. I could not put this book down and read it over a period of 2-3 days. It is partly historical fiction. The book moves back and forth between two remarkable women, one a present day American Hispanic writer, and the other a Spanish woman who in 1803 travels from Spain to the Americas with Francisco Balmis to vaccinate the populations of Spain's American colonies against smallpox. The historical Isabel selected 22 orphan boys from Spain to be the carriers of the cowpox virus so that vaccine could be made continuously. She is brought to take care of the boys on the 2 year expedition. The Latina novelist Alma, finds herself obsessed with Isabel's story, but faces a similar adventure in her own life which takes her to the Dominican Republic. The two women in the book face the dilemma of plagues (in the case of Isabel, small pox, in the case of Alma, Aids), poverty, politics and altruism. Do the ends justify the means? Can poor people be used for the greater good even if their lives and health are endangered in the process? The use of the orphans in 1803 to prevent smallpox and the use of poor people in the third world to test an Aids vaccine raise similar dilemma's dilemmas in the lives of these two women. The book is written with great compassion and insight. Now I must read "In the name of Salome" which has been sitting on my to read shelf for some time.
    • 3/5
      Rather disappointing. The passages about the smallpox expedition were fun to read. The rest was rather boring, despite its melodrama.