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    Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
    Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
    Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
    Ebook487 pages7 hours

    Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel

    By Reyna Grande

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In Dancing with Butterflies, Reyna Grande renders the Mexican immigrant experience in “lyrical and sensual” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) prose through the poignant stories of four women brought together through folklorico dance.

    Dancing with Butterflies uses the alternating voices of four very different women whose lives interconnect through a common passion for their Mexican heritage and a dance company called Alegría. Yesenia, who founded Alegría with her husband, Eduardo, sabotages her own efforts to remain a vital, vibrant woman when she travels back and forth across the Mexican border for cheap plastic surgery. Elena, grief-stricken by the death of her only child and the end of her marriage, finds herself falling dangerously in love with one of her underage students. Elena's sister, Adriana, wears the wounds of abandonment by a dysfunctional family and becomes unable to discern love from abuse. Soledad, the sweet-tempered illegal immigrant who designs costumes for Alegría, finds herself stuck back in Mexico, where she returns to see her dying grandmother.

    Reyna Grande has brought these fictional characters so convincingly to life that readers will imagine they know them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWashington Square Press
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9781439149607
    Dancing with Butterflies: A Novel
    Author

    Reyna Grande

    Reyna Grande is the author of several books, including the bestselling memoir The Distance Between Us, where she writes about her life before and after she arrived in the United States from Mexico as an undocumented child immigrant, and the much-anticipated sequel, A Dream Called Home. She also co-edited an anthology by and about undocumented Americans called Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings. Her books have been adopted as the common read selection by schools, colleges and cities across the country.

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    Reviews for Dancing with Butterflies

    4.5/5

    12 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I was looking at this book primarily for the dance culture standpoint but I found it to be instead about people, young and old, making bad choices, and about immigration. The dancing is just a setting for the constant foolish actions of all but three of the characters, and only one of those wise ones is among the half dozen main characters.There is still a little about the love of dancing but for me, not enough to offset the deluge of beatings, infidelity, lying and theft for the dance picture to carry the book.However the memoir by the same author is a very motivational and an exciting story, well worth reading
    • 5/5
      Reyna Grande has written an autobiographical novel in which she reveals her personal and family history through four very different characters. The Hispanic women, living in Los Angeles, have a common focal point, Folklorico, but have divergent interests and goals. Folklorico is traditional Mexican dance that draws on the regional culture of Mexico, each region with its own favorite dance and costume. The choreography involves creative interpretations of the rich history of Mexico. The characters express culturally determined dreams but also hold realistic personal goals. The interesting dilemma is that there are two cultures fighting for the souls of the women who take turns narrating the story. Yesenia in her 40s is the oldest, and has pushed her body so hard in her years of dancing that she has permanently injured her knee. The Grupo Folklorico Alegria was founded by Yesenia but her injury causes her to look at it with bitter regret instead of pride since she can no longer dance. Elena is younger and one of the best dancers in Alegria. She took maternity leave from the group but maintained contact with the dancers. A tragedy makes Elena reject Folkorico, her husband, and her Mexican culture as she suppresses her desire to dance. Adriana, Elena's sister, is the youngest of the four narrators with a history of an alcoholic father who sexually abused her. She has only a week bond with Alegria, and her dance shows some technical skill but no heart. She blames Elena for abandoning her allowing their father to have a free hand with Adriana. Soledad is the costume designer for the group, an overweight non-dancer. She is the most self-sacrificing of the four characters. Yet, she feels the closest bond with Folklorica and her Mexican heritage. She would like to open her own dress shop. Unlike the others though, she is without "papers," an illegal immigrant. The women interact closely with one another and come to individual turning points where they have one more chance to fully embrace their heritage, their meaning in life. The decision, that must come at great personal cost, is worth it if they can dance with butterflies. Butterflies are the souls of dead loved ones who return on the Day of the Dead to visit the living and revitalize the connection with the bountiful Mexican culture. The novel contains a "Conversation with Reyna Grande" at the end. She reveals that the four characters represent aspects of her being. She indicates that Adriana is the character with whom she has the greatest personal identification. Grande's meaning in life is expressed not in dance but in creative writing, drawing, and painting. She drew the line sketches of Flokorico dancers at the beginning of each chapter. The integration of the four parts of the author's inner life creates a realism of thought and behavior in the characters. Dancing with Butterflies is reminiscent of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but is written in a simpler style. As in Marquez' novel, the theme is continuity of culture, families, and tradition during peaceful times and invasions of aggressive cultures. The outcome is resilience in times of destructive state and personal weaknesses, all culminating in this novel in the celebration of the spirit through dance.
    • 5/5
      As with her debut novel, Across a Hundred Mountains, Reyna Grande unveils another passionate novel with strong Latina characters, all of whom share a deep love for Folklorico dancing. Each of the women struggles with loss and personal failures while turning to eachother for support. This novel started out somewhat slowly as the characters were fully developed over time. It was painful to watch some of these women make mistakes that they were obviously going to regret. However, the novel picked up as the storylines reached critical points and by the end of the novel I could not put the book down. Reyna did a wonderful job integrating symbolism and symmetrical themes in the novel and at some points the parallels were breathtaking. I really enjoyed this novel and I can't wait for her next one. The only concern may be that some readers will have trouble with the frequent use of untranslated Spanish phrases. While some of these could be guessed from context, some of the beauty of the novel (song lyrics, poetry, etc.) will be lost for non-bilingual readers.
    • 5/5
      Reyna Grande has written an autobiographical novel in which she reveals her personal and family history through four very different characters. The Hispanic women, living in Los Angeles, have a common focal point, Folklorico, but have divergent interests and goals. Folklorico is traditional Mexican dance that draws on the regional culture of Mexico, each region with its own favorite dance and costume. The choreography involves creative interpretations of the rich history of Mexico. The characters express culturally determined dreams but also hold realistic personal goals. The interesting dilemma is that there are two cultures fighting for the souls of the women who take turns narrating the story. Yesenia in her 40s is the oldest, and has pushed her body so hard in her years of dancing that she has permanently injured her knee. The Grupo Folklorico Alegria was founded by Yesenia but her injury causes her to look at it with bitter regret instead of pride since she can no longer dance. Elena is younger and one of the best dancers in Alegria. She took maternity leave from the group but maintained contact with the dancers. A tragedy makes Elena reject Folkorico, her husband, and her Mexican culture as she suppresses her desire to dance. Adriana, Elena's sister, is the youngest of the four narrators with a history of an alcoholic father who sexually abused her. She has only a week bond with Alegria, and her dance shows some technical skill but no heart. She blames Elena for abandoning her allowing their father to have a free hand with Adriana. Soledad is the costume designer for the group, an overweight non-dancer. She is the most self-sacrificing of the four characters. Yet, she feels the closest bond with Folklorica and her Mexican heritage. She would like to open her own dress shop. Unlike the others though, she is without "papers," an illegal immigrant. The women interact closely with one another and come to individual turning points where they have one more chance to fully embrace their heritage, their meaning in life. The decision, that must come at great personal cost, is worth it if they can dance with butterflies. Butterflies are the souls of dead loved ones who return on the Day of the Dead to visit the living and revitalize the connection with the bountiful Mexican culture. The novel contains a "Conversation with Reyna Grande" at the end. She reveals that the four characters represent aspects of her being. She indicates that Adriana is the character with whom she has the greatest personal identification. Grande's meaning in life is expressed not in dance but in creative writing, drawing, and painting. She drew the line sketches of Flokorico dancers at the beginning of each chapter. The integration of the four parts of the author's inner life creates a realism of thought and behavior in the characters. Dancing with Butterflies is reminiscent of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but is written in a simpler style. As in Marquez' novel, the theme is continuity of culture, families, and tradition during peaceful times and invasions of aggressive cultures. The outcome is resilience in times of destructive state and personal weaknesses, all culminating in this novel in the celebration of the spirit through dance.

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    Dancing with Butterflies - Reyna Grande

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