Dec 30, 2009

In the Time of the Butterflies | Literary Precedents

Mother Tongue, by Chicana poet Demetria Martínez, is the story of a young Chicana who falls in love with a refugee from El Salvador. The young man is exiled to the United States after being tortured as a counterinsurgent in his own country. Reviewer Elizabeth Martínez said that "good novels with political themes are a rare treat. Here we have not one but two: along with Butterflies comes Mother Tongue." She went on to compare the books interwoven personal and political themes, maturation of young female characters, links between spiritual and political matters,...