Something to Declare

An online search failed to turn up anything interesting to read, so I started poking around in my book shelves.  I found a copy of Something to Declare by Julia Alvarez that I had somehow never read.  That was a surprise because she is one of my favorites and I have read most of what she has written.

The book is a collection of short articles and essays written over a period of years about the author's experiences as an immigrant to the U.S.  She recounts her early childhood in the Dominican Republic within a large and prosperous family, including her three sisters. Her father was a doctor and her beloved grandfather a cultural affairs delegate to the United Nations. What soon became obvious was that status and wealth were no barriers to the scrutiny of the dictator Trujillo's secret police.

The family's vulnerability was increased by the fact that Alvarez's father owned a prohibited firearm and he was a participant in the clandestine resistance to the dictatorship. When a secret police vehicle started blocking their driveway at night it was clear that the time had come to escape the island.  

Permission to travel to the United States was narrowly obtained on the pretext of advanced surgical studies by the father.  The family's wealth and connections allowed them to fly to New York where they found asylum, and thus began Julia's challenge of learning to navigate a new culture and a new language. Her long list of well-received books in her adopted language is a testament to her arduous but successful journey.