The Other Side/El Otro Lado

by Julia Alvarez

The New York Times Book Review  has praised Alvarez’s fiction as “powerful...beautifully captures the experience of the new immigrant’s doorway where a memory is not yet the past and the future is still a dream.” 

These same qualities characterize her poetry—from the “Making Up the Past” poems, which explore a life of exile as lived by a young girl, to “The Joe Poems,” a series of beautifully sensual and funny love poems that celebrate a middle-aged romance. The collection culminates in the poem of the title: the twenty-one-part epic about the poet’s return to her native Dominican Republic, and to the internal affirmation of the conflict and the last one that the trip caused. Innovation and bold invention, the interaction of sound, the senses, and the rhythm of two languages, all characterize Julia Alvarez’s art in transforming precious memory into unforgettable poetry

La revisión del New York Times Book Review ha elogiado la ficción de Alvarez como "poderosa…captura maravillosamente la experiencia del umbral del nuevo inmigrante donde no está todavía una memoria el pasado y el futuro sigue siendo un sueño."

Estas mismas calidades caracterizan su poesía–desde sus poemas en “Making Up the Past,” los cuales exploran una vida del exilio, según vivido por una muchacha joven, hasta los poemas de "The Joe Poems," una serie de poemas maravillosamente sensuales y divertidos acerca de la celebración del amor a la mediana edad. La colección culmina en el poema del título: una épica colección de veintiún partes sobre el regreso de la poeta a su República Dominicana nativa y a la afirmación interna del conflicto ocasionado por su último viaje.  La innovación y la invención, la interacción del sonido, el sentido, y el ritmo de dos idiomas, todas caracterizan el arte de Julia Álvarez al transformar memoria preciosa en poesía inolvidable.

Genres: Poetry, Race, Personal Development, Latin American, Spanish Literature, Adult, Immigration

155 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez.” In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.

Photo copyright by Brandon Cruz González
EL VOCERO DE PUERTO RICO

Reviews

[Tristan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Rating 4.5 rounded up for moments of absolute brilliance.

This book was a beautiful exploration of exile and the meaning of home. The Other Side/El Otro Lado (from now on referred to by either of its titles) is far more focused than Alvarez's later The Woman I Kept to Myself, really zeroing in on her experience as a Dominican-American and her discovery of who she is and how she fits into both/either/neither of her worlds. This comes in part, from the presence of longer poems and more focused sequences. This book is divided into six sections, three of which are single poems and one of those "El Otro Lado" goes for nearly forty pages of this fairly short collection. "El Otro Lado" tells the story of a trip back to the Dominican Republic, beginning at an "Artist Colony" where she wants to end her writers' block, and then spending the bulk of the poem in the poor fishing village of Boca. Alvarez comes out of Boca with greater understanding of her identity and her relationship to the world around her. This poem had some fantastic sections, like section eighteen, which narrates a young boy begging this monied stranger for alms. Here is a piece of it:

"Un peso, un peso, un peso,"
no coaxing, no sob story,
the need obvious,
his sugar-sack shift peeled
over a skinny shoulder,
his nose running.

I peel off my glasses,
look him in the eye.
"Give me peace," I say
in a voice as plaintive as his,
"Peace, please."
He stops, the needle lifting
from its grooce
as he goes back over his few years,
recollecting
if this has ever happened before?
The tables turned--
the patrona begging him back!

But it also contains some of the weakest sections of the book. Alvarez's poetry often is in a very soft free verse, the rhythm and music there, but rolling and bubbling gently at the surface--once in a while, she loses control of her words just enough for the poetry to slip back down to the bottom, leaving only clear, strong prose telling a beautiful story. Often these bits last only for a few lines withing an otherwise strong poem or section and so are difficult to find, but they showed up more than once or twice in "El Otro Lado".

I thought the weakest section was "The Gladys Poems", about her early childhood in the Dominican Republic; the poems of immigration and exile (particularly "Sound Bites" and "Between Dominica and Ecuador") of "Making Up the Past" and the narrative captured in "The Joe Poems" were more musical, although all three contributed to the comprehensive image of exile and the slow discovery of home and adult identity.
El Otro Lado is best encapsulated by the fabulous first poem "Bilingual Sestina" (one of my four favorite poems), which captures the push and pull of both languages and thus both homes, in which Alvarez has lived.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my mind, Alvarez is one of the queens in Latina literature. Love her poetry, prose and fiction. As I am learning the Spanish language, reading poetry and listening to music in the language helps it 'stick'.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super beautiful poems; many seem like prose poems. The people she is writing about are present and real. There is an attention to social class that complicates the duality of Spanish/English, DR/USA.

[Fernanda Bueno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great poems on Latino culture, immigration experience, assimilation, and struggling to find an identity between two languages. A must for bilingual writers who need help expressing their foreign feelings but can't find the words.

[Nichole Hollingsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I normally enjoy Julia Alvarez, I didnt enjoy this book of poems as much as I had hoped. Several were hard to follow or understand. A few I did enjoy and she does have a way with writing the awkward tenderness of new live.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

julia alvarez always comes through. most of her poetry was more like short stories or vinettes. but love love love her writing.

[Micahlibris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful work, but her transitions are a tad jarring. I had a hard time deciding whether this was a work of prose fiction or poetry. That may be the kind of tension that makes it great however.

[Bibliomama · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Gladys Poems and Making Up the Past. Other sections not so much.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1995
This is a book of poetry, though of unusual form.
The longest is "The Other Side", 40 pages.
I am not into poetry, though this longer one was enough to give me a story.
This longer one, and some of the others, are written in long unrhymed lines.
No obvious rhythm/cadence though perhaps the lines do average about 6 stressed syllables.
In any case, I rather liked the text written in these lines that were each approximately a clause long; the separate lines force me to read a lot more slowly, and thus give me time to let the line sink in.
If it had been typeset as running prose, I would have sailed through the text and not stopped anywhere, I think.

As to the subject matter, it seems the narrator is Dominican by birth, with family still living in the Dominican capital, who has immigrated to the US [New York??] but is currently on a 3-month writer-in-residence program in her home country. Writer's block is mentioned.

The poems in the book are grouped sort of by topic, but taken as a whole do not for me form a coherent something. [I guess I'm wondering if this collection is an attempt to get out of an actual existing writer's block by going ahead and publishing something that doesn't cohere.]. There is quite a bit about feelings related to immigrant life, responses to that, and in the longer set the impressions of and responses to a temporarily returning immigrant.

It's just better for me to stick to fiction!

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a huge heart for all the Latina Chicana writers before me. She brings to life the people that were part of her life. Opening the door and welcoming the reader into the worlds she once belonged and belongs in. Shares her struggles and plights that one can relate whether a woman and specifically if marginalized or not considered a guest at various tables. she shares her time of privilege and her time of breaking the glass ceiling. One poem stands alone as her pilgrimage going through assimilation and in proving herself to others in the literary cannon of her skills. Worth the read, you will gain much and be inspired to write of your own personal stories in poetic form.

[Katie]

Another potential book for one of our new IB classes. I loved the poems and the way that the collection was organized. I don't know which ones the teacher is planning on using. At about a third of the way through the book, the book shifts into a more adult tone. Alvarez writes about love and her return to the Dominican Republic. Alvarez effectively writes about that sense of both belonging and being an outsider as she tries to figure out where to take her life (and with whom).

[Jo Skeffington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by a friend and I too would highly recommend this book since I enjoyed it very much. Such an amazing author; how she sees things and pens them is mind boggling to me. A portion on page 116 really stood out for me…
‘Worthy causes sounded the call -the best headed for the front lines
But I hung back, unsure, if this was the thing I’d die for,
And so perhaps never found what it was I would live for.”

[Jemmie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alvarez details an early childhood in the Dominican Republic followed by an awkward fleeing to her new American life. She often describes a splitting of self between the two places that manifests painfully in her daily life. This autobiographical poetry collection paints a layered portrait of a fascinating artist.

[Dezi Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started out enjoying this book but somewhere along the line, it turned into a bit of a mess for me. The stanzas because paragraphs, the poems more like short stories. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just didn’t work for me.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's reassuring and saddening that being a woman on her own has always been this challenge (and gift?) of endless self discovery.

[Trey Whitted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for her

[Meghan MURPHDADDY · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alvarez details an early childhood in the Dominican Republic followed by an awkward fleeing to her new American life. She describes a splitting of self between the 2 places that manifests painfully.

[Carrie Cantalupo-Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Especially the Joe poems.
V - I skimmed. Did not hold my interest.
But, I am a devoted Alvarez fan!

[MacKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not usually a poetry gal but I quite enjoyed that

[Caroline Laverick · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m REALLY trying to like poetry so the fact that this gets 3 stars is significant—- if you like poetry you’ll love this but i just kept thinking how awesome it would be as a novel

[Kristine Thurston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like these poems underlie her later novels. Alvarez was a poet first. I especially loved the long last section of linked prose poems.

[nebula]

ngl some of the poetry was good but I didn't really think it fit the theme that I was expecting

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed how the poems create a biography of Julia Alvarez's life.

[Wendy Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd forgotten how delicious this Mangú’ of a book was. Well worth the second look I gave it.