Saving the World

By: Julia Alvarez

Narrated by: Blanca Camacho

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 Doña Isabel, who cared for the orphan boys serving as living carriers of the smallpox vaccine. It is the narrative of the courageous Doña 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.

©2006 Julia Alvarez (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC

Split narrative never comes together -poor audio

This my 2nd Alvarez novel - after discovered her newest 'The Cemetery of Untold Stories' to be brilliant (in both the writing and the audiobook narration).
This is one of Alvarez's earlier works, and I noted in advance that reviews, both here on Audible and on Goodreads, were less than glowing. I was more than willing to contradict that negativity, but sadly I don't think I honestly can.
The novel is one with the (relatively common of late) structure of a 'novel within a novel.' The primary story of a writer's blocked popular novelist is interspersed with that character's 'reading' of a 'true' story of a woman accompanying a long ship's voyage that attempts to combat the smallpox epidemic of the late 1800s. Separately, but stories have moments of strength and perhaps might have worked better as individual novels. The alternating of storylines, at times, gets in the way of either really building the necessary momentum to grip one's attention and compassion for their narrators. Additionally, about half-way through the novel, the tone seems to change. The first half is well-written and very much in the tone of what I experienced from Alvarez'a other work. The rest seemed to lack that polish, as storylines became somewhat rushed, adverbs began running quite wild, and the overall novel suffered for it (particularly the storyline in the present, following the novelist, Alma).
And now for the strange part of listening to this work.
Blanca Camacho has a wonderful voice, does a respectable job separating the characters for the listener's ears, and is 1000% credible in her diction and pronunciation of both English and Spanish. What is extremely problematic, however, is something that perhaps is more the fault of the production that it is that of the narrator. From the very beginning, sounds from Camacho's mouth/throat are easily heard. It is not unlike the unpleasant experience of listening to someone eat with their mouth open. Her every swallow, licking of lips, etc., is clear and distasteful to the ear. Even more unusual, as I"ve listened to over 400 books on audible, was hearing the reader take a drink of water in the middle of reading.

Worst Book of all Time

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing in the known universe

Would you ever listen to anything by Julia Alvarez again?

I would rather fall into the sun that listen to her novels again

Would you be willing to try another one of Blanca Camacho’s performances?

HAHAHAHA you'r joking right?

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Ya it ended.

Any additional comments?

Never, EVER read this garbage