Alvarez is regarded as one of the most critically and commercially successful Latina writers of her time. Her published works include five novels, a book of essays, three collections of poetry, four children's books, and two works of adolescent fiction. Among her first published works were collections of poetry;
The Homecoming, published in 1984, was expanded and republished in 1996. Alvarez's poetry celebrates and questions nature and the rituals of family life, (including domestic chores) a theme in her well known poem "Dusting." Nuances of asphyxiated family life such as
exile,
assimilation,
identity, and
social class ebb and flow passionately through her poems. Alvarez found inspiration for her work from a small painting from 1894 by Pierre Bonnard called
The Circus Rider. Her poems, critic Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez suggests, give voice to the immigrant struggle.
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, Alvarez's first novel, was published in 1991, and was soon widely acclaimed. It is the first major novel written in English by a Dominican author. A largely personal novel, the book details themes of cultural hybridization and the struggles of a post-colonial Dominican Republic. Alvarez illuminates the integration of the Latina immigrant into the U.S. mainstream and shows that identity can be deeply affected by gender, ethnic, and class differences. She uses her own experiences to illustrate deep cultural contrasts between the Caribbean and the United States. So personal was the material in the novel, that for months after it was published, her mother refused to speak with her; her sisters were also not pleased with the book. Released in 1994, her second novel,
In the Time of the Butterflies, has a historical premise and elaborates on the death of the
Mirabal sisters during the time of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. In 1960, their bodies were found at the bottom of a cliff on the north coast of the island, and it is said they were a part of a revolutionary movement to overthrow the oppressive regime of the country at the time. These legendary figures are referred to as
Las Mariposas, or
The Butterflies. This story portrays women as strong characters who have the power to alter the course of history, demonstrating Alvarez's affinity for strong female protagonists and anti-colonial movements. As Alvarez has explained: : "I hope that through this fictionalized story I will bring acquaintance of these famous sisters to English speaking readers. November 25, the day of their murders is observed in many Latin American countries as the International Day Against Violence Toward Women. Obviously, these sisters, who fought one tyrant, have served as models for women fighting against injustices of all kinds." Drawing from her own experiences, Alvarez portrays the success of a writer who uses her family as the inspiration for her work. Alvarez's opinions on the hybridization of culture are often conveyed through the use of Spanish-English malapropisms, or
Spanglish; such expressions are especially prominent in
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. Alvarez describes the language of the character of Laura as "a mishmash of mixed-up idioms and sayings". In 1998 her short story "The Rudy Elmenhurst Story" was included in
The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction edited by
R. V. Cassill and
Joyce Carol Oates. In 2001, Julia Alvarez published her first children's picture book, “The Secret Footprints”. This book was written by Alvarez, and illustrated by Fabian Negrin. The book was about the Ciguapas, which are part of a Dominican legend. The Ciguapas are a fictional people that have dark skin, black eyes, with long, shiny hair that flows down the length their bodies. They have backward feet, so that when they walk their footprints point backward. The main character is named Guapa, and she is described as being bold, and has a fascination with humans to the point that it threatens the secrecy of the Ciguapas. The book features themes such as community, curiosity, difference, gender roles, and folklore. Alvarez has also published young adult fiction, notably
Return to Sender (2009) about the friendship that forms between the middle school age son of a Vermont Dairy farmer, and the same-age daughter of the undocumented Mexican dairy worker hired by the boy's family. The children's lives offer many parallels, as both children lose a grandparent, and have one parent injured (Tyler's) or missing (Mari's), but other aspects of their lives are lived in sharp contrast according to their legal status. The book argues for a shared humanity that transcends borders and nationality, but does not shy from difficult issues like dangerous border crossing, criminal coyotes who exploit the vulnerable, and forced deportation. A similar young adult work that examines difficult political circumstances and children's experience of them is
Before We Were Free (2003), told from the perspective of a young girl in the Dominican Republic in the months before and just after the assassination of dictator
Rafael Trujillo. This novel addresses Dominican history in an accessible, riveting plot, describing aspects of the situation in 1961 little covered in most histories in English. Again, Alvarez uses the friendship between an American boy and Latina young girl as part of the story, but makes the relationship much less central in this earlier work.
In the Name of Salomé (2000) is a historical novel based on the lives of
Salomé Ureña and of
Camila Henríquez Ureña, both Dominican writers and respectively mother and daughter, to illustrate how they devoted their lives to political causes. The novel takes place in several locations, including the Dominican Republic before a backdrop of political turbulence, Communist Cuba in the 1960s, and several university campuses across the United States, containing themes of empowerment and activism. As the protagonists of this novel are both women, Alvarez illustrates how these women, "came together in their mutual love of [their homeland] and in their faith in the ability of women to forge a conscience for Out Americas." This book has been widely acclaimed for its careful historical research and captivating story, and was described by
Publishers Weekly as "one of the most politically moving novels of the past half century." ==Influence on Latino literature==