Alvarez populates this novel with a huge cast of characters. They are predominantly comprised of several generations of a few Dominican families, primarily the Henriquez and the Urena families, but they extend to include those whose fortunes are intertwined with the country and the principal characters. The major characters include Salome Urena; her parents, Gregoria and Nicolas; her aunt Ana; and her sister, Ramona. Salome and her husband, Francisco Henriquez (Pancho or Papancho), a poet and politician who served as president of the Dominican Republic for four months, have four children: Francisco (Fran); Pedro (Pibin), who is the Norton Lecturer at Harvard in Latin American Studies in 1941; Maximiliano; and Camila, a professor of Spanish language and literature and the narrative voice of half of the chapters of the book. In addition, there is Pancho's "French" family, about whom Camila speculates, especially when she meets a French woman.

Then...