Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris

5 reviews

heidiho's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved this book. Although of course a poignant subject matter, it was also so lovingly written that I didn't want it to end. I was truly invested in the characters. It was a real page turner.
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amyford's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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pagesintranslation's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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booking_along's review

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challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was a very well written and hard to read but great novel. 

“… do you know what people are calling them? … Black Butterflies… burnet fragments of poetry and art catching in people’s hair.”

this book  doesn’t shy away from showing the horror of war from the side of the daily lives of typical people just trying to survive in a horrific situation.

it shows how people can come together, lean on each other help each other through hard situations but also how horrific people can be and most of all this book show just how utterly senseless and stupid war really is. 

that it just kills and destroys senselessly and never actually achieves anything positive no matter the outcome since the price on all sides is always too high. 


this book had beautiful passages, great characters, frustrating moments and heartbreaking moments. 


i did feel like ending was rushed and i wish there would have at least been a little paragraph at the end about all those people left behind in the war zone and what happened to them. 

they where just as much characters if this story as Zora was. 

i understand why the book ended as it did but i do wish it could have been given just a little more about some of the other characters too. 


i think this book is an extremely timely novel, not just to tell a historical event and show the horror of that but also because too many wars are being fought and never shared in this way. 

“We’re all refugees now. we spend our days waiting for water, for bread, for humanitarian handouts: beggars in our own city.”


so having a novel that really shows the daily struggles and horror of living in a city that is being bombed and fired on, where people still need to continue on just trying to survive somehow…
this book really does that well.

just as it shows just how wonderful people can be, even in the darkest moments. 

honestly the only thing i saw coming but didn’t enjoy was
the sexual relationship between zora and her neighbor
not even that it happened but how it happens and than its basically ignored in favor of telling a different aspect of the characters journey. so why include it? 
especially since we never get a clear answer of what happens with the neighbor after Zora leaves.
 



i would highly recommend this book. 

the author has an incredible way with words and manages -fittingly enough since Zora is a painter- paint a clear picture of the situations in the book in ways that really sink into you while reading the story that makes it feel almost too realistic. 
my heart raced through some moments in the story, i reared up in others…  this book packed a punch through the words the author chose.

and i think that combined with the story itself was an incredible powerful combination. 


It’s the kind of book that sticks with you and isn’t a light and easy read but one that makes you think and reflect and most of all: relate to the people in the story and their situation. 


Fantastic book! 

very well done!  
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emmalouisereads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is an incredibly easy read (as in the writing style) and not as harrowing as you might expect. It’s certainly not pleasant, but if you compare it to books like Human Acts, you’ll find it less intensely awful.

I had no former knowledge about this conflict until I read this book. Although the ins and outs of the war are still unknown to me, I’m grateful to have an understanding of how this conflict affected the normal person in Sarajevo. 

Parts of the story I wish had been explored deeper, but regardless I found this an enjoyable (? - not the subject matter) read about an important topic.
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