Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Black Butterflies

I couldn’t put this novel down. Set at the beginning of the war in Sarajevo in the Spring of 1992, it’s propulsive in a way that the war feels to the characters. One day it’s unbelievable and then suddenly you’re in the midst and bombs are falling. It’s claustrophobic at times, at times hopeful. There is beauty and pathos. The novel is written in a very close third person, present-tense, and I felt as though I was in the action, experiencing everything that Zora did. Given what is going on in the world today, this feels like a necessary book.

Content Warnings

imo_reads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

This is a deeply moving book that chronicles the life and times of Sarajevans as their city slips slowly out of their grasp and into the depths of war. The narrative masterfully conveys the creeping sense of dread that things will not get better, interlaced with moments of unity and hope. It aims not to sensationalise or to shock, but to give a true sense of what life was like for ordinary people in Sarajevo in that first brutal year of the war - and it illustrates this with breathtaking clarity. Should be compulsory reading for everyone in light of the war in Ukraine.

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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!

Content Warnings

ellieisreading's review against another edition

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dark hopeful sad medium-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? No

5.0

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective tense medium-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? No

4.25

Black Butterflies is set in Sarajevo in 1992. When ethnic tensions spill over into violence, Zora sends her husband and elderly mother to safety in the UK. She believes the violence will soon subside but if not she will join them. However, by the time she makes the decision to leave she is unable to do so and is trapped in a city under siege. I loved many things about this book. It did a great job showing how quickly the veneer of civilisation disappeared, how fast a sense of normality could change. Food scarcity, stepping over dead bodies in the street, and trapping pigeons on a windowsill in order to eat them went from being unimaginable to standard practice in such a short space of time. At times it was a hard and brutal read, especially after learning that much of it was based on different aspects of the author’s family history. The realities of living in a war torn city were starkly yet not gratuitously portrayed. And the author also balanced the darkness by also focussing on friendships and community, the way neighbours helped and supported each other. The prose was mostly simple and unadorned which I think suited the subject matter. There were two beautiful examples of imagery that caught my attention - one was the bridges painted by Zora and the way they symbolised connection; the other was the black butterflies referenced in the title. I also liked the way the author folded in some mythology as well as accounts of pre-war Sarajevo, a great way of reminding readers that the city was once beautiful, vibrant and harmonious. Finally I appreciated the author highlighting the important role the arts, in this case painting and literature, can play in helping nourish people’s spirits through tough times.

I’m sure I’m not the only reader whose mind travelled to the Ukraine while reading this book. For one country in Europe this book is historical fiction; in another what is portrayed is the current reality.

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