Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

25 reviews

prachidayal's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

• Medium read (6 hours)
• I don't know what to say because I can't figure out what Hutchison's goal was in writing this book. It's so graphic and reads as trauma porn. While it is written well, the shocking descriptions are what carry the book, not the writing. It feels like a YA novel with a desperate attempt to tell a dark story. There are a lot of plot holes (further diminishing the book's structure) with an anticlimactic ending. Why could the 20-something girls not overpower the old man? Why did Sirvat do what she did? Why did Elenor never look up and see Maya, and how was the Gardener willing to take that risk?
  Also, why are we expected to sympathize with Sophia? She stood by while the Gardner kidnapped girls for a decade because she thought she would lose her child to a man who would be in prison (or on death row).
  Lastly, Maya's age on her license was 19 and she was there for 3.5 years which just doesn't add up. I also worry that while some of the book's audience is deeply repulsed by the plot, there might be an audience filled with creeps that enjoy this book for all the wrong reasons. The characters were poorly developed because they just had one dimension (Bliss is the exception.) Maya is supposed to be smart and nonchalant, Avery is just aggressive, and Desmond was written like someone we are supposed to root for despite being so complacent. Also, I get the plan to seduce him into helping them escape, but it seemed like Maya actually likes him, and the other butterflies saw it too. How were they not furious with her? Also, how was Desmond okay with having sex with the same person as his dad and brother? The dialogue also felt forced. One of the major mysteries throughout the book is supposed to be that Maya is hiding something, and the conclusion to that fell flat. Also, she was extremely open to telling her story, so I don't know why the officers were being so pushy. Finally, not only did the book read like it was written by a man, but it also read like a book authored by someone who has a fetish for people of color. It was nauseating to read sentences like "her orange wings contrasted her ebony skin," "her caramel skin," or my favorite, "she was an exquisite creature of Japanese descent."
• I liked Bliss, and the writing (excluding the dialogue) was pretty good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Cursing, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Abandonment

sarah2438's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The ending was just a bit too rosy for me. But the book is very well written and despite its darkness, it is tactful in the depictions of SA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Confinement, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Pedophilia and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Body horror

livgrayson_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

drs645's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Body horror, Torture, Suicide, and Kidnapping

cait's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture

ladylovestead's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

This is a fun read if I don't think too much about it. I thought the butterfly garden was creepy the characters were interesting. There were some issues in logic that I struggled with. For example, the butterfly garden must be just a huge structure. It housed lots of girls each with their own room. Then there were rooms for like snacks and a natural area with a cliff and a waterfall. This garden was supposed to be nestled inside an even larger greenhouse? The geometry didn't make sense to me and I found things like this to be really distracting. If you can ignore some of those logic issues and read it for sheer entertainment, it's a dark and twisted fun ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction

jjenkins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

This is a very dark thriller told from an FBI investigator’s perspective and a victims perspective as they investigate a horrible tragedy involving the kidnapping, abuse, and murder of girls. The writing was stunning and the story unfolded in a very unique way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

heartobarto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The POVs are really captivating, the story is great, the characters are great

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Rape

thehireader's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

5.0

I really wasn’t sure going in about this book—I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle how disturbing it was, especially after having had such a strong reaction to PRETTY GIRLS—but wow, it ended up being fantastic. Inara was an amazing character and I loved how the whole time, you were wondering just how reliable she was. 

 

I don’t always enjoy when books move between the past and the present but it was done so well in THE BUTTERFLY GARDEN. The way the story moved between the interview in the present and Inara’s account of the story in the past was seamless and kept me on the edge of my seat. And I appreciated how the author didn’t just spend the whole story building only to leave all the action at the end. Unlike so many thrillers I’ve read lately, the pacing was fantastic and the ending didn’t feel rushed and actually gave a sense of closure. 

 

This book is not for everyone and there are lots of trigger warnings. I appreciated, however, that the author never made it feel exploitative, and that the story was ultimately more about the characters themselves than the truly awful things that were done to them (or, in the case of the perpetrators, the awful things they did). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Abortion, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

mariam_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

The ending felt very rushed and a lot of things didn’t add up, really liked the idea of the book and the way it was written, and how it switched from the police interview to the main character’s point of view. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault