Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Butterfly Garden

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

17 reviews

sshammyss's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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aparker89's review

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book kicks off with a bang and doesn't stop! It's a super fast paced read that holds a lot in its few pages! You are immediately thrown into the middle of a horrific story and you just have to find out what happens! The final twist at the end is a little too thrown together and honestly I would have left it out, but I'm not the author. This is a great book to jump into and just enjoy!
Note this book is a horror/thriller and while the author does "protect" us from some of it early on that shielding does disappear as the story progresses.

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evevallarta's review

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Wow.
Esta demasiado intenso, es una historia muy fuerte, aunque el final cierra bien, hay una luz al final del tunel.
Esta narrado de manera muy unica e incluso al final sorprende un pequeño twist.
Definitivamente recomiendo checar los trigger warnings ⚠️ porque son a lo larggo de toooodo el libro.
Se gana sus 5 estrellas porque no le encontré ni un error, me engancho desde el principio
AUNQUE, no es de mis favoritos.

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thatbookmarkbabe's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a tough one because this story really pulled me in and I read it in basically one sitting. I found myself just wanting to know what transpired to get to the point of Maya sitting with the detectives.

The pros:
-reminded me of Criminal Minds
-pulls you in and keeps you hooked
-the different characters really show people's different responses to trauma and a difficult situation, and I really grew to love the main butterflies depicted in the book

But i had a few issues with it that were hard to ignore, which I'll sum up in just a few points:
-this book forces you to suspend disbelief... like a lot
-the plot twist at the end was just laughable and unnecessary
-there was such a disconnect from the horrible elements that felt almost clinical. I didn't feel as much horror, terror, fear, panic, emotion, etc that you would expect based on some of the things that were described, and while i am not a fan of gratuitous violence for violence sake, it could have benefitted from more emotional and vivid descriptions of these events. The Gardener didn't feel as scary to me because I felt i was told he should be scary rather than shown
-the detectives felt like a rather unnecessary plot device
-I wish there were more stakes. Maybe if the events were told as they were unfolding, it would have felt that way

we already know the girls are freed and the abusive son is dead within the first 25% of the book, and there are like... 0 attempts at escape which i find terribly unbelievable considering there were 20-30 girls there at any given time being subjected to rape and torture and murder.

Overall I didn't hate the book for its flaws as many seem to. I still was hooked and reeled in, but it had the potential to be a 5 star read, if it weren't for the points described above.

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abbyycadabbyy's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

4.0

"The carousel’s over now,” he tells her quietly. “This time your family is waiting for you." I don't normally put quotes in my review but damn this on was good.

This book had me super hooked from the first page. I loved how the book switched from the interview to Maya's time in the garden. The detectives did get on my nerves when they would interrupt her.

Maya's character is so great to me. She has been through so much in her life, but every time she has been able to become a better person because of it. Her personality is one I really enjoy from a character. In a dark book like this it's good to have a funny character with a little humor. Her life was horrible, but hopefully her life gets better after this book.

I kinda feel bad for The Gardener. Yes, he did horrible things that are not justifiable, but I feel like he really did feel like he was giving the butterflies a good life. I HATE AVERY WITH EVERY BONE IN MY BODY. He was such a horrible man. He got what he deserved in the end.

I thought the ending was a little weird. I thought that the "plot twist" was really dumb. I am curious about what the other books could be about.

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thebiblioboo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

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prachidayal's review against another edition

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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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