A review by nocturnalbookworm
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

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

4.5

 Holy Sh*t At first that's all I can say. I intended to just start this before bed last night and I literally could not put it down. The storytelling style was so smooth and the pacing of everything being revealed just sucked me in where I couldn't help but keep turning the pages. A chilling and dark story if you are easily disturbed or triggered this is not the book for you but if you can handle it it is a haunting and engaging story.

I read a lot of reviews where people said things like they couldn't imagine certain victims in the story reacting to things the way they do or taking the actions they do and I have to say, as someone who has been though psychologically and sexually abusive relationships and situation, I found the depictions of the victims disturbingly and heartbreaking realistic. What I went through is nowhere near what happens in this book, but I did find the coping mechanisms and the rational of some of the victims in the book all too familiar at times. We all like to imagine we may be a certain way or do certain things in bad situations, but things like this can really fuck someone up psychologically and you just don't know until you are in that place. 
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