You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
catapocalypse 's review for:
Death in a Budapest Butterfly
by Julia Buckley
Got a third of the way through and could not finish it.
I've tried to like the "cozy mystery" type books, and hoped this would be better than previous ones I'd tried. The blurb and preview seemed promising, and the Hungarian elements appealing, but I was sorely disappointed once again. Banter between characters feels forced. Characters in their late twenties/early thirties think and behave like naive white high schoolers.
I specify white here in particular because holy smokes, the main character, Hana, has an eugenics-level obsession with ethnicity. It's understandable to be wrapped up in her own Hungarian heritage, especially with the event for the Magyar Women. But she's commenting constantly on others: the French pastry chef, the detective who must be Norwegian because his name is Erik with a "k," the friend whose family name was French yet whose parents studied Russian literature (utterly inexplicable to her, apparently).
I was curious about the outcome of the mystery, but not enough to make up for the ridiculous (and a little unnerving) flaws. My reading list is too long to labor through the other two-thirds of this one.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention the weird subplot with the brother's girlfriend. Immediately upon meeting her, he worked to insert himself into her life and disrupt it because he felt she was just too shy; she was a "social challenge" for him to fix, essentially, and did things like schedule outings with social goals for her, which was a big YIKES.
I've tried to like the "cozy mystery" type books, and hoped this would be better than previous ones I'd tried. The blurb and preview seemed promising, and the Hungarian elements appealing, but I was sorely disappointed once again. Banter between characters feels forced. Characters in their late twenties/early thirties think and behave like naive white high schoolers.
I specify white here in particular because holy smokes, the main character, Hana, has an eugenics-level obsession with ethnicity. It's understandable to be wrapped up in her own Hungarian heritage, especially with the event for the Magyar Women. But she's commenting constantly on others: the French pastry chef, the detective who must be Norwegian because his name is Erik with a "k," the friend whose family name was French yet whose parents studied Russian literature (utterly inexplicable to her, apparently).
I was curious about the outcome of the mystery, but not enough to make up for the ridiculous (and a little unnerving) flaws. My reading list is too long to labor through the other two-thirds of this one.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot to mention the weird subplot with the brother's girlfriend. Immediately upon meeting her, he worked to insert himself into her life and disrupt it because he felt she was just too shy; she was a "social challenge" for him to fix, essentially, and did things like schedule outings with social goals for her, which was a big YIKES.