Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Butterfly Garden

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Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

228 reviews

sydgolt's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holy fucking shit. this is one of the best books i think ive ever read. it was beyond dark and beyond twisted, but was written, so incredibly well. I have read a fair amount of thrillers and psychological thrillers, but this one easily takes its place at the top of my list. The characters were written so well and the plot developed so seamlessly in a way that I don’t feel like I’ve read for a long time. Way that the author switched back and forth between past and present, but the story itself kept flowing, was so cool and so captivating I literally could not put this book down. When I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking about this book. I could hardly focus on anything else unless I was sitting down and reading it.

One thing I found that added to how deranged this book is, is how the author made you almost like the gardener and Desmond. she wrote them in such a delicate way, and gave them such gentle personalities that you almost started to feel safe when they came into the room. but then she would add a comment about who these people really are and it would remind you that they are monsters, and that you should not like them. It’s almost like she was giving the Stockholm syndrome. And I find that incredibly cool. I don’t think it was a particularly difficult thing for the author to do but I thought it was a really interesting addition to the experience of the book.

I will recommend this book until the day I die, but only to specific people. I do not think of this book is for everyone because of how dark and twisted it is, but the writing the characters, the plot, the ending are just so incredible.

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readingwithpeach'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? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is heavy. Please read the trigger warnings before reading. It was well portrayed, there was no glorifying the abuse. I liked the interview style of the book.

Content Warnings

kris10bova's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

themichellegray's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.5

A grim, heartbreaking story told through unstructured writing and a confusing 'interview' format. I found it quite difficult to suspend my belief for this wildly unrealistic plot which unfortunately made it read like a commodity of other's very real trauma.

While I don't find much enjoyment in this type of book, the hopefulness is what carried me forward. I was rooting for the victims eventual escape and happiness alongside justice being served. Yet the ending wasn't as gratifying as I would've liked and instead concluded with a lazy "twist" (if you can even call it that).

There's definitely an audience for this darker book seemingly created for shock value. Without much depth written into the overarching story though, I don't fit into that group.

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eimiburt's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

amandalorianxo's review

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a novel that can easily trigger those that are uneasy about reading content that has rape, kidnapping, assault and abandonment captured within the pages. This is a somewhat short novel compared to other books in this genre but I was able to get through it piece by piece (juggling other novels at the same time.) Mostly the ending threw me for a loop but some of the actions of characters didn’t fully make sense.

Yes, I understand Desmond being his son’s father but wouldn’t common sense tell you to alert the authorities once you realize your Dad and brother are messed up psychos ?! But maybe that was the point. If Sophia truly did get out, wouldn’t she want to tell someone that could help so that way the rest of the girls could be saved? If you know Avery is a prick, why continue letting him near the girls? Wouldn’t his wife question where her husband was for x amount of times / hours?

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catladytiff's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This was a let down. The concept was interesting but it fell so flat. The main character was annoying and unrealistic in her response to all the trauma she experienced and I got so tired of reading about how apathetic and cool and collected and blase she was. I kept reading because I was invested in the supposed big twist that was built up all throughout the book and it was barely anything worth mentioning. So disappointing.

Content Warnings