Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett

To everyone who suffered during 9/11, my condolences go to you. It's a day in history that will never be forgotten, even if I was too young to remember. May they rest in peace.


Who: Sonya Hartnett
What: Butterfly
When: August 2010
Why: Cover love
How: Review Copy from Candlewick

Plum Coyle is on the edge of adolescence. Her fourteenth
birthday is approaching, when her old life and her old body will fall away, and
she will become graceful, powerful, and at ease. The strength of the objects she
stores in a briefcase under her bed —a crystal lamb, a yoyo, an antique watch, a
coin —will make sure of it. Over the next couple of weeks, Plum’s life will
change. Her beautiful neighbor Maureen will begin to show Plum how she might
fly. The older brothers she adores will court catastrophe in worlds that she
barely knows exist. And her friends, her worst enemies, will tease and test,
smelling weakness. They will try to lead her on and take her down

It's going to be complicated writing this review because even after a week of complentating, I still don't know if I liked it or hated it. So i'm gonna try to sort through why I did and why I didn't. Here we go:

Butterfly is about a young girl who has self-esteem issues and just wants to be richer/popular/beautiful. Basic stuff right? Well, Plum (or Aria) was for the most part, was extremely annoying. She was a brat, ungrateful, and just made...issuses with everything. I mean, yeah she's a 14 year old, what can you expect? But i'm a fourteen year old and i'm nothing like her. I never connected with Plum, I just stood in the sidelines going 'Urgh, seriously?" So her, was pretty much a major no-no in my book.

Then came the side characters, which were really well done. Especially her two brothers, which are main components to the story. All of Plum's friends were perfectly judgemental yet caring, even if Plum didn't appreciate them like she should. Sure Dash, Rachel and Sam were especially mean, and I would've dropped them like potatoes if they were my friend, but Caroline and Sophie? Super nice people that she should've tried more to impress than the other jerks.

Now my favorite part of this book was Sonya's writing. She writes in a way so lyrical and beautiful and that's what made me keep turning the pages. It's the way she'd put things, her metaphors and such, that had me eating out of the palm of her hand. The writing is what saved this book from never being finished.

My rating? MEH. Even if the writing was good, the main character pretty much spoiled my enjoyment for this book.

Happy Reading!
-Harmony B.