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Butterfly

3.21 of 5 stars 3.21 · rating details · 510 ratings · 120 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 240 pages

Published August 24th 2010 by Candlewick Press (first published March 1st 2009)

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Jun 10, 2012 Anna rated it 2 of 5 stars

*Contains mild spoilers, don't worry, nothing that will come close to ruining the book*
When I checked this book out at my local library the lady at the checkout counter looked at it and said "beautiful cover, beautiful title," which made me think to myself, "this book is gonna be awesome!" As you can see from my 2/5 star review, I didn't like it very much. Reading it made me feel uncomfortable, sad, and sort of dirty; like you've been sweating at the beach on a 100 degree summer day but you coul...more *Contains mild spoilers, don't worry, nothing that will come close to ruining the book*
When I checked this book out at my local library the lady at the checkout counter looked at it and said "beautiful cover, beautiful title," which made me think to myself, "this book is gonna be awesome!" As you can see from my 2/5 star review, I didn't like it very much. Reading it made me feel uncomfortable, sad, and sort of dirty; like you've been sweating at the beach on a 100 degree summer day but you couldn't go in the water. So you're covered in grimy sand and etc and you feel plainly gross. I realize that sounds rather odd and awkward but, hey, that pretty much sums up how I feel about this book.

Plum's friends are plainly terrible, her parents are sort of sad, and their sadness never gets resolved in the book, it just seems to be thrown in there for dramatic effect. Her brothers are also a drag, Justin totally screws up as you will see when you get further into the book. Her other brother, Cydar, almost made it seem like he was in love with Plum. It may be that this was set in the 80's and written in Australia, I don't know, because I was born in the 90's, and back then I was still a child. I've also never been to Australia, so I wouldn't have any idea. The writing was, I will admit, lyrical. It was very strange, but at the same time beautiful. It's probably the only reason I rated the book two stars.

At the beginning I really liked Maureen, then I gradually started to dislike her, and then I just plainly felt bad for the woman. All the characters had some kinds of issues in their lives, which was, I guess, good; it made them more real. It's just that there were so many issues just tossed in that they never really got resolved, which made the end sort of jagged and awkwardly stitched together. It also made me wonder, why was this book written? I never really got anything from it. I know sometimes you have to look harder, but it's difficult to look past the writing, characters and the overall mood of the book and find the reason. There were so many morals in this story, I never got the actual point of it.

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Jul 26, 2012 Tiffany Vaughan rated it 3 of 5 stars

'Butterfly' is an achingly perfect depiction of what life is like when you’re 14 and female.

Although Hartnett is predominantly a writer for young adults, 'Butterfly' is targeted towards adult readers. You would never give this book to a fourteen-year-old girl; to do so would be to risk that encompassing pain to feel all the more sinister and raw. With all the darkness that pervades this novel, I found myself actually reveling in the fact that I was no longer a teenager, and never ever ever ever...more 'Butterfly' is an achingly perfect depiction of what life is like when you’re 14 and female.

Although Hartnett is predominantly a writer for young adults, 'Butterfly' is targeted towards adult readers. You would never give this book to a fourteen-year-old girl; to do so would be to risk that encompassing pain to feel all the more sinister and raw. With all the darkness that pervades this novel, I found myself actually reveling in the fact that I was no longer a teenager, and never ever ever ever would I EVER again have to be subjected through the agony that accurately depicts those long years.

Sonya Hartnett is regarded as a brilliant writer for young adults, and yes, “brilliant” is definitely the word here, even if the adjective seems to be becoming redundant (a bit like “ahhmaaazing” really). The prose is brilliant – so much so, that sometimes I wish I had written it. Really, I can’t recall the last time I’d read such stunning similes. They were so gratifyingly creative that my eyes drew back to savour the whole sentence all over again, at least twice.

In contrast to the exquisite language, there's an uncomfortable, underlying darkness that diffuses Hartnett’s writing; the ominous foreboding tone is undoubtedly her trademark. 'Sleeping Dogs' captured the consistent grimness beautifully, and 'Butterfly' is no different.

The only disappointment I found with this book was that I unwillingly (yet completely) despised the protagonist. This teenage girl who calls herself “Plum” one minute, and “Aria” the next…okay, she's meant to be disliked by her friends - I get that - but the reader? Possibly. Or maybe it’s because I have a tendency to totally despise weak female protagonists. We’re definitely meant to feel pity for the poor girl, and the action she takes (what ignites the actual bullying) is definitely not cool. I didn’t even feel much empathy either and found myself wanting to actually slap her for being so damn pathetic. Not something you want to feel when trying to relax and read a book.

I also would’ve liked to discover a little more about Plum’s parents, who were simply shoved into the background with little say and not much else. The mother was even more of a mouse than Plum herself and this I found infuriating. There was something not quite right with this family, which is often the case with Hartnett’s characters. All of them seem to have a severe case of major depressive disorder, and you expect something sinister to creep into the paragraphs – something traumatic, taboo – and destroy them with every turn of the page.

If the action seems itchingly slow and the suspension just too purposely drawn out, stay poised. Hartnett doesn’t disappoint. Although subtle, and yes, darkly depressing…the end is something shocking.

Not a book to hand out to the teenagers.

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Apr 15, 2013 Jacob Lasher rated it 2 of 5 stars

The first chapter I loved a lot! I just knew it was going to be a great book with a lot of passion and emotion but the rest of the book was like...meh...And just when I thought the book was actually starting to pick up and was getting good, it ended. Like...ended right where it shouldn't have. I didn't enjoy the narrator either other than chapter 1. She's kind of a bitch, lol. And I know that not all narrators are going to be picture perfect but she just didn't make any sense at all and she chan...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Jo Case rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aus-authors, novel

Sonya Hartnett is often labelled a young adult writer. It’s a tag she has long been uncomfortable with – though, she seems less bothered since last year, when she won the world’s biggest prize for children’s and youth literature, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (worth A$880, 687). Butterfly, like her acclaimed 2003 novel Of a Boy, will engage and entrance adult readers, despite its youthful protagonist.

Plum Coyle is nearly fourteen, and already wearied by her journey through a barely begun a...more Sonya Hartnett is often labelled a young adult writer. It’s a tag she has long been uncomfortable with – though, she seems less bothered since last year, when she won the world’s biggest prize for children’s and youth literature, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (worth A$880, 687). Butterfly, like her acclaimed 2003 novel Of a Boy, will engage and entrance adult readers, despite its youthful protagonist.

Plum Coyle is nearly fourteen, and already wearied by her journey through a barely begun adolescence. Not only does she not fit in; she doesn’t know how to: the social landscape of the schoolyard is like a foreign land that she awkwardly negotiates, only just managing to gain a toehold on the lower reaches of the social order. “All her life she’s suffered more cruelly than others seem to do.” School is an agony to be endured; home and family are Plum’s sanctuary. In her ordinary suburban home, Plum is good-naturedly ribbed and laconically watched over by her adored older brothers; fussed over by her loving parents. At home, she can be herself – and allows her myriad frustrations to boil over, rebelling in a way she can’t with her tentatively captured friends.

Plum’s awkward struggles are juxtaposed with her glamorous thirty-six-year-old neighbour’s desperation to hang onto her own youth as long as possible. Suburban mother and housewife Maureen stubbornly refuses to accept that her chosen path in life has led to a cul-de-sac. She reaches out to Plum, forming an alliance that, though at first seems benign and even charitable, is soon revealed to have sinister motives. The first hint that she is not quite right comes with her advice to a brooding Plum: “If you want to lose weight, why don’t you put your lunch in the bin?”

Hartnett’s prose is breathtakingly good. Her sentences have the deft economy of poetry; her images are variably pointed or achingly poignant, sometimes both. (“Now it is love, catastrophic as quicksand.”) Her dialogue, too, is precisely and cannily drawn: snaky, silky barbs that could be transposed from Tina Fey’s script for Mean Girls; the homespun scoldings and assurances of parents; the guarded, careful kindness of older brothers. Most of all, Hartnett embodies the experience of an awkward adolescent girl with an eerie precision that would surely be too painful for anyone still living through the experience, but will make adult female readers shiver with gladness at being all grown-up.

This review was first published in The Big Issue in 2009.
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Oct 17, 2012 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An amazing, emotional and memorable book. Sonya Hartnett has captured so much in the 200 or so pages of this book - the pain of being fourteen is very raw here. I was happy to finish it because it made me feel uncomfortable in a very familiar way. There will be many women who read this book and see themselves printed on the page.

Plum, the main character, looks at herself in the mirror and appraises her changing form with the same sense of trepidation that many girls her age face. It brought a l...more

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Apr 25, 2012 mrtinkles rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: older-woman-younger-man, breakdown, coming-of-age

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "Butterfly" marks my first foray into Sonya Hartnett's fiction. I went into the book knowing nothing of the plot, though the cover and title suggested a cutesy coming of age story. And boy, was I ever surprised.

This is the tale of "Plum's" painful transition to adolescence. But is it weird to say that the story that stuck to me, was that of Maureen and her extreme downward spiral?

For me, Justin is the most deplorable character in this book. He is an adult, he is responsible for his own relations...more "Butterfly" marks my first foray into Sonya Hartnett's fiction. I went into the book knowing nothing of the plot, though the cover and title suggested a cutesy coming of age story. And boy, was I ever surprised.

This is the tale of "Plum's" painful transition to adolescence. But is it weird to say that the story that stuck to me, was that of Maureen and her extreme downward spiral?

For me, Justin is the most deplorable character in this book. He is an adult, he is responsible for his own relationships, yet he is too much of a coward to bluntly tell Maureen that he wants to break off their affair completely. I believe it is because of his lying and skipping around the truth that led Maureen to her sad fate. Even towards the end, when it becomes clear how twisted the situation has become in Maureen's mind, he does not go and clear things up with her, instead relying on his siblings to save him from the situation.

I cant understand how some reviews state the end is a happy one. Maureen, misunderstanding that Justin's problem with the relationship is not her but her "circumstances" i.e. she is married and has a child, smothers her child in the end, believing that now she will be free to be with him. When I read that last passage, my mouth was left agape... I could not help but feel sorry for her.

Even when it is revealed that she had ulterior motives while befriending Plum, most of the time, the exchanges between them felt genuine and I felt that a part of her really wanted to help Plum through her difficulties.

And for the main story, Hartnett describes the horrors of puberty, the need to belong and feel accepted, the cruelty of teenagers extremely well. Ive seen many girls like Plum at my school as well as people like Rachel, Sam, who like to dominate and bully people into feeling inferior. Plum is a typical teen girl, in that she is concerned about her appearance, weight, and is eager to please anyone who might give attention to her. I don't like to read about weak female characters, as I cannot identify with most of their "concerns" but I was glad to see hints of a stronger Plum towards the end of the novel, though how long her new resolve will last is questionable.

Her family on the other hand is not that well sketched out. Her mother and father only make passing appearances and Justin too seems like a prop for the plot to move along. Plum's hero worship of Justin also adds to my dislike of him. It is clear he is not as invested in Plum as her other brother(whose name I cant remember). The other brother is the brains of the family, the most sensible one and can see the problems with his family members' lives long before they are aware of it. But he is presented too hard as the stoic, philosophizing kind (nearly always with a smoke in hand) for me to take him seriously.

In the end, it is a story of two different women, who bond due to their mutual loneliness, and while one has some hope for the future, the other was doomed to despair right from the start. Really, that ending just broke my heart.(less)

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Feb 07, 2011 Eva Mitnick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Plum's life is one big Awkward Phase. Reading this, I was plunged back into my adolescence, during which I wanted more than anything to just be invisible so no one could witness my gawky, bespectacled, desperately uncomfortable existence. Or no - like Plum, I knew the best thing would be to not care at all what people thought - but that was even more impossible than becoming a graceful, lovely teen.

Plum's efforts to grasp some control over her life are strange and rather pathetic - and yet are i...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Butterfly is a divinely written story centering on an awkward young girl trying to better fit in amongst her friends and family. Set in the 1980s Harnett paints a portrait of what should be the ideal suburban life. Plum lives in a comfortable home, has two parents who work and care for her, has older siblings who are also trying to distinguish themselves, and goes to school where she has a distinct group of friends. But like so many families before hers not everything in suburbia is as perfect a...more Butterfly is a divinely written story centering on an awkward young girl trying to better fit in amongst her friends and family. Set in the 1980s Harnett paints a portrait of what should be the ideal suburban life. Plum lives in a comfortable home, has two parents who work and care for her, has older siblings who are also trying to distinguish themselves, and goes to school where she has a distinct group of friends. But like so many families before hers not everything in suburbia is as perfect as it seems. An outsider in every aspect of her life Plum is a self-imposed prisoner to her poor body image and low self-esteem. These fears are further intensified by what she perceives as apathy towards her from the members of her family and her outlier status amongst her friends.

The first word that jumped to my mind after reading Butterfly was heartbreaking. Plum is just so lonely and anxious to make any connection I could feel her desperation seeping off the page. I honestly wanted to jump in and give her the biggest hug. Though she is not entirely alone in the world Plum still feels isolated from her friends and family. She’s different and she knows it. Where she feels these differences most is in her attempts to push them aside and maintain the constant effort to change. To fit in.

For example, as part of her group of friends she teeters on the outskirts of “mean-girl” territory. She is clearly viewed as the lowest man on the totem pole, the group mascot if you will. She is regularly mocked and abused at their hands yet she endures it. She willingly plays along with their schemes, opens herself to mockery and ridicule, in spite of her trepidation of doing so. All because she longs to make any connection and to avoid being alone.

Out of this longing grows one of the more intriguing aspects of the plot. It is with this group of friends that the most heartbreaking discovery unfolds which then ultimately leaves Plum right where she fears being most. Alone. I admit I saw this event coming but I’m glad to say that despite that fact it’s impact was in no way minimized. It was still so gut wrenching to see Plum’s reaction and subsequent endurance of the consequences of her actions. On the bright side, it is also this event that assists in triggering the most uplifting part of the book – Plum’s realization of her own strength and value.

But wait, there is another whole part of the plot that ties in with the above further serving Plum’s movement towards self-discovery and transformation. Despondent and lonely Plum strikes up a friendship with the young mother who lives next door. Clinging to Maureen like a life raft she begins to make some drastic and large scale changes in her life at the woman’s suggestion. From her name to what she eats Plum is encouraged to be the proverbial butterfly as she straggles to come out of her cocoon.

However, much like suburbia not all is as it seems as far as Maureen is concerned. She has motivations of her own where Plum is concerned. Motivations that are far more self-serving. Interestingly, despite that fact and despite the fact that Maureen ended up being equally tragic to Plum I found some of her actions to be genuine. Though her impetus for helping Plum was more for herself than anything else I did get the feeling that she wanted Plum to be happy (for the most part) and to succeed in her transformation.

There are other strong areas of focus in the story that relate to family dynamics. Things like the different types of interaction she has with her brothers, the resentment she has towards her parents and the ultimate disappointment she feels when learning some hard truths about the people in her life. All of it extremely emotional.

To say this was a powerful read would be an understatement. It was thought provoking and filled with subtle nuances that create the kind of emotion in a reader that are hard to ignore. Excellent for discussion groups I would say Butterfly would make a fantastic read for book clubs. I’d also say that it is a wonderful selection for readers who themselves may be struggling with identity, peer pressure, and role in the family. It is, one of the best books I’ve read all year.(less)

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Jan 17, 2011 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenbooks, historical-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A beautifully realized, but quite painful coming-of-age story. Plum is almost fourteen and is plagued with the usual self doubt and fears that haunt most teen girls her age. She worries that she is too fat, that she is not pretty, and that she must do anything to keep her friends, even when their behavior borders on the abusive. The opening scene of the novel, where Plum examines herself in a mirror, is brutal in its honesty and self-loathing. Plum vacillates between self-loathing and grandiosit...more A beautifully realized, but quite painful coming-of-age story. Plum is almost fourteen and is plagued with the usual self doubt and fears that haunt most teen girls her age. She worries that she is too fat, that she is not pretty, and that she must do anything to keep her friends, even when their behavior borders on the abusive. The opening scene of the novel, where Plum examines herself in a mirror, is brutal in its honesty and self-loathing. Plum vacillates between self-loathing and grandiosity, imagining herself as a rock star in the pop group ABBA or as a courageous volunteer in a botched experiment to get her ears pierced. Her next door neighbor, Maureen, housewife and mother of a young son, invites her over one evening and bolsters Plum’s ego by telling her she could be a fashion model and buying Plum expensive gifts. But Maureen has an agenda and it has nothing to do with Plum and everything to do with Plum’s attractive brother, Justin. Plum’s uneasy and rather rocky relationship with her friends crashes and burns at Plum’s birthday party, when it is revealed that Plum has nicked small objects from her friends, imagining that they have some sort of superstitious power to soothe her when she is unhappy or to make her feel more powerful. After that disaster, when Plum then discovers Maureen’s covert agenda, Plum confronts her , but the confrontation is unsatisfying. The novel ends, oddly enough, with Maureen’s voice , meditating on how life brings few things worth wanting.

Characters: Plum’s voice is completely authentic in its wavering between anxious self doubt and lurid flights of imagination. Her brothers, Justin and Cydar, are more sketchily drawn, especially the enigmatic and seductive Cydar, who loves Plum intensely, but is rather a cold fish. Justin is a bit of a caricature as an oblivious, serial ladykiller. He meets his match with the calculating Maureen, who uses Plum as an entrée to snagging Justin, just when Justin is tiring of her. Her meditation at the end of the novel is bleak and quite troubling, especially when she distractedly puts her hand over her child’s face, attempting to soothe him. Maureen is Plum full grown.

Writing: Filled with unusual and oddly yoked metaphors. I thought it worked, however. Skillful writing filled with emotion and psychological tension.

Themes: Family, growing up, betrayal, friendship, self worth.

I suspect this one will be a love it or hate it kind of novel. I was favorably impressed, despite the novel’s major flaw, its ending. Why the shift in voice from Plum to Maureen? The rather sinister movement of Maureen to cover her child’s face is odd. Is she smothering him? It does emphasize the bleak hopelessness that permeates the novel, but the ending just seemed to trail off into Maureen’s distracted musings. Plum has been distracted into happiness by Cydar’s gift of a television, which we know will end all too soon when she lapses back into insecurity. But I feel that the novel should have ended with Plum’s voice, not Maureen’s, even if Plum seems to have learned little or nothing from her experiences. That, at least, would have been some sort of resolution (experience doesn’t always lead to wisdom).

Still, this novel is quite brilliantly written and Plum is one of the most memorable characters that I have encountered.(less)

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Aug 07, 2010 Audra Deeer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, historical-fiction

I received a copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers:
Plum is awkward and uncomfortable in her body as she is poised unsteadily between being a child and becoming a woman. Her place in the hierarchy of her friends is precarious and her loneliness apparent to her housewife neighbor, Maureen. Convincing Plum to reinvent herself, Maureen becomes a friend and confidante but with motives Plum cannot readily see.

In the UK this book has been marketed as Hartnett’s first adult novel while in the US,...more

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May 20, 2009 Banafsheh Serov rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have always enjoyed coming of age stories; there is a purity of truth about them that I really find appealing. They conjure up old memories and forgotten insecurities that at the time I had felt were uniquely my own. Set in an Australian suburban neighborhood in the 70's Butterfly is one such story.

Plum Coyle is on the cusp of turning 14. She considers her approaching birthday as the start of a new beginning, a shedding of her old self. Until now her best friends have treated her as the least...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Alison O'keefe rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have always loved Sonya Hartnett. I feel like she has looked at my innermost thoughts and experiences and then creates a story around them, and that's why I feel so connected to her books - and have since high school when I first started reading Sleeping Dogs. There are only a few times this hasn't been the case- but this one resonated very strongly with me. I just wanted to run into the pages and hug Plum and tell her it gets better - that there are girls like that everywhere and we all know...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian-ya, coming-of-age, mean-girls, relationships, sibling-relationships, young-adult-literature

"'Something awful's happened, obviously. Those friends of hers - they're catty girls, the worst type. But have you actually asked what happened?'

Justin shakes his head, plucks a melaleuca spike from the car's roof; and Maureen realizes there's a hollowness at the core of his family, a fear of discovering what it is that turns inside the hearts of one another - and that they know about this failing, and are ashamed. 'She'd tell us if she wanted to. Anyway, it's probably nothing. She's fourteen -...more "'Something awful's happened, obviously. Those friends of hers - they're catty girls, the worst type. But have you actually asked what happened?'

Justin shakes his head, plucks a melaleuca spike from the car's roof; and Maureen realizes there's a hollowness at the core of his family, a fear of discovering what it is that turns inside the hearts of one another - and that they know about this failing, and are ashamed. 'She'd tell us if she wanted to. Anyway, it's probably nothing. She's fourteen - everything is bad when you're fourteen. She'll forget about it.'

Maureen smiles. She would go to him and slap him, cradle him, but it's impossible to cross the line. She says, 'Who ever forgets anything about being fourteen?'"

Plum Coyle, days away from her fourteenth birthday, lives in Australia with her parents and two older brothers. Plum is looking for ways to change her life, everything from her name and appearance, to the friendships she cultivates. She wants to become more at ease, more confident, and she draws inner strength from a collection of found objects, hidden in a briefcase under her bed. She strikes up a friendship with Maureen, the next door neighbor, and mother to young David. But Plums' relationship with Maureen begins to unearth deep-rooted secrets within her own family, and when Plum's private world shatters at a disastrous birthday party, the suffering spreads to include those around her.

That synopsis really sucked, but I can't think of any effective way to summarize this book without giving something key away. This novel surprised me in several places, and Hartnett has a strong eye and ear for not only the words that families say to one another, but the words they don't, and what those spaces of absence indicate. There is heartbreak and moments of small consolation and tenderness between the two houses, and Plum's awkwardness and fumbling attempts at fitting in are devastating to read, as are the moments of sadness between loved ones. Because the novel is set in the past (1980), in another country (with many unfamiliar phrases and references), and shifts focal points from character to character occasionally, while remaining in 3rd person POV may throw some readers, but this is a novel to be savored and lingered over.

Hartnett is a brilliant wordsmith, the pacing of this novel is like a slow boil; you know the water's going to get hot, but you can't tell how hot until it's too late. (less)

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Oct 27, 2010 Jackie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-of-age, friendship, identity, ya-fiction, self-esteem

Plum Coyle is a girl about to turn fourteen, who is unsure of herself, her family, her friends, or her life. She adores her older brothers, Justin and Cydar, yet her friends are moody and standoffish. She keeps a briefcase full of treasures beneath her bed to strengthen her resolve and calm her fears. Each object...a coin, glass lamb, ABBA badge, necklace, bracelet, watch, and yoyo, holds meaning and a deep dark secret. Plum is not quite sure her friends really like her, and when Maureen Wilks,...more

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Oct 07, 2009 Larissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Plum is a fruit sitting unripened on the vine, she is round and awkward and unattractive. Aria is a song, beautiful and stylish, with the potential for fame and stardom. But Ariella Coyle is a butterfly.

Plum has always felt out of place, her family is not like other families, her house is not like other houses, and she is not like other girls. Plum is at that age where change is everywhere, she is growing up, no longer a child but still is treated like one. Nothing is under her control, her frie...more

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Oct 19, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: smells-like-teen-spirit, pish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 01, 2010 Brandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, bildungsroman, library, adult, realistic, friendship

Probably Hartnett's best to date. Her usual lyricism is well-demonstrated here, but more than just her beautiful writing style, her main character, Plum Coyle, is so spot-on as a fourteen-year-old on the periphery of her friends, struggling to fit in anywhere and doing a lot of stupid things along the way.

SLJ gave this a starred review, which I agree with, but said it's for grades 5-9, which --no. Just no. I think middle-schoolers would understand the book just fine, and there's nothing I'd call...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Margarita rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Whenever I saw this book at my school's library as I was browsering for a good book to read, the cover really drew me in. I thought it would be about a teenage girl changing into a butterfly or something of the sort. I was a little dissapointed when I came back for the book a week before my spring break, thinking that it would be something to entertain me while at home, to discover that the book was about a pre-teen girl going through girl puberty. A real shocker. Like that saying goes "never j...more Whenever I saw this book at my school's library as I was browsering for a good book to read, the cover really drew me in. I thought it would be about a teenage girl changing into a butterfly or something of the sort. I was a little dissapointed when I came back for the book a week before my spring break, thinking that it would be something to entertain me while at home, to discover that the book was about a pre-teen girl going through girl puberty. A real shocker. Like that saying goes "never judge a book by it's cover. I need to start reading reviews about a book before I actually go out of my way to either buy it or check it out. A good way to not waste money or time on a book that is not worth while.

So butterfly is about a pre-teen girl struggling with herself. She wants to be different, pretty, skinny, but most importantly, wanted. All this seems in her reach when she meets her beautiful elegant neighbor Maureen, who offers Plum the possiblity of getting what she wants- with an ulterior motive: getting close to Plum's brother, Justin, who she secretly has an affair with.

I can't say I liked the book or that is was something worth reading, it wasn't. I was forcing myself to read it because I thought that if I gave it a chance, it would get better. There was something about the book that really freaked me out, not the part where Maureen ends up choking her kid to death in the end, which is horrible none the less, but the story's mood. It was gloomy and despressing. The characters were really weird. They all had some problem going on in their lives, and like someone in another review wrote, they never got resolved. I think it's just one of those books where you have to spaculate what happens next, which in my opinion, I could care less what happened to them later on in life. I'm gonna give the book a one star rating. It's not a book that I would recommend people read, but if like me you have nothing good going on during your spring break, you might want to pass your time by reading a really disturbing book. I guess a good reader and comprehansider, reads anything that comes their way for the sole pupose of better understanding.

I think the only character I liked was Plum's other older brother, Cydar. He was the most interesting and intriguing character of them all. He had this feeling to him of mystery and sadness that really drew me in. I guess I like the emo type of characters. No really, I pitied him throughout the story and I would have liked to have learned a little more about him. He loved his little sister Plum ever since she was born. I don't know though what kinda love it was.Again, like someone else wrote, it gave me the impression of Cydar loving his sister not as a sister but a lover. I didn't find this creepy in anyway. I thought it was sorta sweet and sad at the same time, loving someone that is forbidden to love and is frowned upon by society. I think if the story had been about him, and not his sister, the story would have been better. As I said before, I pitied him because of how much he loved and care for his sister, who never relly appriciated him. She was always more into Justin, her cool and sexy older brother, who never really did anything nice for Plum. Cydar who was always there for her, even if she wasn't aware of it, felt hurt. Who wouldn't feel hurt? He sold his fishes so he could get her the TV she wanted for her birthday, who never really got anything in return, i felt bad for him.

My least favorite character was Plum. She was to whiny and childish. I mean I understand how she was feeling, like nobody understood her, she felt alone, believe me I know that feeling. I did relate to her. She belittling herself by eating/not eating and trusting the wrong people, I know that. In my case, it wasn't trusting the wrong people, it was me not eating. I was starving myself, doing extreme extercise, sticking my fingers down my throat. Who doesn't want to be skinny, popular and pretty? Everyone wants that. At some point, I realized that I was harming myself and the people around me. The one thing that I felt disturbed by, was the fact that she stole from her "so called friends". I found that very werid. How Plum came up with all these stories of how she had those items of her friends hidden away in a brief-case, as hairlooms. Really? I felt like I was reading something about a physopath gone lose. I found it sad and amusing at the same time. Sad that she hated her friends but at the same time wanted their approval. Amusing that in the end, she realized that they weren't worth it. Why be friends with people that don't appriciate you for what you are.

Oooh the one character I truly wished had gone unharmed throughout the story was David. He was a victim in the story. I wished Sonya Hartnett hadn't ended David the way she did. I wished he hadn't died by his mothers hands, Maureen. It truly is a horrible thing for a mother to kill their own kids. Why have them if you don't want them in the first place. I guess in the end, it had to happen. Something like this was to be expected. Maureen, from the start showed signs of not caring about her kid. She "neglected" David in a way. I don't mean like she ignored him and let him fend for himself, more that she didn't show David the love a mother should have for their kin.

I'll sum up Justin and Maureen in the same paragraph. Justin, I didn't really like him. He was just one of those characters that is there, but isnt really there. He was just something "necessary" for the story to work. I don't blame him for having an affair with a married women, yet I blame him for the death of David. He was a part of why Maureen decided to kill her kid. If he hadn't lied to his sister and said all those horrible lies about Maureen, I don't think she would have done what she did. It had to be done though. He didn't want to be caught so he lied. He knew in the pit of his stomach that what he was having with Maureen was wrong. Forbidden. Something that could never be due to the fact that Maureen was still married and had a child. I'm glad in a way that he broke away from the harm he was doing. He should have man up and come true with the truth. Maureen, I sorta liked her and at the same time didn't. She manipulated and came close to Plum so she could be closer to Justin. Even if she was using Plum, I felt like she wasn't trying to harm her in anyway. She was a friend to Plum and an adviser. She helped her through hard times and also in dealing with the pain of losing the people that she was close to for the longest time. Maureen went a little crazy in the end. I bet she was crazy to begin with, maybe that was why her husband left. She lost her husband, Justin, and Plum. In the end she was alone, so maybe that's why she killed David. Justin could have been a little responsible for that, but it doesn't matter.

Plum's parents. I wished the author had told us in the story what was wrong with them. Why they were so sad throughout the story.

Plum's friends were just outright bitches to her. I understand that they were hurt when they found those lost items of theirs. I suspect that they just wanted and excuse to not be friends with Plum. Friends like that, I don't recommend anyone to have.

Well, I'm finished with this book. I'll be reading somthing new now:P(less)

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Jul 18, 2011 Gab rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well... I had to read this book for school and from the blurb I had a feeling that it would be disappointing. While the book is covered with glowing reviews, it did not excite me and was not 'unputdownable' as it was purported to be. It told the slightly depressing story of an unremarkable and even unlikeable teenage girl living in Australia in the 70s/80s era. The characters are not interesting and many had no redeeming qualities to make me like them. In addition, there is not much of a plot an...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010, ya-lit, mock-printz-2011

Four stars for writing, since Butterfly is impressive and insightful, but not notably enjoyable. The story is sparse; while it mainly follows 14-year-old Plum as she flounders in the social world of teen girls and longs to be different, better, and more powerful, it occasionally focuses on a subplot concerning Plum's brother and his affair with the older neighbor who has recently befriended Plum. Harnett does an amazing job of conveying the fragility and frustration of her teenage protagonist, a...more

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May 01, 2010 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read Butterfly as an ARC. A common reaction to this book is that it's beautifully written, a really interesting read, but with a POV that switches from the 13-turning-14 year old Plum, to her adult brothers and the mother next door, is it really YA? And of course they're right; this novel is hard to pigeonhole as YA or adult. Does this make life difficult or librarians and booksellers? Yes. Are crossover novels like Butterfly good for readers? Yes again. I think we're going to see more and mor...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Jayne Lamb rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first tast of Sonya Hartnett's talents, and while I wasn't knocked-out-wowed, I was certainly impressed with the opening and scene setting. (As I get older I'm certainly loving books set in 80's suburban Australia.) Hartnett's strengths, in this book at least, are descriptive and emotional - the details (Cydar's fish tanks, the smells and plant life of summer in suburbia) are wonderful, but she tries to squeeze in a whole other story about pubescent girls and the horror of school, and...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Anej Nov rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bought

Confusing. Saddening. Horrifying. Witty. Silly. Insightful.
Really, it was all kinds of things.

~•~ SPOILERS ~•~
i don't even know what to say. At some point, i NEARLY gave up and threw it away. Some parts of it are so mean i didn't read it.in others, It was confusing (narrations). But it was also good in a way.

Plum is just too hard to understand. She's a liar and filled with so much self-hate. I'm a teenager but i do think that i dont think that i'm always right. I never thought that it is me ag...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Heather from NightlyReading rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a really hard review for me to write. I am not sure if it was the fact that the author is Australian or that the setting is in the 80′s. It took me awhile to read this book, I just could not get into it. I put it down a couple of times, but was determined to read til the end. I am glad that I did, the ending was great when the whole storyline comes together and the mysteries are all solved.

The characters were very interesting and that is the reason that I was drawn to finish the book. Pl...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Adriana rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-self-identity, ya-social-situations, ya-coming-of-age

If I would have read this book before ordering it for my library, I probably would not have ordered it for our teen collection. I think the style, plot, characterizations and tone are all wrong for YA, and I would be hard pressed to find many teens who would enjoy this book. The book is set in Australia, and although at first this is very evident, it eases up after a while. Plum is about to turn 14 and lives with her parents and two older brothers. Her friendships at school are very fragile, as...more

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Apr 29, 2010 Christina (Confessions of a Book Addict) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, young-adult

Plum Coyle is your typical adolescent girl growing up the 1980's in Australia. She goes through life trying to impress her friends, trying to gain attention, and essentially trying to be someone she isn't. This book is an accurate portrayal of what some young females must go through in order to feel accepted and fit in; however, Plum takes it a step further and tries too hard. Sonya Hartnett's depiction of adolescent life in The Butterfly is so awkward it hurts.

Plum, vying for attention from her...more Plum Coyle is your typical adolescent girl growing up the 1980's in Australia. She goes through life trying to impress her friends, trying to gain attention, and essentially trying to be someone she isn't. This book is an accurate portrayal of what some young females must go through in order to feel accepted and fit in; however, Plum takes it a step further and tries too hard. Sonya Hartnett's depiction of adolescent life in The Butterfly is so awkward it hurts.

Plum, vying for attention from her cliquey group of girlfriends, makes some bad decisions. On top of that, she feels inferior when around them and is easily swayed. Hartnett does a nice job of illustrating how in some peer groups it's very "you're in" one minute and "you're out" the next. She is desperately trying to fit in, but it's like witnessing someone trying to push a circle into a square peg. Hartnett even tries to impress her older neighbor, Maureen, but their relationship ends up being an unhealthy one. Plum is desperate for a mentor. I was hoping she would find a group friend, but sadly, that never happened.

I gave this novel 2.5 out of 4 stars, because I felt that it wasn't really YA. Just like Plum, it's stuck somewhere in between. Yes, Plum is a fourteen year old girl, but some of the themes were much older. For example, this book isn't always focusing on Plum and her experiences. Parts of the novel focus on her brothers and the neighbor, Maureen, and lets just say it was rather edgy. For example, there's an affair/adultery depicted and detailed marijuana use. When the novel does focus on Plum, often times she is so eccentric and odd that I imagine many teens finding her to be annoyingly weird. She spends a lot of time focusing on puberty and body image to the point where it becomes unhealthy. I really didn't like that message especially since there was no closure around that issue.

On the other hand, Hartnett's writing style is simply beautiful. I haven't read an author so lyrical and poetic (with the exception of Maggie Stiefvater) in a long time. Her voice is extremely unique and descriptive. Hartnett can take a simple activity, such as walking down the street, and weave an extraordinary image in the reader's mind. This, I feel, may be lost and unappreciated on the average teen. In fact, this book felt very literary; it's almost like something that you might come across in a modern literature high school or college course. The theme was important and many young adults may not even take note of it. Hartnett suggests that we all go through a metamorphosis, just like a butterfly, and while some can undergo this change quite successfully, for others, it can be a challenging, messy process. Life and its situations, especially while you are an adolescent, aren't always easy or pleasant and this book certainly depicts that. Ultimately, life can be, as we like to refer to it at work, a gelatinous mess.

All in all, this book left me sort of lukewarm. I found many admirable qualities and important themes, but if I passed it on to a fourteen year old (as the ARC says fourteen and up) I think they might be bored to tears by the detailed descriptions as well as Plum's idiosyncrasies. Perhaps this book should be marketed to older high school students or as contemporary adult fiction? I think that age bracket would appreciate Hartnett's mystical writing style and controversial situations a bit more than your average younger teen. (less)

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Jun 07, 2010 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs

Butterfly is such a strange, unique story; but in the most positive way ever. I can’t explain in words exactly why I enjoyed this book so much. It’s not paranormal, it doesn’t have a breathtaking romance and it’s not anything that you can possibly relate to. But it just drew me in and I love how unexplainable that is for me.

Plum is painfully and awkwardly balancing between that line of child and teenager. She’s not like any character I’ve ever read before; sophisticated and somewhat immature at...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought I had read an excerpt from Butterfly in a newspaper several months ago. It was engrossing and creepy so I added the book to my 'to read' list. Now that I've read it and not found the scene I remember so vividly I am left wondering what happened. I do not regret reading Butterfly, but I wonder if the excerpt was from another Sonya Hartnett book (I could try reading others) or some other author's book entirely (in which case I'll probably die with an unfulfilled curiosity). In Butterfly,...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Ksboydie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

A very powerful novel about the nastiness of teenage girls. The protagonist is Plum, a fourteen year old girl who is very insecure about herself. Her body is changing, she feels awkward and her group of friends don't help with her poor self image. There is a constant power play between the girls. The only good thing in Plum's life is her family, particularly her brothers Justin and Cydar. Justin, however, is having an affair with their neighbour Maureen, a wife and mother, who Plum strikes up a...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australian

Another psychological novel of growing up by Sonya Hartnett. She doesn't do easy fiction and this novel of Plum about to turn 14, is dark and dramatic. Plum is a bit of a loner at school, with a group of friends who seem to only tolerate her. Her family is also a bit dysfunctional - older parents, 2 brothers who are much older, one a semi-stoned uni student and the other who is having an affair with the much older next door neighbour. From the beginning, the novel builds up towards the climax wh...more

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About Sonya Hartnett

Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enj...more Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enjoyed by adults.

"I chose to narrate the story through a child because people like children, they WANT to like them," says Sonya Hartnett of THURSDAY'S CHILD, her brilliantly original coming-of-age story set during the Great Depression. "Harper [the young narrator] is the reason you get sucked into the characters. Even I, who like to distance myself from my characters, felt protective of her."

The acclaimed author of several award-winning young adult novels--the first written when she was just 13--Australian native Sonya Hartnett says she wrote THURSDAY'S CHILD in a mere three months. "It just pulled itself together," she says. "I'd wanted to set a story in the Depression for some time, in an isolated community that was strongly supportive. Once the dual ideas of the boy who tunneled and the young girl as narrator gelled, it almost wrote itself--I had the cast, I had the setting, I just said 'go.' " Accustomed to writing about edgy young adult characters, Sonya Hartnett says that identifying with a seven-year-old protagonist was a challenge at first. "I found her difficult to approach," she admits. "I'm not really used to children. But once I started, I found you could have fun with her: she could tell lies, she could deny the truth." Whereas most children know "only what adults want them to know," the author discovered she could bypass that limitation by "turning Harper into an eavesdropper and giving her older siblings to reveal realities."

In her second book with Candlewick Press, WHAT THE BIRDS SEE, Sonya Hartnett once again creates a portrait of childhood. This time the subject is Adrian, a nine-year-old boy living in the suburbs with his gran and Uncle. For Adrian, childhood is shaped by fear: his dread of quicksand, shopping centers, and self-combustion. Then one day, three neighborhood children vanish--an incident based on a real case in Australia in the 1960s--and Adrian comes to see just how tenuous his safety net is. In speaking about Adrian, the author provocatively reveals parallels between herself and her character. She says, "Adrian is me in many respects, and many of the things that happen to him happened to me."

Sonya Hartnett's consistently inspired writing has built her a legion of devotees. Of THURSDAY'S CHILD, Newbery Honor-winning author Carolyn Coman says, "Hartnett's beautifully rendered vision drew me in from the very start and carried me along, above and under ground, to the very end. This book amazed me." The achingly beautiful WHAT THE BIRDS SEE has just as quickly garnered critical acclaim. Notes PUBLISHERS WEEKLY in a starred review, "Hartnett again captures the ineffable fragility of childhood in this keenly observed tale. . . . Sophisticated readers will appreciate the work's acuity and poetic integrity." Sonya Hartnett's third young adult novel, STRIPES OF THE SIDESTEP WOLF was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.

Sonya Hartnett lives near Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent novels are SURRENDER, a mesmerizing psychological thriller, and THE SILVER DONKEY, a gently told fable for middle-grade readers.(less)

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Quotes from Butterfly

“Justin is twenty-four years old: the world will never be more suited to him than it is now, he will never feel more embraced by life or have greater faith in his right to exist. The earth and the oxygen, the cities and lights, the nights and the beaches seem created for him and for those like him.” — 4 people liked it

“She is not a musical girl nor, intrinsically, a joyful girl; but the music of the four Swedes shook something awake inside her, and when she heard it she felt airborne and strong.” — 3 people liked it

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