BREAKING BUTTERFLIES is one of the books that I'm revisiting at the end of year.
From ChickenHouse/Scholastic, BREAKING BUTTERFLIES is one of those books that has somehow been overlooked by too many readers. Not to mention dissed by quite a few at GoodReads.
I-personally thought the writing was excellent and that the characters were very well drawn. The story unfolded with subtlety, and an every increasing sense of creepiness kept me turning pages.
From ChickenHouse/Scholastic, BREAKING BUTTERFLIES is one of those books that has somehow been overlooked by too many readers. Not to mention dissed by quite a few at GoodReads.
I-personally thought the writing was excellent and that the characters were very well drawn. The story unfolded with subtlety, and an every increasing sense of creepiness kept me turning pages.
The story begins with a description of Sarah's (Sphinxie's
mother) childhood and how she met the charismatic Leigh. It's a
relationship founded on dominance with Leigh being the brighter star and
Sarah being the awkward child desperate for friendship and acceptance.
Their relationship evolves over time as they become adults, but
strikingly they are compelled to stick to their childhood plan. That
they would each marry and each have a single child. And that those
children would grow to adulthood and marry.
This is the legacy that Sphinxie
and Cadence have inherited. A plan that they were indoctrinated with;
that they accepted the way children will accept the plans of the
parents. And it all goes according to plan until the children hit their
10th birthdays. Then Cadence does the unthinkable. He hurts Sphinxie.
He takes a knife and cuts her face. And after that Leigh escapes to
England with the boy, harboring the hope that a different environment
and school system will change Cadence. For in truth there is something
wrong with this beautiful, intelligent child.
But nothing changes and the disturbed boy begins to see a series of doctors and at the end they deliver two diagnoses. As we suspect, one is that he is a brilliant psychopath. The other though is unexpected. Cadence is dying and has only weeks to live.
It's the death of Cadence and the ultimate death of 'The Plan' that brings the four characters together again. For one last time.
WHO WOULD GO? I think that's the question that plagued some readers. They couldn't accept that anyone would go and visit someone so dangerous. Someone who had already proven that they would hurt them.
But I understood why Sphinxie would. She had loved Cadence and still loved him. Moreover she had been indoctrinated from babyhood with 'The Plan'. And now it was over. It would be impossible for The Plan to come to fruition, and perhaps she was hoping that given a chance, Cadence would redeem himself at the last moment.
But nothing changes and the disturbed boy begins to see a series of doctors and at the end they deliver two diagnoses. As we suspect, one is that he is a brilliant psychopath. The other though is unexpected. Cadence is dying and has only weeks to live.
It's the death of Cadence and the ultimate death of 'The Plan' that brings the four characters together again. For one last time.
WHO WOULD GO? I think that's the question that plagued some readers. They couldn't accept that anyone would go and visit someone so dangerous. Someone who had already proven that they would hurt them.
But I understood why Sphinxie would. She had loved Cadence and still loved him. Moreover she had been indoctrinated from babyhood with 'The Plan'. And now it was over. It would be impossible for The Plan to come to fruition, and perhaps she was hoping that given a chance, Cadence would redeem himself at the last moment.
Needless to say that won't happen.
I found BREAKING BUTTERFLIES
to have a powerful voice in Spinxie, and I thought this book was an
amazingly subtle work of literature. The subtlety of the plotting, the
subtlety of the characters and how this drama unfolds: M. Anjelais
builds a world that's convincing. Her/his characters are brilliantly
drawn. So fatally weak.
Pam~
BREAKING BUTTERFLIES
(Chicken House/Scholastic)
by M. Anjelais
**all ratings from GoodReads
**all links to Amazon.com
Reading Information:
Page Count: 272
no Accelerated Reading information currently available
Lexile: 870L
--sample pages and reviews available
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