THE BLURB THAT I READ ON AMAZON THREE TIMES BEFORE I BOUGHT THE BOOK, starts like this:
"Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens."
There were two more paragraphs about the book. In the name of brevity, I have left them out. I read the blurb and I didn't want to read the book, but the title kept coming back while I searched for new books to read.
I have always been a reader. Perhaps, like Maya, the main character, I too loved to escape into the world of books. Unlike her, I have read both the classics and a whole load of trash. Even with my ADHD, I have always been able to sit for hours at a time if the book pulls me in. I'll get up for some chocolate or something to drink, but take my sustenance back to my chair in the corner.
I've been reading it for either two or three days and am 71% through it's pages.
I hope to finish it this morning.
So why am I writing it before I'm done? I hope I'm not disappointed in the ending. That happens very often. And so, I want to share it while it's still totally compelling.
I'M AS CAPTIVATED BY THE STORY AS THE GIRLS HE KIDNAPPED.
Reading in my corner is the one place where I can block out the world. Maya , the story teller and main "butterfly" used to recite Edgar Allen Poe in her head in order to block out the visits from the Gardener. I can relate to that.
While I'm in my chair, my husband talks to me, even though I've explained how I feel. I've learned to be able to stop reading while he talks, so he doesn't feel shut out. He just wants to feel connected. It's not his fault that I need to feel, well, like I'm somewhere else. I've learned to put down my book, and it's not so difficult when the book is not becoming a part of my consciousness. And he's a good man who I shouldn't be shutting out.
WHY THIS BOOK?
From the moment I began to read it, I was pulled in.
The tale is told by Maya, a survivor of what I'm supposing was a raid. She's speaking to two FBI agents. I still don't know how the Garden and the Gardener were found out. He's a very wealthy man, who has been doing this for thirty years.
The agents aren't sure if Maya was just a victim or a part of what had been going on. Why would they be thinking that? How could she be a part of this since she's only eighteen, and has been there only two years?
Some possibilities are that she appears to be in better shape physically and mentally, that the other survivors and is not exactly being open and completely cooperative. When asked a direct question, she is able to answer with the ability of a politician. She gives a lot of information, so we learn all about the Garden that she and the other "butterflies" were in, however, she manages to avoid answering the actual question.
The writing is beautiful, and flows like music. There is a lot of underlying psychology which is of course, for me is always and added perk.
The descriptions of the Garden, the personalities of the girls, and even the Gardener are fascinating and lyrical. As disgusting as the Gardener is, I find myself ambivalent about him. That may say more about me, than the book.
SHOULD YOU READ THIS?
I can't help you with that question. I don't know what you like or how disturbed you might be at what the Gardener has been doing. The Gardener's son Avery also used the garden. He was not "kind" like his father. He was a sadistic bastard and the one character I wanted dead.
If you like stories that unfold. If you don't mind "kind rape", [if there is such a thing.] If you don't mind death and captivity. If you have patience as the suspense quietly builds. Then, I think you will be just as happy as I am that I finally decided to read this. If not, perhaps it's not for you. Perhaps.
Like most other readers. I give it 5 stars.
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