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Jump to navigationJump to searchLast Kiss of the Butterfly by Jill Hucklesby (view source)
Revision as of 11:52, 6 September 2020
, 11:52, 6 September 2020no edit summary
I loved reading it, and it's a very internal experience. Angsty adolescents will love it, as will intelligent readers, sensitive readers and those with their own feet on the path to independence. There's a hugely romantic feel to it and every thought, every action, every impression is studied in great depth. This does mean the language is occasionally overblown which may put off some readers, but will attract a good few too.
Jaz seemed to me to be too old for her years - Hucklesby makes her thirteen, but her sophistication of thought and the social life she enjoys with her friends puts her a couple of years older for me. Teen readers generally prefer to read about characters the same age or slightly older than them, and I do think this is a minor problem. How many fifteen -year-old boys ''gently fold'' thirteen -year-old girls into their arms? Make it seventeen and fifteen and it sounds much more credible, doesn't it? And I don't think fifteen -year-old girls are any less scared about cancer than thirteen -year-olds.
But Jaz's age is a minor nitpick in an otherwise intense and highly emotional reading experience.
My thanks to the nice people at Orchard for sending the book.
Mortality is also the central theme of the wonderful [[Before I Die by Jenny Downham]]. Animal lovers will enjoy [[Little Lost Hedgehog (RSPCA Fiction) by Jill Hucklesby|Little Lost Hedgehog]] by Jill Hucklesby.
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