Reviews

I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín

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nadiamasood's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book whisked me away to Valparaíso, where I imagined myself riding a colorful cable car down the hills overlooking the ocean, as a pod of pelicans flew gracefully overhead. In my hands, I could almost feel the warmth of a bag filled with freshly baked empanadas from one of the charming bakeries just down the road.

This is a beautifully written realistic fiction for middle-grade children about the military takeover of Chile through the eyes of a young girl. It explores the themes of loss, displacement, and the power of hope and resilience. I learned that the author had escaped the terror of the Pinochet dictatorship with her family and drew heavily from her experience in this book.

Celeste, the protagonist, is smart, imaginative, and compassionate. She lives a privileged life and deeply loves her family, friends, and home. I particularly loved her bond with her grandmother. I love it when children are close to their grandparents.

What didn't work for me, however, were the length of the book and the pacing of the story. At 464 pages, this book is quite long! While I enjoyed and breezed through the first part of the novel, the second part dragged on to the point where I found myself getting bored and skipping pages, and the third part felt overly fantastical and rushed.

Despite these shortcomings, I find "I Lived on Butterfly Hill" a thought-provoking novel that sheds light on a dark chapter in Chilean history. Anyone interested in historical fiction or stories of resilience will enjoy this book.

jenmangler's review

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3.0

This was an interesting window into a country before, during, and after a military coup. The overwhelming sense of fear that permeated Chilean society comes through clearly. But what I appreciated most about this book was the strong sense of place. Valparaíso is a character in this book, and I enjoyed spending time there.

evhanson's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Content Warnings

ria_ray's review against another edition

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5.0

An absolutely beautiful book, although it has been a while since ive read it. I remember loving how the story comes together. Nothing I hate about it.

bibliobrandie's review

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2.0

I think the writing and the characters in this book are great. The problem I have with this book is that the author changed the names and time frame of Chilean's dictatorship. I don't understand why she did this and it makes me question whether or not it can be considered historical fiction if the real life characters are made up. This is unfortunate because most middle school students don't know much about Chile or the dictator Pinochet and might assume they learned some history from reading this, which would be false. I think if she had made this an unnamed country, it would have been better. Or if she would have just stuck with the actual historical events.

For true accounts of Chile read Allende (Long Petal to the Sea and Paula are my two faves) and the poetry of Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. For middle grade, there is a great book of poetry that just came out called Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile by María José Ferrada.