A review by drjoannehill
Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris

dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Audiobook. Trying to read more Women's Prize and Booker Prize shortlists. Very emotional telling of a few months of the siege of Sarajevo in 1992 from one woman's perspective. Zora stays in Sarajevo when other members of her family leave for the UK. The food runs low, the electricity goes off, the water goes off, the side of the apartment building is blown off. To run is to be a traitor. Not a sweeping view of the war but a very local, intimate view of the day to day changes experienced by one woman and her neighbours. The ending is in the same vein - not a long term "this is what happened in the end" but a development, a new reality to live through.

Lovely descriptions of art and artists' work, Slavic folk tales, and the practical getting by and camaraderie of people in the same impossible situation.
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