A review by xxselenaj
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I was rooting to love this book, since I’m not that knowledge about the dictatorship that occurred in Chile. I wanted to challenge myself to learn more. However, I was never hooked and at times I wish I had the physical book as I felt this book just seemed never-ending! I loved the narration, esp with giving a voice to the words that would’ve been hard for me to say on my own. But there were many times I wished that it would go faster. The prose is beautiful and Kyla Garcia really brought the characters to life and musically delivered the authors words, and yet I couldn’t seem to get into it more. There were also times when things seemed to happen that was almost fantastical ? In a way that I wouldn’t consider this to be a historical fiction, and I gravitated to this for that reason. 

Celeste is a wonderful character and she reminds me a lot of the protagonist in Kelly Yangs Front Desk series. There are a lot of similarities — both young immigrant girls, both dreamers who want to be writers, both who find acceptance and courage in the face of adversary. 

With that in mind I was rooting for this book but it never quite caught my attention. It took me quite some time to finish reading. I am grateful for what I learned but I think the experience would’ve been different had I had a physical copy