A review by dani005
The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Pérez
5.0
THE ENDING?!? WTF. By the last chapter or so... I knew what was happening, and I didn't want to accept it anymore than Azael wanted too.
The suspense in this book was masterfully interwoven into the interchanging scenes from Azael's present and past. This idea of time running out only made me ask more questions. I was in the same boat as Azael. All we knew was that he had to make a decision but we knew nothing about what this decision was except that it somehow correlated with this other girl who is locked up with him. Somehow, these two unlikely people are connected by an event in their pasts, and Azael seems to be the only one who can't remember and the girl doesn't want to talk about it.
It creates this feeling of panic for Azael as people start to disappear from the cells around him, as people "move on" but he doesn't know where. This book had me up untill six in the morning just so that I could find out what happened, and what was going to happen to these two characters.
This wasn't a book based on action. It had a couple great fight scenes, after all its dealing with gangs, but this book was more than just about rumbles between gangs. This was a book built off characterization. Liza and Azael are two really messed up characters who've had shitty lives that just results in one shitty move to another. these kids don't have a lot to live for in life, and not a lot of people rooting for them to excel. As humans, so many of our actions are based off of the feedback we get from both those we do care about and even those we don't care about at all. But when everyone is in the same shitty situation as you, and the only feeling of unity you can achieve with these peers is to join them in a gang... it makes it hard to choose to live a straight life. For Azael, this is his reality. He's only got his brother. His sister moved away, his mother died and his father's gone. HIm and his brother turn to their friends, turn to a gang even if it means risking their lives in rumbles. With a life based off of aggression and violence, it makes it hard to choose the compassionate action, the one where no one gets hurt. For both Liza and Azael, so many of these choices based off of aggression have led up to this moment. Its at this point that a decision has to be made that will dictate their lives from now on. A decision that could be founded out of the hurt and pain of the past or founded in the hope for the future.
For them, it becomes a choice between the knife and the butterfly, no matter how hard that choice might be.
The suspense in this book was masterfully interwoven into the interchanging scenes from Azael's present and past. This idea of time running out only made me ask more questions. I was in the same boat as Azael. All we knew was that he had to make a decision but we knew nothing about what this decision was except that it somehow correlated with this other girl who is locked up with him. Somehow, these two unlikely people are connected by an event in their pasts, and Azael seems to be the only one who can't remember and the girl doesn't want to talk about it.
It creates this feeling of panic for Azael as people start to disappear from the cells around him, as people "move on" but he doesn't know where. This book had me up untill six in the morning just so that I could find out what happened, and what was going to happen to these two characters.
This wasn't a book based on action. It had a couple great fight scenes, after all its dealing with gangs, but this book was more than just about rumbles between gangs. This was a book built off characterization. Liza and Azael are two really messed up characters who've had shitty lives that just results in one shitty move to another. these kids don't have a lot to live for in life, and not a lot of people rooting for them to excel. As humans, so many of our actions are based off of the feedback we get from both those we do care about and even those we don't care about at all. But when everyone is in the same shitty situation as you, and the only feeling of unity you can achieve with these peers is to join them in a gang... it makes it hard to choose to live a straight life. For Azael, this is his reality. He's only got his brother. His sister moved away, his mother died and his father's gone. HIm and his brother turn to their friends, turn to a gang even if it means risking their lives in rumbles. With a life based off of aggression and violence, it makes it hard to choose the compassionate action, the one where no one gets hurt. For both Liza and Azael, so many of these choices based off of aggression have led up to this moment. Its at this point that a decision has to be made that will dictate their lives from now on. A decision that could be founded out of the hurt and pain of the past or founded in the hope for the future.
For them, it becomes a choice between the knife and the butterfly, no matter how hard that choice might be.