The Butterfly Garden is very interesting as it gets you hooked in a story of crime and action. Dot Hutchison describes the characters physically and psychologically, as well as their pasts, which were the events that defined them as who they really are. The book really hooks you and is not very difficult to read. The story was very descriptive and detailed, but the ending was very sudden and it happened too quickly for such a long rising action. The book is very descriptive and detailed, as well as exciting. This book hooks you and you can't stop reading it because there are plenty of situations of great suspense. At some points in the book I felt helpless for the characters in the book, and that just made me want to keep reading. Another thing I really liked about this book is that it has a very consistent rhythm, with the ending excluded, as it happened too quickly and could've been more detailed. A consistent pace was one of the reasons I wouldn’t let the book down, but this doesn't mean it's boring, as the pace is fast enough throughout the book. The book has very few unexpected changes, and I don't like that because it becomes so predictable. Aside from the hasty ending, I really liked this book and I would definitely recommend it.
Setting
The Garden
The Garden is a glass dome where the gardener keeps his butterflies (kidnapped teenage girls). Inside the glass dome there’s a little creek, trees, a cave, a waterfall, a dining room, and the sleeping area. From inside the dome, a large mansion can be seen outside, and the gardener lives there.
The interviewing room
Most of the story takes place here. When Inara/maya is rescued, she is being interviewed by two detectives: Victor and Eddison. This room is like any other interviewing room: metal table, metal chairs and a big one way mirror. Here, Victor and Eddison try to figure out what happened in the glass dome, and Inara tells them about her past.
key elements of
protagonists
and antagonists
The Gardener
The Gardener is a twisted-minded middle aged man. He lives in the mansion that is visible from inside the dome, in the middle of nowhere. He kidnaps teenage girls, and when they turn 21, he puts them in glass containers as a decoration in The Garden. When the butterflies first come in, he changes their name and adds a tattoo of butterfly wings on their back. “Taking them is wrong, keeping them is wrong, and killing them is wrong!”
Inara|Maya
Maya (that we later find her real name is Inara) is a teenage girl (eighteen years old). She is the main character in the book. Her parents were unable (didn’t want to) take care of her when she was little, so she went to live with her grandmother. When she was sixteen, her grandmother passed away, and that's when she found her roommates. She worked at a restaurant and the other girls that worked there all lived in the same apartment, and they asked Inara to live with them. She is then kidnapped by the gardener's son, and taken into the glass dome to be another butterfly. “Some people stay broken. Some pick up the pieces and put them back together with all the sharp edges showing.”
Resolution
The resolution is when Inara meets back with her roommates from the apartment, gets released from custody, and finally finds the little girl's family.
Falling Action
The falling action is when all the butterflies are meeting back with their families and Avery, Desmond, and The Gardner are imprisoned.
Climax
The climax would be when Desmond calls the police because Avery kidnapped what looked like a nine year old.
Rising action
The rising action is when Inara is telling us about her experience in the garden.
