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A review by swirlnswing
The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Pérez
4.0
This review will also be available at Mostly ReadingYA.
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This is not a book I would have picked up to read on my own. It’s nothing personal: it just doesn’t fall into my preferred genres (paranormal/sci fi/fantasy). But, when I received this ARC, I found myself interested for a short list of reasons. First, the title is a juxtaposition that is kind of lovely in my brain. THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY. Danger and delicacy. Violence and peace. It evoked curiosity, to be sure. Second, the description on the back of the ARC – “the knife cut, but somehow it also connected” – made me want to know what happened to make that so. And third, though it took reading the introduction the book to learn this, the protagonist lives in a poor area of Houston, Texas. Being from Texas myself, I wondered how well Ms. Perez would handle that, both in dialect and setting.
The story is primarily narrated from the point of view of Azael, a poor kid in Houston who is a member of MS-13, one of the largest, most dangerous gangs present in the United States and other Latin countries. He’s young – still in high school – and spends his time tagging the walls of his city, getting high, fighting rival gangs, and trying to look out for himself and his brother, orphans because of an unfortunate mix of immigration laws and the death of their mother.
He’s an interesting kid, to be sure. Simmering just beneath his slang and profanity lies what is very clearly an intelligent mind. (For the record, Perez does a killer job with the dialect – having spent a large amount of time in Houston as a child, I could actually “hear” Israel’s voice in my mind.) He’s methodical, logical in an extreme, save for the loyalty he shows his gang, which brings him trouble at every turn. The fight mentioned in the synopsis occurs just before Chapter 1 begins.
THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY opens with Azael locked in a sort of solitary confinement. He learns that his “job” is to watch a girl – a girl he has never met in his life – as she goes about her business in her cell, which is more of a bedroom than anything, much more comfortable than the place in which Az is confined. When he attempts to get information out of the two gentlemen he sees somewhat regularly regarding why he’s being held – one that brings food and the other who is a caseworker, or so it seems – all he can gather is that something went down, he’s in trouble for some reason that is wrapped up in Lexi, and that he can’t leave until he remembers.
The only problem is that Az can’t remember anything.
The novel chronicles his attempt to draw the story out – how is his story tied to Lexi’s? What did he do? Did he do anything? Why didn’t he clean up his life when he had the chance? Why is he being held here for so long, without reason?
To be honest, there are several variables held within the plot of THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY that I absolutely did NOT see coming, including Perez’s twist at the end, which I found to be extremely smart and engaging. But I won’t spoil it, because I found it so satisfying that I believe you, as a reader, deserve the same elements of surprise that I was able to experience. This book is harsh, gritty, and quietly dark. But it’s real.
THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY will be published in February 2012. Don’t miss it!
===
This is not a book I would have picked up to read on my own. It’s nothing personal: it just doesn’t fall into my preferred genres (paranormal/sci fi/fantasy). But, when I received this ARC, I found myself interested for a short list of reasons. First, the title is a juxtaposition that is kind of lovely in my brain. THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY. Danger and delicacy. Violence and peace. It evoked curiosity, to be sure. Second, the description on the back of the ARC – “the knife cut, but somehow it also connected” – made me want to know what happened to make that so. And third, though it took reading the introduction the book to learn this, the protagonist lives in a poor area of Houston, Texas. Being from Texas myself, I wondered how well Ms. Perez would handle that, both in dialect and setting.
The story is primarily narrated from the point of view of Azael, a poor kid in Houston who is a member of MS-13, one of the largest, most dangerous gangs present in the United States and other Latin countries. He’s young – still in high school – and spends his time tagging the walls of his city, getting high, fighting rival gangs, and trying to look out for himself and his brother, orphans because of an unfortunate mix of immigration laws and the death of their mother.
He’s an interesting kid, to be sure. Simmering just beneath his slang and profanity lies what is very clearly an intelligent mind. (For the record, Perez does a killer job with the dialect – having spent a large amount of time in Houston as a child, I could actually “hear” Israel’s voice in my mind.) He’s methodical, logical in an extreme, save for the loyalty he shows his gang, which brings him trouble at every turn. The fight mentioned in the synopsis occurs just before Chapter 1 begins.
THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY opens with Azael locked in a sort of solitary confinement. He learns that his “job” is to watch a girl – a girl he has never met in his life – as she goes about her business in her cell, which is more of a bedroom than anything, much more comfortable than the place in which Az is confined. When he attempts to get information out of the two gentlemen he sees somewhat regularly regarding why he’s being held – one that brings food and the other who is a caseworker, or so it seems – all he can gather is that something went down, he’s in trouble for some reason that is wrapped up in Lexi, and that he can’t leave until he remembers.
The only problem is that Az can’t remember anything.
The novel chronicles his attempt to draw the story out – how is his story tied to Lexi’s? What did he do? Did he do anything? Why didn’t he clean up his life when he had the chance? Why is he being held here for so long, without reason?
To be honest, there are several variables held within the plot of THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY that I absolutely did NOT see coming, including Perez’s twist at the end, which I found to be extremely smart and engaging. But I won’t spoil it, because I found it so satisfying that I believe you, as a reader, deserve the same elements of surprise that I was able to experience. This book is harsh, gritty, and quietly dark. But it’s real.
THE KNIFE AND THE BUTTERFLY will be published in February 2012. Don’t miss it!