The Glass Butterfly

I have read many of Louise Marley's novels. My favorites are her feminist sci-fi offerings: "The Goddess Child" and "The Terrorists of Irustan," both of which were outstanding. I requested "The Glass Butterfly" because of these prior favorite books and partly because of the promise of a mix of paranormal, romance and suspense. I finished it awhile ago but took this long to review it because I needed to think about it. My initial reaction upon finishing it was mixed: I was both disappointed in and happy with it, and it took me thing long to figure out what made it worth reading. Because I was not unhappy to have read it, just that I did not think it measured up to Ms. Marley's best work. As some reviewers have alluded, the story was uneven. I know the historical sections were exquisite, but they were not as compelling a story as the modern one was. One saw the tragedy in the making, so the denouement was not a big surprise. In the modern story, though, as has also been mentioned, the protagonist could have resolved everything within days, if not hours, but then there would not have been the story. A little more effort could have been put into figuring out a realistic reason for Tory not to have chosen the sensible options. Finally, my biggest disappointment came from the miniscule part that "fey" played in the story. As to the operatic theme, it was fun but not compelling to me as I am apologetically not a fan of opera, though I have enjoyed those I have experienced. Ultimately, I'm not sorry I read it, but I wouldn't want to read it again. ( )

As others have written, Ms. Marley's background in opera shines through beautifully. The story, however, is spotty. The chapters that focus on Puccini's maid Doria are exquisite, both in the telling and in the attention to historical details.

The modern chapters, though, are undermined by a lack of such attention to modern details. For a story that purports to be happening in the 21st century, the main character seems to have no concept of technology. While I can certainly understand that Tory might choose to avoid computers (I know people in my own life who avoid them as much as possible), she would certainly be aware that technology exists which could resolve her dilemma within days, if not hours. Had the story been set in the 1980s, Tory's choices would have been more plausible, and I could give the book as a whole at least 4.5 stars, maybe even 5. As it is, I'm left at 3.5 - mostly due to the wonderful historical story. ( )

I enjoyed The Glass Butterfly quite a lot. It has suspense, a bit of romance, compelling female characters, a slight paranormal element and a lot of music running through it. Louise Marley is an opera singer as well as a writer, and her love of Puccini's operas shows quite clearly in this book. I found myself wanting to go back and review the plots of the operas because so many of them have echoes in the character in The Glass Butterfly. The book tells parallel stories of two women, one a psychotherapist who is forced to make difficult choices to protect her family, the other a young woman working for the Puccini family a hundred years earlier, which I believe is loosely based on an actual person. Often when I read this sort of parallel construction I find one story more compelling than the other, and that was the case here, too, but they do complement each other, and Marley is a good enough writer to tie them together. The only down side is that having two stories made each one less rich, and I felt the modern story was compelling and could have been better with some expansion toward the end. A good book -- I recommend it, especially to fans of Puccini. ( )

A nuanced pair of tales interwoven with grace and relevance; each reflects and deepens the other. Love of music - and Puccini in particular - is integral to both tellings, though the perspectives differ in intriguing ways. I found it a suspenseful and utterly engaging read that explores both the nature of love and the depths to which a woman will go to protect those dear to her. Lush and visceral, this is a book to be savoured.

The warning signs were there and as a professional, she should have seen it coming. If anything, her fey, the intuition that has guided her for so many years, raging with alarm, should have been an unmistakable signal that trouble was brewing. One mistake, one oversight, left Tory with no choice, but to leave everything behind, including a son that she is determined to protect, no matter the cost - even if it meant leaving him behind. Her past a constant threat and a questionable future looming ahead, Tory finds the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice and to confront the demons that lurk within the fragile framework of her life.

Often times, we are required to suspend belief in order to fully immerse ourselves in a story. I usually have no problem acquiescing to that request, especially if the premise of the story is outlandish to begin with since books, more often than not, serve as a means of escape anyways. But, I am of the camp that believes, if you are going to ask me to suspend my hold on reality and logic, the story has got to be so left field that there is no remote chance that is comes close to mirroring reality. Instead, if you have a story that creeps just outside the edge of real possibilities and plausibility, that request will be met with a firm rejection. You can't write a story that has very tangible echoes of reality and then throw in some very illogical and questionable decisions made by the characters in the books. The Glass Butterfly certainly had some positive moments such as a clever incorporation of music and operatic themes, but overall, the dilemma and the crux of the struggle that Tory found herself in was so ludicrous that I kept thinking, she could have done what she did at the end of the book within the first 3 chapters of the book, and we would have had a very brief short story rather than a three hundred plus page novel. All in all, some interesting components, but the writing was less than inspiring, and ultimately, I stalled on the believability of the story. ( )