Reviews of Butterfly
Cultural Gal on the "MelbArts" weblog: "It's wonderful that such a sterling writer is able to bring to such glittering life the complex, deeply felt experiences of young people. But just as youth is wasted on the young, it would be a sin if Hartnett's audience was confined to the under-16s...Hartnett's many skills are in full play in this beautifully crafted novel. There are secrets in this quiet suburban world, secrets the characters keep from each other for fear of losing everything they value most. These secrets fuel the momentum of the narrative that Hartnett so carefully builds, keeping the surprises coming...Indeed, there's almost a thriller element to the novel: until the very end we don't know exactly what will happen. At one point towards the close Hartnett plays with this mounting sense of dread, keeping us guessing as to whether she'll choose a conventional melodramatic device or a more nuanced resolution."
Sarah on the "I loved it..." weblog: "How does Sonya Hartnett know me so well? I swear that she was watching me grow up and saw every excruciating moment of my adolescence. Admittedly it was the 80s and everything was cringeworthy! She manages to capture the universal aspects of growing up and all the self doubt and casual cruelty that is so much a part of life as a teenager. I think Hartnett is a revelation. I adore her writing in a way that defies description."
Karen on the Book Bath weblog: "In some ways this book is two or three stories within one - but you never feel as though too much has been taken on by the author. Hartnett balances the characters and the story lines beautifully. This book was not at all what I expected when I started reading it but once I accepted this I enjoyed the rather uneasy storyline."
Madeline Wheatley of The Book Bag weblog gave the novel 4.5 stars: "Award winning Australian author Sonya Hartnett writes powerful, disturbing tales. This is no exception. Some of the events in this novel are extreme, yet believable, largely because of the vividly realistic character of Plum."
I.E Sawmill on The Literateur website was put off by the cover at first: "The cover is actually quite an inoffensive combination of yellows and pinks with flowers trailed all around in an attractive pattern. I was still at this point fully in the bigoted stages of reviewing and could not help a Pavlovian response to such stimuli: Yellow + Pink + Floral Decoration = book aimed for a female audience. Dare one say, chick-lit. This seemed at odds with the jacket's alliterative promise of 'deceit', 'despair' and 'desperation'. Those three words, in conjunction with the title, implied a gritty account of 'coming of age'...The novel has moments of great comedy, insight and fine descriptive inventiveness. Overall, however, Butterfly is something of a moth to its own flame. The tone and pace do not quite justify the book's ricocheting from flippancy to po-faced truisms and, at times, it feels as if it has suffered for lack of editing. As it stands, Butterfly is not a great deal more than the sum of its parts. Those parts are enjoyable enough, but one suspects that Hartnett is capable of much, much better."
Other
The production company Monkey Baa has developed a theatrical adaptation of Hartnett's novel Thursday's Child. The play features a young cast, is directed by Sandra Eldridge and will tour nationally until November 13.
Hartnett appeared at the Sydney Writers' Festival and the Boomerang Books blog went along to see her: "Girl politics features heavily in Sonya Hartnett's Butterfly, and when asked about teenage girls and their penchant for bitchery, Hartnett had some fun ("Sometimes you see it and you're just like... 'Arrghh, you little cretins.'"). She based the manuscript on the teen-girl relations she witnessed twenty years ago (when the novel is set). She gave the first draft to her fourteen-year-old neighbour, Matilda, and after finishing it, Matilda approached her and asked, "How did you know how the girls at [school's name] acted?" So, clearly, nothing's changed in the world of teen-girl relations. Hartnett joked that no-one ever admits to being the schoolyard bitch - grab one hundred middle-aged women and ask them, and they'll all say they were the girls that suffered through high school. "Where do those girls go [after high school]? Do they just disappear?""
Interviews
Sally Wahaft on Slow TV.
Ramona Koval on The Book Show on ABC Radio National.
