the butterfly bruises, by palmer smith

i received a copy of the butterfly bruises from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Table of Contents

the butterfly bruises review
hayley’s thoughts
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the butterfly bruises review

while i’ve enjoyed poetry in the past, i found the butterfly bruises not to my taste. while i didn’t really enjoy the poetry, i did love the short stories.

the short stories varied in topics and pacing. i preferred the darker ones with endings that were open in a mysterious way. i think palmer smith can write some truly frightening stories, all by leaving it up to our imaginations. while most didn’t necessarily lead to darker things, i found my mind wondering. a small hint, a what if. stories like these can make the most amazing horror stories (all without even being a horror itself!)

while this is also a collection for poetry, i found the it too complex, and worded in a way that i didn’t understand. this doesn’t mean that this was a bad collection, just that i wasn’t the right reader for it. because of this, i lent my copy to a friend who enjoyed it more than i did.

overall, while i didn’t enjoy the poetry, my friend did. poetry is subjective. i’m glad for the inclusion of short stories, and think this author would excel in this area. if she were to ever write a full length novel, or even another collection of poetry/short stories, i’d be sure to read it again!

hayley’s thoughts

here is a collection of her thoughts:

the first part (labelled “miscommunication’) was hard for me to read. i didn’t quite resonate with majority of it. i’m unsure if this was on purpose due to the title of the section.

the second part is where i started to get into it. i had better understanding of what smith was trying to say.

as with chelsea, i also enjoyed the short stories. i found them relatable and some even relayed such great nostalgia.

the poetry as a whole was very well written. i found it thought provoking as it required more reading between the lines, as well as brilliant relatability. i also really enjoyed the descriptiveness of some of it.