Customer Reviews

Butterfly (The Orphans Series)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Butterfly
By: V.C. Andrews
An incredible orphan story that you don't want to put down.

Butterfly is the first of the fictional mini series Orphans. It is about a little girl named Janet who has lived in an orphanage her whole life. She is smaller than everyone and she is made fun of. Then she is adopted by two great parents. Her mother is in a wheelchair because she was in a car accident her father owns a glass company. Her mother's dream for Janet is that she becomes a prima ballerina. Janet has to go through intense training and is expected to do well for her first time doing ballet. She tries hard because her mother is watching. Janet believes that if she does not do well her mother will not want her. Janet does very well for her first time ever. She does well in school and makes friends but she loses them because her mother won't let her do anything with them. She thinks it will effect her ballet. Her father loves how she is making her mother so happy by being a good ballerina. Her father planned a party for Janet and her mother was very upset because she wanted Janet to practice even more. After practicing and practicing she is ready for her recital. The girl next to Janet ran into her and they fell. Her mother told her that she was embarrassed and wanted to leave. That was the first time she met her grandparents and they weren't happy. Now she had to work even harder to keep her parents. There were tryouts for this ballet summer camp that her mother and she wanted her to go to.
It was a great book. You have to read it to find out the end. I can't wait to read the next books. V.C. Andrews is a wonderful and exciting writer. Once I started to read the book I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book for a little bit of an older audience. I believe that this should be for the ages of eleven and older. I give this book a five out of five rating. *****

If you're looking for a quick read and something not too serious you might like this book. However, Butterfly seems to be a rewrite of many other V.C. Andrews books. For starters, there are too many stereotyped characters: the snobby grandmother, the wild uncle, and the cruel kids. Excuse me, but I've had much worse problems than Butterfly did and nobody ever picked on me like that. Kids are not really as cruel as adults imagine them to be. Mrs. Delorice seems in many ways to remind me of Kimmy from "Heaven" (sorry if I got the name wrong). Also, Janet never really seems to love dancing as the back cover suggests. It seems like she is just doing it to please her mother, not because she wants to. If you want to read a good V.C. Andrews book I would recommend Heaven. Unlike Janet, Heaven is a strong character who faces poverty, abuse, and criticism, but grows into a beautiful woman who I can not help but admire.

God I am so sick of people complaining about how Janet should've tried to stand up to her parents. First of all, she's an orphan, and she was grateful that the couple adopted her. She wanted to stand up for herself, but was afraid that if she did, they would send her back to the orphanage. All she wanted was to care for someone, and have someone to take care of her. Overall, this is a very good book. For some reason, I felt very connected to Butterfly/Janet. I think that out of all the V.C. Andrews books, Janet is my favorite character.

This story is about an orphan named Janet. She is a little small for her age, and is very graceful and dainty. She was adopted by this rich couple. Everything was very nice at first, but it turned out that her new mother was actually a ballerina before she became paralyzed. Janet's new mother wanted her to be a ballerina, so she hired the best dance instructor for her. But no matter how hard Janet tries to please her mother, she would demand more and more from her. This is a very good book. Great story.

This was the first book in the series, and it was awesome! I still need to read the last two,(raven,runaways)but so far, I couldn't put any of these books down!You should read them all!

The Orphan Series by VC Andrews is a WONDERFUL series that I recommend to all-- reading the series first hand is very inspiring and heart warming!

I RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE, IT WAS THE FIRST VC ANDREWS BOOK I READ AND IT GOT ME TOTALLY INTO IT-GO GET IT NOW! TRUST ME WHEN I TELL YOU ITS ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOKS I EVER READ

"Butterfly" by V. C. Andrews is a decent book about an orphan girl who gets adopted by a rich ex-dancer and her husband. This book is just like every other V. C. Andrew's book I've ever read, and I wouldn't recommend you read it, unless you plan on reading the whole series. The characters in this book are underdeveloped, although the plot line was interesting and compelled me to read the whole book.
The father figure in the book could have had a bigger part in developing the family aspect. He was a decent supporting character but I definitely would've liked to see more interaction between him and Janet. The mother figure wasn't very well developed either. We only ever saw her as the mother who pushed dancing; whereas Janet was speaking, acting, and thinking, as though her mother was being motherly and also pushing her to dance. Janet was the only really well developed character in the book. We got to know her personality, and her moods, and her feelings towards her parents and dancing.
Overall I give the book three stars out of a possible five because of the lack of character development. The plot was not lacking at all, and had we gotten to know the characters better I would have definitely given this book a five out of five stars.

Kirsten Moller
Period 3
Schottler

On its own - as a novel geared for an younger audience and having an interesting story - this book isn't a bad read. However, as part of the VCA collection, it is unacceptable. Mr. Neiderman should have written this series under his own name, or under a different nom de plume to attract a younger crowd. This does not even begin to compare to the Dollanganger or Casteel series, and is a far cry from even the recently-published-before-this Logan series.

The story of Janet is mildly interesting and provides a light read for teenagers, and is a nice quick read, but had no real depth. I don't know why Neiderman decided to go in this direction. For a diehard VCA fan, this book (and the rest of the books written after the Logan series) simply aren't good reads and are barely reminiscent of VCA's writings.

I love all Virginia Andrews books, she writes so good so I can feel the sadness and happines inside me when I read a book from her and this one is tragic but also has some good moments to I really recommend this book for all Virgina Andrews fans, and I can not wait until I will get the second book about theese poor orphan girls.

Butterfly is the first novel in "VC Andrews's" Orphans miniseries. I would strongly advice any one against buy this dull, silly litte book. The heroine is pathetic, annoying and not worth reading about. I am also sick of "Rich people are evil" which happens in every book of the Orphans series. Very tiresome of Andrew Neidermann to have such tired old stock villains.