The Butterfly Tattoo

I’m not the only one who has muttered for years that The Butterfly Tattoo is the least good book Philip Pullman has written. Not bad, but nowhere near his other books.

I take it all back. I know what my mistake was. I read His Dark Materials first. Then I read Sally Lockhart. Then I went searching for more good stuff by Philip. The setting of a recent, modern Oxford, and a non-fantasy plot made The Butterfly Tattoo look a little ordinary.

I just speed-re-read TBT to get me ready for the film premiere on Wednesday night, and it’s a very good book in its own right. Of course. It may be one of Philip’s earliest books, but it is still a Philip Pullman.

TBT is a clever mix of present time fiction, with a dash of Shakespeare thrown in, and a little bit of thriller on the side. To be honest, I don’t like sad endings, and that could be another thing I used to have against it. But at least Philip is honest enough to start by saying he will kill off a character, just as in The Ruby in the Smoke.

Hope the film does well, and I hope this will bring a new interest in the book too.