The Voice of the Butterfly
by John Nichols
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Description
A dazzling, darkly comic novel by the author of theThe Milagro Beanfield War andThe Sterile Cuckoo, The Voice of the Butterfly harnesses Nichols' vintage wit to fresh, hilariously scathing effect. Charley McFarland is an aging '60s radical, continuing proponent of losing battles, and resident of Suicide City, an amalgam of CFCs, SUVs, strip mines, and strip malls. When Suicide City's new highway bypass threatens the home of the exquisitely obscure Rocky Mountain Phistic Copper Butterfly, he show more knows it's time to rally the troops. Charley's dysfunctional Butterfly Coalition includes the ancient, chainsmoking Lydia Babcock, who owns the butterflies' turf; Susan Delgado, a ballistic local reporter smitten with Charley; Charley's somewhat-baffling, Gen-X son, Luther; and Charley's estranged wife, Kelly, now homeless and self-destructive, but a weirdly brilliant strategist in the fight against the powers-that-be. Kelly and Charley, in love and at each other's throats, relish the butterfly's cause as their last, best chance at reconciliation. But as the crusade's momentum builds, the chaotic relationships drivingit on also threaten to tear it apart. Funny, profane, and touching, Nichols' raucous new novel is a knowing look at ideals held and surrendered, and a wild ride through the lunacies of our postmodern age. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
"The Voice of the Butterfly shows that Nichols has not lost his taste for satire nor his anger at the continuing destruction of the Earth. While the New Mexico trilogy had flights of craziness, Butterfly finds Nichols in full-on Tom Robbins mode, spewing forth sentences of breathtaking insanity and wordplay. You have to have a love of over-the-top writing to fully appreciate this novel, but if you are thus equipped, you are in for one hell of a treat. A bizarre, hilarious, profane, and tremendously entertaining rant, The Voice of the Butterfly is a raging voice in the wilderness, crying out for common sense and decency over money interests and rampant consumerism."
Read the full review here.
Read the full review here.
Having read the New Mexico trilogy, I had much higher hopes for this book than were realized.
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Author Information
20+ Works 2,648 Members
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Voice of the Butterfly
- People/Characters
- Charley McFarland; Luther McFarland; Susan Delgado; Lydia Babcock
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 55
- Popularity
- 555,467
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (2.95)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- UPCs
- 1
