A Few Short Notes
on Tropical Butterflies
by John Murray
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Trade Paperback book is in
new, never been read condition. No dust jacket. Inside of book pages are
crisp and clean. Pictorial cover. No creasing on binding edge. Minor shelf
wear on edges of paperback cover. ISBN 0060509295. 2004 edition. Publisher:
Harper Books. 288 pages long. Additional pictures of condition are always
available.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
These vivid and compelling
tales, many set in Africa and Asia, are about immigrants and others facing
change and dislocation. The science is never pedantic; indeed the language
of biology and natural history is used to great lyrical effect. The stories
are accomplished and seasoned, remarkably so given that this is the author’s
first book. Murray is adept at holding together a complex narrative and
creating characters who reach out emotionally to the reader upon first
meeting. Global in scope, classical in form, evocative of place, and deeply
emotional, this collection marks the beginning of what promises to be an
illustrious career.
The characters in this vibrant debut story
collection-doctors, scientists and others drawn to precise order and
logic-go to political and geographical extremes in search of a sense of
purpose. A young American trauma surgeon in "Watson and the Shark" works for
the Red Cross in a central African country. His craving for "life-or-death,
all-or-nothing situations" is cruelly satisfied when he's shot by an armed
rebel and his colleagues are forced to barter for their lives and abandon
the people they went to the jungle to help. "The Hill Station" depicts a
scientist in her immigrant parents' native Bombay seeking out the "real
life" manifestation of the cholera bacteria she has spent her career
studying in cool Atlanta laboratories. Overwhelmed by the horrors of the
disease and the realization that an affair with a married colleague back
home has left her pregnant, she flees the city and, on a bus headed to the
tourist outpost of Mahabaleshwar, meets the man who will be a father to her
unborn child. "The Carpenter Who Looked like a Boxer" is a beautifully
restrained, vivid story about a gifted artisan trying to piece his life back
together around the "great open wound" left by his wife's departure. Unlike
many of Murray's characters, he doesn't try to run from his problems, but
loses himself in his work and his two children instead. The only sign of
strain is the strange, phantom burrowing sound that he hears in the walls of
his house, a house he built for his wife. Murray's prose is strong and
agile, rising to the drama of his scenarios without being overblown. His
symbolism is occasionally too obvious, but this is a minor flaw; the
affecting portraits make this collection emotionally resonant and enormously
gratifying
A photo gallery of pictures
from this book is shown below as well as a description of the pictures. Any
questions please email me
aldergrove@ppowner.com
   
This site was last updated
01/12/11
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