The Voice of the Butterfly - Hardcover

Nichols, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811832015 ISBN 13: 9780811832014

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2001

Synopsis

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A dazzling, darkly comic novel by the author of the The Milagro Beanfield War and The 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 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 driving it 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.

About this title

About the Author:

John Nichols is the author of nine novels and seven works of nonfiction. He lives in New Mexico.

From Publishers Weekly:

Nichols plumbs a familiar, wacky vein in this completely over-the-top sendup of the mindless ambitions of our shallow, materialistic, upwardly mobile modern-day society. Reading as if written in one extra-long sitting, this 10th novel by the acclaimed author of the New Mexico trilogy (Milagro Beanfield War; Magic Journey; Nirvana Blues) is a hypercharged, adjective-crowded rant, alternately cheeky social satire and eye-poppingly lurid tale. Charley McFarland, an aging, tree-hugging ex-flower child, is waging a desperate, all-out political battle to prevent the money-grabbing town movers and shakers from bulldozing a highway bypass through the last breeding grounds of the exotic (though actually rather unimpressive), rare and endangered Rocky Mountain Phistic Copper butterfly. Stalked by Susan Delgado, lustful punk rock girl reporter, Charley spearheads the Butterfly Coalition, a motley collection of unwashed town misfits including Luther, Charley's feckless 20-year-old son, who works at the Burger Boy fast food joint; 90-something dowager Lydia Arlington Babcock, a last-gasp chain-smoker and owner of the butterfly refuge; and Kelly, Charley's alcoholic ex-wife, who despite a brain fried on drugs writes the coalition's press releases in between detox stays at the local jail. Silly, tasteless, wild, profane and often laugh-out-loud funny, this book will put off many readers, but will hit the spot for those with entrenched grudges against recent social developments and a curmudgeonly taste in comedy.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0811832015
• ISBN 13: 9780811832014
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 196