Butterfly Stories

A Novel

Paperback, 281 pages

English language

Published Aug. 14, 1994 by Grove Press.

ISBN:
978-0-8021-3400-4
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3 stars (1 review)

Butterfly Stories follows a dizzying cradle-to-grave hunt for love that takes the narrator from the comfortable confines of suburban America to the killing fields of Cambodia, where he falls in love with Vanna, a prostitute from Phnom Penh. Here, Vollmann's gritty style perfectly serves his examination of sex, violence, and corruption.

4 editions

Review of 'Butterfly Stories' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Vollmann's tale of an aimless traveler looking for connection has well crafted sentences, a creative mix of short chapters and illustrations (by the author), and the ability to give the reader a precise sense of place. Towards the end, however, (and maybe this is just my issue) the meandering character devolved into a meandering book and though the writing was never superfluous, the story structure unraveled a little too much for me and I became bored. Still, one could do better being bored by William Vollmann than reading the best work by other authors.

Subjects

  • Modern fiction
  • General
  • Fiction / General
  • Fiction / Romance / Adult
  • Fiction - General
  • Fiction