Grayson Studios Blog

Butterfly Burning and Library Loot

This novel is poetry in prose.  I mean the language, THE LANGUAGE is really beautiful.  For me the book reads like a fable.  I hear the voice of the narrator actually reading to me.  This is the first book I have read by Yvonne Vera.  I was not aware of her work but I am glad I am now. I will definitely read other works by her. Having said this, after completing Butterfly Burning I wanted to hurl it across the room.  It’s not because of Vera’s writing that I had this reaction.  I guess it is because I was pulling so hard for the central character. To say that things didn’t turn out for her the way I hoped would be an understatement.

Butterfly Burning takes place in 1940s Makokoba in the Black township of Bulawayo.   The  central character is Phephelaphi (I can’t decide where the emphasis should go in the pronunciation of her name — can somebody help me?) who is smart, ambitious, vibrant and has a clear sense of her own self, her  freedom and her independence.  She meets Fumbatha and they begin to build a life together.  The novel, a short 151 pages, weaves together themes of womanhood, feminism/feminity,  the beauty and perils of free will and the consequences of making certain life choices and the paths these choices can lead you down.  Wow. There is so much to say but I don’t want to give the story away.  Phephelaphi reminds me a but of Lutie Johnson from Ann Petry’s The Street.

While I am here let me share my Library Loot for the week (shout outs to Atlanta-Fulton public library system!!).

1. Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and DO) As You Pursue Your Art Career

2. Delicious: The Life & Work of Wayne Thiebaud

3. Nice to Come Home To by Rebecca Flowers (couldn’t resist — it takes place in DC)

4. Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat

5. Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos

6. Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice (the title makes me want to sit on the porch and read).

7. FoolsGold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing your Creative Process by Susan Wooldridge

8. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

9. The Craftsman by Richard Sennet

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 11:41 am and is filed under Book Reviews, Books. The entry is tagged under African Diaspora Reading Challenge, Book Reviews, Books-fiction, Books-nonfiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.