A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies: Stories - Hardcover

Murray, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060509287 ISBN 13: 9780060509286

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003

Synopsis

Eight short works feature characters who experience moments of profound understanding about themselves, from an American scientist who makes a life-changing decision, to an elderly surgeon's use of his grandfather's butterfly collection to make sense of the past.

About this title

Review

John Murray trained as a doctor, and his debut collection of stories, A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies, reveals its author's background. Not all of his characters are physicians, but they tend to share a doctor's ability to concentrate on details and compartmentalise emotions. In "The Hill Station", the American-born daughter of Indian parents returns to India, where she speaks at a conference on infectious diseases. She is charged with new, ungovernable feelings when she finally meets actual patients suffering from the disease in which she is a specialist; previously, she had only known cholera under a microscope. Murray bumps his heroine into a new, looser way of living as she travels deeper into dirty, disease-ridden India.

In the title story, a doctor mourns the loss of his sister and comes to terms with his family history, all the while examining butterflies. In "Blue", a climber ascends a Himalayan peak under dire circumstances and encounters ghostly memories of his father. These stories of frustrated, intelligent achievers can recall Mark Helprin, and Murray has, too, some of Helprin's ambitious scope. These stories aren't as crystalline as Helprin's, but that's a small complaint to lodge about an elegant first collection. --Claire Dederer, Amazon.com

Review

"A terrific collection. -- Washington Post Book World

"Writing that bristles with emotive power." -- Library Journal

"Stunning short story collection.writer to watch." -- Booklist (starred)

"Ambitious, varied, and strong.. To say that Murray.is a prodigious talent is something of an understatement." -- Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books

"Iridescent" -- The Observer (UK)

"Beguiling.an astute debut collection." -- Book Forum

"Vibrant debut story collection.Murray's prose is strong and agile.the affecting portraits make this collection emotionally resonant and enormously gratifying" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Iridescent"--The Observer (UK)

"Fiction that holds firmly to scientific principles and comes with a harrowing edge of reality."--International Herald Tribune

"Compelling, compassionate, and quietly inspirational, each of these modest tales is as satisfying as a novel ...exquisite."--Daily Mail (London)

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060509287
• ISBN 13: 9780060509286
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288