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Dream Lives of Butterflies
Evocative images of specimen
butterflies, their broken bodies permanently suspended in time and pinned in
place, suffuse Colbert's inventively interconnected stories of fragile yet
defiant people whose lives immutably sway in a limbo between uncertainty and
endurance.
From Oahu's jade green hills and
Honolulu's faded glamour to the psychological confinement of the Midwest's
open spaces, Colbert's vivid array of characters are mired in place and
desperate for escape that, once attained, is ephemeral...
—Booklist
Colbert knows the weight and shape of the human heart.
—Small Press Review
Jaimee Wriston Colbert’s new episodic novel-in-stories is a
jewel in both its form and its feeling, with layers of image and meaning as
intricately patterned as the dust on a butterfly’s wing.
—Madison Smartt Bell
Jaimee Wriston Colbert’s Dream Lives
of Butterflies is a stunning collection, heartbreakingly funny and sad
at the same time, the tonal complexity underscoring at every turn her deep
and abiding compassion for both character and landscape. Nothing appeals
more to me in serious fiction than the kind of fundamental human dignity
that lives and breathes in each of these beautifully choreographed linked
stories. Jaimee Wriston Colbert is one of the most fiercely talented writers
I have read in a long, long time, her voice as emphatic and gorgeous as it
is brave. A remarkable achievement.
—Jack Driscoll
Jaimee Wriston Colbert’s words are like magic. Colbert gives
voice to those pushed to the margins of resistance, of sanity, of
survival—and what a voice it is! Lyrical, imploring, humorous, and
heartbreaking, the stories contained here take us out of dreams and into the
reality of lives whose truths are both strange and familiar. It is her
brilliant exploration of that no-man’s land between what we desire and what
we must live without that defines Colbert’s deep empathy for her characters.
We feel ourselves being drawn into the plight of the characters with such
startling recognition that we feel our own lives teetering on the edge of
something wondrous.
—Kim Barnes
Dream Lives of Butterflies is full of startling wisdom
and high-flown humor. Jaimee Wriston Colbert’s characters are complete
originals; full of sass and attitude, they struggle with the cultural
tension between worlds and lives. Readers will love following these people
on their full-hearted, rambunctious adventures.
—Diana Abu-Jaber
Jaimee Wriston Colbert is also the author of Climbing the God Tree
(winner of the Willa Cather Award in Fiction, and Sex, Salvation, and the
Automobile (winner of the Zephyr Prize in Fiction). Her fiction has
appeared in such journals as TriQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, and
New Letters. Originally from Hawai’i, she now teaches at SUNY-Binghamton
University.
A recorded interview with this author will be available soon from New Letters on the Air.
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