Butterfly Burning: A Novel [Paperback]

Yvonne Vera (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2000

Butterfly Burning brings the brilliantly poetic voice of Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera to American readers for the first time. Set in Makokoba, a black township, in the late l940s, the novel is an intensely bittersweet love story. When Fumbatha, a construction worker, meets the much younger Phephelaphi, he"wants her like the land beneath his feet from which birth had severed him." He in turn fills her "with hope larger than memory." But Phephelaphi is not satisfied with their "one-room" love alone. The qualities that drew Fumbatha to her, her sense of independence and freedom, end up separating them. And the closely woven fabric of township life, where everyone knows everyone else, has a mesh too tight and too intricate to allow her to escape her circumstances on her own.

Vera exploits language to peel away the skin of public and private lives. In Butterfly Burning she captures the ebullience and the bitterness of township life, as well as the strength and courage of her unforgettable heroine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the 1940s, the choices for women in British-ruled Zimbabwe were depressingly few, as Vera (thrice shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize-African region) illustrates in this slim scorcher. Beautiful, innocent Phephelaphi appears to middle-aged laborer Fumbatha as if in a dream, when she wades out of the river that winds through the black township of Makokoba. He immediately desires her "like the land beneath his feet from which birth had severed him." Her carefree spirit soon tires of his devoted love, however, which she cannot return, although she continues to live with him without the benefit of marriage. Before her mother's tragic murder, Phephelaphi was given a smattering of education, which she knows is the key to her freedom and to her self-realization. "She wanted more than obligation, not a fleeting excitement among male strangers with enticing tongues and a flirtatious oneness. She wanted a birth of her own." After gaining a coveted position at a local nursing school, however, Phephelaphi is grounded by the unthinkable: she learns she is pregnant and no longer eligible for the training course. A searing chapter describes an abortion Phephelaphi performs on herself, which changes the course of her still uncertain destiny. After learning of Phephelaphi's abortion, Fumbatha destroys what little is left of Phephelaphi's self-worth by admitting to adultery and shedding a tragic light on her own parentage. "Falling to pieces, easy, easier than she imagined. Much much easier than holding a man in your arms," she muses. Written in lyrical, metaphor-laden, heavily symbolic prose, this mesmerizing first U.S. appearance of Vera's work is sure to garner attention. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Zimbabwean Vera has received wide acclaim in her homeland but is relatively unknown in the United States, where her work has appeared in an anthology and through a small press. Her latest novel is a rare work of beauty, capturing the oft-tragic poetry of life in a black township of Rhodesia in the 1940s. Surrounded by poverty and oppression, where blacks are not even permitted to walk on the pavement, young Phephelaphi searches for her own freedom and fulfillment in spite of the love of Fumbatha, a construction worker more than twice her age. Vera's phrasing and style make mundane tasks like cutting tall grass or waiting for a train sing with a music all their own and give a simple story of love, longing, and betrayal a lyric quality. Readers of Isabel Allende, A.S. Byatt, or Toni Morrison will all enjoy this introduction to fine African literature. Highly recommended.DEllen Flexman, Indianapolis-Marion Cty. P.L.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (September 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374291861
• ISBN-13: 978-0374291860
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars POWERFUL WRITING THAT SPEAKS TO THE UNIVERSAL HEART, July 8, 2003

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Butterfly Burning: A Novel (Paperback)

Yvonne Vera's talent is amazing - she is gifted with the ability to relate stories set in her native Zimbabwe with stunning literary grace and beauty, opening the lives of her characters to the readers' eyes and hearts, laying bare the lovely and depraved and everything in between. That she does all of this and additionally illuminates and brings forth the universal aspects in each and every instance bears witness to the fact that, while she may be an African writer, writing about African people and events, she deserves to be recognized, admired and honored by the world at large - and the world at large owes it to itself to discover her talents.

BUTTERFLY BURNING is set in a Rhodesian township in the late 1940s - long before Independence from British rule. The black citizens (who, in reality, weren't recognized as citizens in their own country) were reviled by most of the whites, looked upon as a source of cheap labor and criminal activity. They weren't even allowed to walk on the sidewalks with the 'imported' white citizens. The heroine of Vera's novel is a young woman named Phephelaphi - orphaned as a young girl and raised by a close friend of her mother, she is filled with a burning need to always become more, to see her life expand without limits. This longing became widespread in the hearts of women in the West many years later with the rise of feminism - women sick of being relegated to cooking and cleaning, aching for more of an education and more of a chance to find their place in the world. Phephelaphi's yearnings lead her ever forward - emotionally, socially, and with respect to a potential career. When her path crosses with that of Fumbatha - an older man with a kind heart and a bruised and battered past (as many in Rhodesia were) - she finds love and security, and, for a while, satisfaction and fulfillment. With all of the love he can offer her, however, Fumbatha cannot fulfill all of Phephelaphi's needs - and her search to meet these needs brings her both joy and sorrow. The joys she experiences will raise your heart to the heavens - and her sorrows will break it.

As in her newest novel, THE STONE VIRGINS, Vera breathes palpable life into her characters - they are immediately acceptable and accessible to the reader. The physical settings - both the natural world and the world of the township and city - spring to life as well through the careful brush-strokes of the author's words. All of it blends together into a style that entertains on one level, certainly - but this writing will affect the reader on many, many levels. There is a depth and beauty here - and a natural grace - that is a rare thing in writing. Vera's novels are short (two of them, WITHOUT A NAME and UNDER THE TONGUE, are contained in one volume), but don't be deceived - once begun, they expand exponentially, and they will resonate within you for years to come.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exquisite Find, February 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Butterfly Burning: A Novel (Paperback)

I found this book while browsing my local library shelves.

The story of a young woman's longing for selfhood in an Arfrican township during the 1940's speaks volumes to all of us who have felt, at one time or another, trapped in the seeming bleakness of our surroundings.

The writing is startlingly beautiful in its imagery, rich and full of bittersweetness like chocolate. The words come in floods and tides, you are literally overwhelmed by her words. They, alone, give their own experience.

The story of Phephelaphi is visceral: you do not merely read about her life, but feel it through her pain. Vera writes with the African closeness to nature and being; it is not an easy read, but one that will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your average novel, but poetry, July 14, 2003

By 

Tammi L. Coles "book group moderator" (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Butterfly Burning: A Novel (Paperback)

The Booker Tea Reading Group (Wash., D.C.) read this title for our June discussion. While all of us agreed that Vera was a powerful and skilled writer, many also concluded that her writing style was so dense and poetry-like that it made it a challenge to read. This is not a put-down-pick-up-where-you-left-off book. The book does not have a plot. Rather, you are painted a picture of Southern Rhodesia that is both brutal and compelling for the reader and the characters drawn by Vera. The author gives space to the love story in glimpses between images of racial violence, back-breaking labor, rootless children, lost women and desperate men. Some scenes were so vivid it made me wriggle about in discomfort. We recently read "Austerlitz" by Sebald. If you were a patient enough reader for that, and enjoyed it, you'll like Vera. Also reminiscent of the beautiful and complex works of Toni Morrison.