Elusive Butterfly [Paperback]

Amy Hillgren Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Tempers flare, teen angst, butterfly with attitude, dead pelican, seaside adventure, prostitute's redemption and more fill the pages of "Elusive Butterfly."

A collection of autobiography, social issues essays, fiction and poetry, this is the first book by its 29 year old author.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A bold first effort by a young writer who promises to become important to the American literary landscape..." -- BookReporter.com

A remarkable novelized memoir. -- John McManamy, McMan Web, January, 2001

About the Author

Amy Hillgren Peterson is a 29 year old with bipolar disorder. Her mother's death when she was 16 was the defining moment in her life and shaped much of what was to come. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a B.A. in English, cum laude, in 1994. She writes extensively on mental health issues in print and on the Internet. She is working on her first novel and collaborating with an online writer from Australia on a screenplay. She lives in Sioux City, Iowa with her husband and two children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 117 pages
• Publisher: Babcock Publishing Company (October 1, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 1892161249
• ISBN-13: 978-1892161246
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,227,989 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something you haven't seen before, December 8, 2000

By 

Lindsay (Greeley, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elusive Butterfly (Paperback)

This book was awesome. I couldn't put it down. At first it seems to jump around a bit with chapters consisting of just a paragraph but about 1/3 of the way through it all comes together: the mental illness issues, the eternal life, and the call for change. It was a beautiful book and I loved it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Production problems pale with outstanding writing, June 11, 2001

By 

"dannyboy36" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elusive Butterfly (Paperback)

I was distressed and distracted by the production problems inherent in this independently published book...typographical errors, poorly laid out photos, incorrect layout. But these are not the fault of the author and if you get past all that, the magic of this book comes through it all.

When most younger people write an autobiographical story, it comes out self-serving, adolescent, and blaming others for trials and problems. This book is an exception. It has power. It has a gracefulness that generally is only able to be captured by a more mature author. I don't know what I would compare it to--it's in a league all its own.

My only hope is that Peterson, its creator, finishes her upcoming novel soon. If she combines image with prose as eloquently as she has attempted to here (and would have succeeded had production problems not intervened) her novel will be something unique and powerful as well.

Elusive Butterfly is unforgettable, and its problems stem from the youthfulness of its author and the quite obviously low budget of its producer/publishers.

Don't miss it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful true stories, humor and life, January 2, 2001

By 

JayC (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elusive Butterfly (Paperback)

The author takes the reader to the high and low places of her life and her mood swings with each chapter of Elusive Butterfly. Even the parts that are fictional are really thinly disguised stories of pain and loss and hope.

With the simple symbolism of the butterfly, a common symbol of eternal life, the author takes the epiphanal aspects a step further, lamenting the fact that her late mother is "on that butterfly flight in the sky" and cannot be with her as she moves into her adulthood.

This was a book of heavenly proportions and I am thrilled that this author plans to write more fiction as that is her strong point. A book of talent and love lost by a truly remarkable writer who unabashedly shows the bright and dark spots of her soul.