Butterflies Dance in the Dark

By Beatrice MacNeil

Book Overview

Destined for limbo because of her illegitimacy, and labeled "retarded" because of a learning disability, young Mari-Jen Delene retreats into silence. Around her revolves a vividly drawn cast of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1552634744
• ISBN13: 9781552634745
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Key Porter Books
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Haunting tale of redemption.

This novel grabs you by the throat right off the start ( when a storm caused by the Virgin Mary battling for newly deceased souls with the devil steals a five year old's birthday cake) and never lets go. On first read, it's a tricky book with multilayered subtexts cloaked in a dark pastoral setting that is usually best served in short story format. But I just couldn't get over the beauty of the passages and how they so easily moved from the surreal to the everyday and then back to the surreal again as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And in the beauty of this gem, it is. There's a lot of pain here and far too much injustice, but in the end acceptance is as good as forgiven. Fabulous!

Butterflies soar with stunning imagery

This is a stunning tale of redemption set in the murky past of the north atlantic's Cape Breton Island. It is the story of a young handicapped girl against the forces of shame, sin, social stigma and her own descent into seemingly familial madness. The beautiful imagery juxtaposes the brutality of the odds, running from haunting to hilarious with such ease and with characters so richly drawn in natural quirkiness that the book often reads like a Fellini take on rural Irish tragedy. Though the tale of a young innocent overcoming great hardship is familiar ground, on this particuliar ground it happens to be enchanted. The girl as a young woman's take of her now dead mother is one of the most sorrowful passages I have ever read.

A Great Read

This book has humour and tragedy, strong characters and great dialogue. Set in the 1950's, the story follows Mari-Jen Delene from her fifth birtday to adulthood. She is a little Acadian girl who has trouble at school, the words dance around on the page when she tries to read. A cruel Mother Superior only makes things worse. But Mari-Jen has very clever twin brothers, Alfred and Albert who help whenever they can. To teach her take-aways, they draw six nuns on six pieces of paper and set fire to five of them,"How many are left?" asks Alfred.There is also a strong positive influence in her life, a Polish Jew, a Displaced Person, the twins call Daniel Peter. He takes the boys and Mari-Jen under his wing and teaches them things they'd never learn in school.Mari-Jen is a powerful character, more intelligent than Mother Superior expects. I couldn't wait to see how she solved the many problems of her upbringing. Her mother, Adele, is a single parent; Mari-Jen and her bothers have different fathers,fathers they have never met. Adele lives with the shame of her sins, her children. The relationships and how they are developed are unpredictable. "Butterflies Dance in the Dark" is a great read. I highly recommend it.