Often compared to such classic novels as Lolita, The Story of O, and Tropic of Cancer, and first published by the legendary Barney Rosset, Butterfly by Paul Loewen is a "brilliant meditation on obsession and desire, a tour de force of erotic storytelling and literary invention" drawn from the life of Pinkerton in the renowned Puccini opera of the same name.
"While The Story of O existed in a moral vacuum that gave the book a false aura of modernism, Butterfly's universe is the very opposite. Even when we think that Pinkerton has sunk so low that salvation is impossible, that the novel will finally espouse the trendy nihilism of Less Than Zero, and other New Wave works, the author manages to create an ending that is uplifting, life-affirming and human
Los Angeles Times
"Loewen's unusual first novel is an ambitiously literate retelling of Puccini's opera, Madama Butterfly. The tale centers around the sybaritic cad, Henry Pinkerton, a vaguely Henry Jamesian character, who indulges in decidedly un-Jamesian activities. Forced by his wealthy father to leave America after making known his desire to marry alluring, enigmatic and socially unsuitable Kate, Pinkerton goes
