Τρίτο βιβλίο του Τζέιμς Κέιν που διαβάζω και με διαφορά είναι το πιο αδύναμο. Το κλασικό "Ο ταχυδρόμος χτυπά πάντα δυο φορές" δεν με ξετρέλανε αλλά σίγουρα μου άρεσε και αξίζει να μνημονεύεται και το επίσης κλασικό "Διπλό άλλοθι" μου φάνηκε τρομερό, από τα καλύτερα νουάρ μυθιστορήματα που έχω διαβάσει. Η "Πεταλούδα" όμως μου φάνηκε αρκετά μέτρια, πιο παλπ και από παλπ. Η υπόθεση είναι κάπως μπερδεμένη και πρέπει να γράψω μπόλικες σειρές για να την συνοψίσω σωστά, απλά έχει να κάνει με έναν πατέρα που ζει μόνος του για πολλά χρόνια σε μια φάρμα κοντά σε μια Καρβουνόπολη και μια μέρα δέχεται την επίσκεψη μια νεαρής και ξετσίπωτης, καταπώς φαίνεται, κοπέλας, η οποία είναι η μικρή του κόρη που έχει να την δει για πάνω από δέκα χρόνια. Η κόρη έμοιασε στην μάνα της, έκανε άσωτη ζωή, έμεινε έγκυος και φέρεται σαν τσούλα. Ο πατέρας σίγουρα θα επηρεαστεί. Και τα πράγματα θα μπερδευτούν πολύ, όταν μάθουμε και για το παρελθόν της οικογένειας... Οι χαρακτήρες είναι εντελώς κατεστραμμένοι, ο Τζες Τάιλερ, ο αφηγητής της ιστορίας, είναι αρκετά βίαιος και αντιπαθής, όπως και η κόρη του. Μιλάμε για μια κατεστραμμένη οικογένεια. Πολλοί από τους διαλόγους μου φάνηκαν επιεικώς τραβηγμένοι και χαζοί, η πλοκή προχωρούσε γοργά και δεν μου κίνησε (σχεδόν) σε κανένα σημείο το ενδιαφέρον και αν η γραφή σε μερικά σημεία δεν ήταν καλή και ο συγγραφέας ήταν διαφορετικός, μάλλον θα του έβαζα λιγότερο. Ο Κέιν είναι πιο γνωστός για τον Ταχυδρόμο, το Διπλό άλλοθι και την Μίλντρεντ Πιρς, που είναι και τα καλύτερά του έργα, ενώ όλα τα υπόλοιπα αστυνομικά που έχει γράψει δεν είναι τόσο πολυδιαβασμένα και ούτε τόσο καλά.
Narrator Jess Tyler lives alone on his small farm in a coal town where they stopped mining years ago. His wife, Belle, left him ages ago and he's been alone ever since -- until the beginning of this story, when he comes home to find a very forward nineteen year-old girl sitting on his stoop.She plays coy for a while, but finally lets him in on her secret: she's his daughter, Kady, whom he hasn't seen since she was small. "Your little girl. The one you like."He takes her in. Problem is, she plays more than just coy -- and Jess finds he likes his grown-up little girl in entirely new ways now. He's pretty good at resisting, for a while, despite her teasing, but he can't entirely resist her allure. When Kady takes a job in town he hatches a plan to keep her around again, and make a bit of cash to keep her happy with: they set up a moonshine operation.Jess rarely ventures into town, and leaves a lot up to Kady. She certainly knows how to handle herself -- a bit too well, he sometimes wonders. But there are a lot of things where he finds he doesn't want to dig too deeply:But some things, I don't know where she could have bought them. For instance, the hydrometer she got, that you have to test the proof with, came in a long pasteboard box. And stamped on the box was "Property of Carbon City High School." I kept telling myself I had to ask her about it, but I never did.Complications ensue in their relationship. Kady had a baby, which comes into their lives. And the baby has a peculiar butterfly birthmark .....Kady means to marry the father of her child, but Jess interferes -- doing what he thinks is right, which, it turns out, might not be so right after all.Murder and confusion ensue. Jess and Kady wind up married, but that can't last -- but Cain at least twists things beyond the simple problem of a little incest (though he perhaps twists a bit too much).The closing isn't half-bad, but the melodrama along the way is a bit much. There's not enough meat to much of the story, and the characters aren't fleshed out enough to really make it all convincing. Only in some of the dialogue -- especially the risqué repartee between reluctant father and devil may care daughter -- does Cain really succeed.It's an entertaining story, but not entirely satisfying, trying to do too much at once. But it's short -- barely a hundred pages -- and certainly fairly gripping much of the way.Cain also offers a preface to the book, a piece that's more of biographical interest than anything else.
What do You think about The Butterfly (1964)?
Though far from the best this great author wrote during his career, Butterfly is still a rather tight noirish thriller with an unlikely setting. Gone are the urban landscapes of California. This story of weakness and betrayal takes place in the small town, almost Western genre feel, of the eastern mountains. Cain writes deeply flawed broken characters whose only chance at survival is to claw their way through the human refuse around them. The world is painted a deep shade of grey. Filled with the classic pulp taboos that made Cain's books fly off the shelves, The Butterfly is an enjoyable paperback classic of a bygone era, even if it can't stand up to the others works of the genre or its own author.
—Jeff Powers
It's not quite up to par with Cain's legendary noir classics (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE). But it's not quite as awful as its subject matter (hillbilly incest) and its adaptation (the legendarily awful 1981 Pia Zadora film) might imply. If you must read it, save Cain's introduction for last. He manages to blow several key plot points as he discusses false starts on the road to writing the novel. However, his curiously defensive responses to critics comparing his work to the hardboiled efforts of Hammett and the minimalism of Hemingway is revealing, and not in a flattering way.
—Steve
Demetrius wrote: "You write it "gets worse" but you rate it four stars or "I really liked it?"Your rating states you liked book, but review doesn't seem so."Oh, I meant his life gets worse, not the book. Sorry if that was confusing.
—James
