"Butterfly on a pin"... book

by zeb 2 Replies latest jw friends

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  zeb

  It was recommended to me. If you wish to wallow in human misery in Catholicism and alcoholism get a copy.

  Its called "Butterfly on a Pin." By page 11 I had read it all. No schooling, neuroses, isolation too many children. A family who run away constantly unable to live or handle life and its a cruel life they try to handle.

  It is a tail of despair of a runaway who leaves the above to seek better and finally makes it into fashion with a big name and more wealth than she could ever have dreamed of.

  It reads like so many of the dreadful childhoods' read here.

  But if you are doing social sciences or social work and have only ever known love, meals and a safe warm bed you will find much in it.

  But for me I wish I hadn't bought it I will turn it over to the local library.
  
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  humbled

  zeb- Thanks for putting that on my radar. Memoirs of this sort are wonderful. The life that she lead happens more often than not— But rarely do people write about it. Too often they are swallowed by shame, drugs or alcohol. Or religion. If they find “normality” they hold on by being silent.

  My own stint in down-and-out Dublin in 1973-74 woke me from illusions of a world that rewarded the honest hardworking poor. The Catholic Church had not been discovered to be the repressive monster in that has since prove to be ( they passed that referendum a few days ago!) Later l would read Frank McCourt, Nuala O'Faolain , Ruth Park (lrish in the Sydney slums) and others whose memoirs and stories helped me understand my own life and the lives l saw in Ireland. I began to see a world where saints and sinners were wrapped in the same hide. Life’s game favors some over others. from the time they draw breath. Humans think they make the game with rules but l saw a mad scrum where desperate people struggled for survival. I lived with young Irish who didn’t have a chance. My own toe-hold in middle class America was a great advantage that l had never realized til my year in Dublin. And now l see the same goes on here.

  It was the beginning of looking at the world through a different lens. I think that any uncomfortable read is a good thing. Always.
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  zeb

  Many thanks.