Four Wings and a Prayer : Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly

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Summary: Four Wings and a Prayer - caught in the morass of New Age
Review: Author Sue Halpern has written a book about her time spent with people across North America who follow the supposed migration of Monarch Butterflies through the United States to Mexico. Entitled Four Wings and a Prayer - Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly, the book chronicles her journeys throughout the US and Canada in pursuit of knowledge about the Monarch butterfly while detailing her interaction with the various butterfly enthusiasts (lepidopterists) that she meets along the way. Superficially, the book's subject would seem to hold much promise. Interesting people, little-known facts, sweeping vistas described in stirring detail; there would seem to much that this book could offer the reader, sadly, not much of it is here. Like far too many writers today, Halpern can't seem to keep herself out of the story. In the context of this book, which indeed includes some fine passages, Halpern's New Age navel- gazing is largely unwanted and often tiresome; "What is passion? I asked myself again." Halpern writes (and the reader cringes) and then goes on to wax philosophically about 'knowing before understanding' or some other such airy-fairy mysticism. It's unfortunate that in a book that offers glimpses of some true characters Halpern can't help interjecting herself. The reader is told that Bill Calvert is a legend among Lepidopterists not only for his research but for his passion and unique character, yet description of that character is largely limited to repeated references to his messy truck and trite answers to the questions of others. The reader can forgive Calvert this though after having been subjected to Halpern's rhetorical wonking - by the end of the book the reader suspects that Calvert might not have been so taciturn had the company been less vocal. Like so much literature today Halpern's Four Wings and a Prayer unfortunately attempts to serve up commonplace events as mystic happenings. Worse still, the story is overlaid with the trappings of New Age mysticism at its worst: the reader is treated to the writer's account of her attempt to think like a butterfly and to experience flight as known by a butterfly via a convenient flight in a glider. These events, which are silly and romanticised in themselves, in the context of the book enmesh the reader in a sickly treacle of breathless prose from which it is frustratingly hard to escape. Hard fact is confused with psuedo-intellectual fancy, buried beneath a style of writing which encompasses so much forced gravitas that the reader is wont to think that the appropriate response would be to cry while reading this book.

At 29.95 CAN and at 207 pages this book is certainly not a good buy for everyone. Those that ponder this book should do so at length. Contrary to the heartfelt testimony printed on the cover this book will probably not "change your life" nor is it "a book we have needed whether we knew it or not". This book may be life-affirming and transcendent to a crystal-wearing, latte- guzzling "wind spirit" but to the average reader, even to the inveterate naturalist, this book is bound to be a disappointment. If you want to read of one woman's spiritual awakening in the world of butterflies this might be the book for you; but for those truly interested in the fascinating sub-culture of the lepidopterist and their pursuit of the Monarch, your money is better spent elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: it soars
Review: Halpern has the precision of a scientist, the grace of a poet, and the passion of someone truly informed and alarmed by humanity's headlong tilt against the beauty and variety of our natural world. Never shying away from the complexities of her subject--scientists and nature-lovers from a rich and profligate country demanding preservation sacrifices from the peasants of a poor one--she writes a seamless, and ultimately very moving, tale of wonder.

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Summary: Promises but doesn't deliver . . . pass this one up!
Review: I read a brief review of this book in the NYT Book Review and it sounded exciting and enlightening . . . alas, it's quite dull and offers surprisingly little information whether or not you're a butterfly fancier. To tell the truth, I read the second half of the book just to find out what in the world she could possibly fill all those pages with! There are a few neat facts about monarchs, and intriguing portraits of a few eccentric lepidopterists, but the rest is statements like "we really don't know [fill in blank] about these butterflies" and vague, unsatifying rhapsodizing by the author about her seemingly inexplicable passion for winged creatures--not to mention rather unremarkable mutterings about the nature of passion itself. This type of nonfiction can really sing--"The Orchid Thief," for example, though it definitely has its flaws, is nevertheless a fascinating read. Diane Ackerman's "Natural History of the Senses" is totally engaging as well. Or on a slightly different note, Judith Hooper's "Of Moths and Men" is a riveting portrayal of the controversy and scientific backbiting surrounding the peppered moth and Darwin's theory of natural selection. Contemporary nonfiction has come a long way, but "Four Wings" just falls flat.

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Summary: Boring for non-devotees
Review: I suppose if you are extremely interested in monarch butterflies you will find this book fascinating. I must admit I read only 100 pages. I enjoyed the beginning, when Halpern traveled to Mexico, but after page 100 the book was too academic, filled with the points of view of various monarch afficionados. Pretty dull stuff. I didn't think the writing was all that great, either. I suppose it was an academic success, but it didn't draw me in to the adventure.

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Summary: Magical, Poetic, Lyrical breathtaking
Review: Sue Halpern has a gift of composition to describe the wonder of the Monarch Butterly that practically takes your breath away. The book begins with her journey with a butterfly tracker real life "Indiana Jones" character as they drive to the butterfly preserves in Mexico. Her description of her first visit there which happened earlier with her tiny daughter and the truly awesome, almost religious experience of the sound of millions of butterflies rustling wings and of butterflies alighting on her daughter walking up her arm, the child watching without fear takes you into this book like a lover invites you to be with her. This is a book for all ages, and will be a standard to invite readers to the mysteries and beauty of nature. It is also hoped that the book serves to help advocacy to preserve this miracle of nature which is taken foregranted by so many. Sue Halpern is a writer in the same pantheon as Barry Lopez and Farley Mowat in her research skills, her love of nature and her literary abilities.

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Summary: Veryhting on the monarch butterfly!
Review: Two hundred pages on a single insect might strike some readers as overkill, but the monarch butterfly deserves every one. As fall temperatures drop, monarch butterflies throughout the Eastern US and Canada migrate south of the Rio Grande. No one knows how they make this journey of several thousand miles (memory cannot guide them, since three or four butterfly generations pass in a year). No one even knew where they spent the winter until the 1970s, when researchers discovered that millions of migrating monarchs collect regularly in a few small patches of forest in the remote Neovolcanic mountains of Mexico, where they cover every visible surface and fill the air with the sound of their wings. This phenomenon has fascinated laymen as well as scientists. Halpern (Migrations to Solitude, not reviewed) was captivated after visiting a butterfly reserve during a Mexican vacation, and she manages to convey her enthusiasm to the reader. Rather than research the subject herself, she finds the experts and lets them tell the story. She drives a battered pickup to remote mountains (with a grizzled field biologist who has spent his life studying the monarch), visits universities where precise chemical analyses are teasing out the insect's secrets, and reports on the work of the amateurs (an often eccentric but dedicated group who are making important contributions-they have, for example, tagged tens of thousands of butterflies, many later recovered far across the continent). Inevitably, the author writes about the future (almost always a depressing subject when wildlife is involved) and points out that the monarch is not endangered, even if logging operations are steadily reducing its wintering habitat in Mexico. An appealing account. Author tour