The Butterfly Lampshade

by Aimee Bender

The first novel in ten years from the author of the beloved New York Times bestseller The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake, a luminous, poignant tale of a mother, a daughter, mental illness, and the fluctuating barrier between the mind and the world

On the night her single mother is taken to a mental hospital after a psychotic episode, eight year-old Francie is staying with her babysitter, waiting to take the train to Los Angeles to go live with her aunt and uncle. There is a lovely lamp next to the couch on which she's sleeping, the shade adorned with butterflies. When she wakes, Francie spies a dead butterfly, exactly matching the ones on the lamp, floating in a glass of water. She drinks it before the babysitter can see.
Twenty years later, Francie is compelled to make sense of that moment, and two other incidents -- her discovery of a desiccated beetle from a school paper, and a bouquet of dried roses from some curtains. Her recall is exact -- she is sure these things happened. But despite her certainty, she wrestles with the hold these memories maintain over her, and what they say about her own place in the world.
As Francie conjures her past and reduces her engagement with the world to a bare minimum, she begins to question her relationship to reality. The scenes set in Francie's past glow with the intensity of childhood perception, how physical objects can take on an otherworldly power. The question for Francie is, What do these events signify? And does this power survive childhood?
Told in the lush, lilting prose that led the San Francisco Chronicle to say Aimee Bender is "a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language," The Butterfly Lampshade is a heartfelt and heartbreaking examination of the sometimes overwhelming power of the material world, and a broken love between mother and child.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, Mental Health, Contemporary, Fantasy, Novels

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2020

About the author

Aimee Bender is the author of the novel An Invisible Sign of My Own and of the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Willful Creatures. Her work has been widely anthologized and has been translated into ten languages. She lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful title, gorgeous book cover. Long time members may remember my comments calling this authors past book, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake the silly lemon cake book. This is her first book in ten years and I'm surprised at how much it resonated.

Past memories, trauma when young, mental illness and mother daughter relationships. Francine is a young girl when she goes to live with her aunt after her mother has a breakdown. Her memories are unclear and added to the fear that she has her mother's mental illness, makes the world seem too large. She will spend parts of her life trying to put her past in context, making something new out of old. She does the same with her choice of employment.. It.
is hard not to sympathize with Francine, both when she is a young child and later as a young woman. How hard it is to overcome ones past, as well as the effect of a broken mother, daughter relationship.

Sounds rather straightforward, right? But don't worry, Bender's whimsy is still present within. There are several incidences that seem unreal, but are representational of, well let's just say that they are open for individual readers interpretation.

ARC from Edelweiss.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aimee Bender left quite an impression on me with her book
“The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake”.
There are style-similarities with “The Butterfly Lampshade”.....in that both books conjure a lush and powerful story with a ‘touch’ of magical realism.
Aimee’s wonderfully strange images seem plausible.

I listened to the Audiobook- ( narrated by Julia Whelan), then re-read through favorite parts of the physical book.
The book cover is gorgeous- with a smooth glossy finish.

The story begins with Francie - in her 20’s - who is determined to remember, and construe very specific distressing times in her childhood.

Having lived with a mother who was grappling with mental illness her entire life - by age eight- Francie’s mother, (Elaine), had a psychotic episode so severe, she needed to be hospitalized long term.
Arrangements were being made for Francie to go stay with her Aunt Minn, Uncle Stan, and their newborn child, Vicky, ( later Vicky and Francie become very close), but first, Francie spent the night at her babysitter’s house for the weekend.
A time to remember.....

There were three specific occurrences in young Francie’s life — that she ( now an adult), explores, examines obsessively, observes, and reflects earnestly.
Disarming, emotionally —the grown up Francie,
sits quietly in an actual ‘memory tent’....compelled to make sense of those events and how they impacted her life. She wrestles with old memories- their significance -and what they say about her place in the world.

This is a powerful novel dealing with mental illness. The scenes set in Francie’s past shine with intensity of childhood perception, the way physical objects can take on an otherworldly power.

Here’s a sample ‘part’ of a dialogue while driving in a car - (bittersweet; many priceless pages continue on and on)...
—between the babysitter, Shrina, and 8 year old Francie:
“Do you like the radio?
It’s okay”.
I know this must be so confusing, Francie.
Is this your car?
Yes.
It’s green.
It is. I like green.
Do you always drive his car?
I do. Do you like it?
I do.
I’m glad. That’s my lucky troll. We will have a couple of good days of just you and me before the train ride. It’s Friday! Weekend ahead. I know a great pancake place for tomorrow morning. Do you like pancakes?
Yes.
We’ll get in line early. They have the most amazing syrup. It’s a kind of special berry, you know those marionberries? Marionberry. They’re those really long blackberries, so long and skinny, like someone pulled a blackberry and stretched it..
Delicious. And we will talk to your aunt and uncle every day, okay?
My mom?
She can’t talk to you just yet. As soon as she is better and she can talk, you will definitely talk to her. That’s the glove compartment.
Can I open it?
It’s messy in there. You don’t usually sit in the front, do you?
What’s this?
Just Advil. Yeah, that should stay there. I probably should’ve put you in the back but it’s so messy, too. Would you rather sit in the back?
No.
Sorry, that’s just an old fork. I don’t know why it’s there.
Shrina?
Yes?
When do I go?
Sunday. Sunday morning.
And we’ll I talk to my mom then?
Not yet...... ..... ..... ...... .....”
......
......
......
Jumping ahead....( inside the house now)
This is the living room, Francie. This is the kitchen. It’s really small. Up there is the loft. I sleep up there. Can you see the bed?
Yes.
Are you hungry?
No.
I might have some cookies. Do you like cookies?
Is this your lamp?
The butterfly lamp? Do you like it?
Yes.
.....
.....
.....
What do you do at home most days, when you come home from school?
Play cards maybe.
Cards. I don’t think I have cards.
.....
.....
.....
I like the lamp.
I’m so glad. My mother got it for me when I was a little girl. Here let me turn it on.
The butterflies are so red.
Aren’t they?
And golden.
Did she make the lamp?
My mother? I believe she bought it in a department store. Did your uncle say he’ll stay at the hospital with the baby tonight?
What is the name of the store?
I don’t know, probably Robinson’s. She used to really like Robinson’s.
Why?
You want to see where my mother bought the lamp?
Yes.
Why, Frances?
I like it.
That’s so nice of you. I’ll tell my mother. She’ll be very pleased. What do you like about it?
The butterflies on it.
You want one of your own.
Yes.
This was years and years ago. I mean, I don’t know if they have them anymore. I don’t even think Robinson‘s exists anymore. Does it? But— you’ll be sleeping on the couch. You can sleep right next to it.
Here?
.....
.....
.....
Shrina, when I go, can I take the lamp?
You’ll have a brand-new cousin! Wow. You will be such an amazing help to her.
Can I take it with me?
Sorry, take what with you?
The lamp.
Take the lamp? You mean with you on the train?
I could put it in a box.
Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry, Francie. It’s just— it’s a gift from my childhood. I feel like I should keep it.
That’s okay.
I’m sorry. I should probably just give it to you—
Okay.
But it’s like the only thing from a certain time, from when my parents divorced. Just it’s special to me. I’m so glad you like it. You can visit it anytime.
.....there are a couple more pages of this dialogue.....

Shrina’s eyes tear up.
As the reader... we soooo understand!

A butterfly matching the ones on the lampshade appears floating in Francie’s water glass. A beetle from a drawing on a school worksheet shows up in a backpack.
And three roses matching the ones on a friends curtain appear on the floor. Francie takes them.

Aimee Bender tells this story going back and forth between adult Francie and childhood episodes that weighed heavily on her.

“We are all locked in rooms in different ways, and part of growing up is finding different kinds of keys, and meeting the people who will help free you”.

A little quirky.......
with captivating imperfect characters who one moment made me laugh and in the next pierced my heart.

4.5 stars

[Jennifer nyc · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you were raised by a mother with mental health issues, then you, too, may be obsessed with Truth. This is the simple story of a young woman driven to understand what was true in her childhood. I say simple because Francie, our guide, is not preoccupied by the need for Truth in all people and all situations - she is not even driven to uncover deep truths in herself in daily life. Instead, Francie reviews a few specific events that have taken long-term residence in her mind with great detail and clarity. And she suspects, as an adult, that they cannot be real.

The book takes on an element of magical realism, and we, the readers, are willing to believe in these odd events. Why not? The memories are magical. But in order for Francie to make sense of them, more painful truths about her mother, and herself, are revealed.

What makes this book work is the simplicity with which it is told. Francie is a stoic girl and woman with direct and clear communication. The story is told to us in this way. Both Francie and her mother are surrounded by loving, supportive family and friends, so there’s no further complication to the truth swirled up in difficult relationship dynamics, it is more about what’s contained inside of Francie.

I think there’s not only an historical dismissal of those challenged by mental health, but also the assumption that if you’re crazy you’re also bad. What I found refreshing here, in addition to the clarity, was how kind and loving Francie’s mother is, in addition to all who surround her. Francie struggles deeply with her own supposed badness, as well as a hyper-vigilance of what might be her own madness. This is not a story that digs deep into nuance and understanding, it won’t rip your guts out, and it may not be a book to recommend for all time. But ultimately, this is a satisfying story of redemption, with likable and loving characters who are easy to root for because they root for one another, and make us feel that all, eventually, will be OK.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Butterfly Lampshade” by Aimee Bender is a heart-wrenching tale of the effects of mental illness upon a family, especially a child. Bender is known for mystical and domestic fiction exploring intense familial feelings. In “The Butterfly Lampshade”, the mystical is minimal, and she uses the mystical as a backdrop to mental illness.

This is an aching story from the eyes of a young child who grows into a young adult, trying to make sense of her world. Francie is 8 when her mom suffers a severe psychotic break. Francie’s mom calls her sister, who tries to help from afar, and sends Francie to her room with a lock. Yes, Francie needs to lock herself into her room for her own safety. And her mother locks herself in as well. We know this isn’t the first time her mother was a physical threat to her. Yet, Francie loves her mother. When well, her mother is loving and doting. In fact, Francie, at age 8 realizes that the last combination of meds kept her mother in touch with reality for over a year.

The story is a meditation on the realities of mental illness. It affects Francie in more way; she is concerned for her own mental health, always checking for signs. And so is her Aunt who takes her into her home.

Francie learns to be still, to be quiet and notice everything. She could be a yoga master. But in Francie’s case, it’s self-preservation. Yet, after she moves into her aunt’s home, she can’t shake her attention to her every thought. It’s a lot for a young girl.

Beyond the storyline, the reason this was a special read for me is Bender’s prose: “As we headed to the kitchen to wash dishes, I could feel inside me the snag of an unfinished thought, although I couldn’t quite locate what it was.” I would call that a brain cramp, Bender eloquently states it in poetry.

Much of the novel is Francie’s contemplation of young life. She wants to remember and maybe to understand. This isn’t a fast-paced novel. It’s quiet. And it’s worth it.

Thank you to GoodRead’s friend Tania for writing a review on this that piqued my interest!

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

!! NOW AVAILABLE !!

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -- Mary Oliver

There are minor similarities in this, Aimee Bender’s latest book, and her The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, a somewhat strange, secret connection between the mother and her daughter, for one, as well as a small sense of magical realism.

As this story begins, Francie’s mother, Elaine, is on the phone talking to her sister Minnie, begging her to come, saying that there is something ‘wrong’ with Francie, that Francie has a ‘bug’ inside of her, and that she can no longer take care of her. After much conversation, Francie ends up staying with the young woman who babysits her temporarily, where one morning she wakes up to find a butterfly floating in her glass of water, next to the Butterfly lamp on the nightstand. Unable to leave this beautiful creature behind, not having another container to hold it in, and with no time to spare before she has to leave, she drinks it.

On that morning, Francie leaves for Burbank, California to go live with her Uncle and her Aunt Minnie, soon after their baby girl Vicky is born. Francie’s mother is now in an institution following a psychotic break. Francie is, understandably, a bit withdrawn upon arriving at her new home in Burbank.

Most of this story is shared from the time Francie is twenty-eight, living on her own, and best friends with her cousin Vicky, who seems unfazed by some of Francie’s unusual ways of viewing life, and her lifestyle. Vicky is supportive even when Francie decides to build a small “memory tent,” a small structure on her apartment balcony, where she hopes to revisit her childhood memories, returning to the days that formed her view of the world.

The more I read this book, the more I loved it. My heart went out to Francie, and I loved how each person responds to, believes in Francie, especially Vicky. The prose, as well as the way this story is told, has this quality of making this story seem, at times, illusory - as though reality, itself, was fleeting, which reminded me a bit of Rene Denfeld’s The Enchanted, the feeling that everything ‘seen’ in that story seems like a version of some weird but wonderful twist on reality, shared through such lovely prose that it is mesmerizing, nonetheless.

This story is, in part, about mental illness, as well as the tested bonds between a mother and child, and finding your own compass for your own life, and the importance of feeling loved. It won’t be for everyone, but I loved it.


Pub Date: 28 July 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Doubleday Books via Edelweiss

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blurred. Contemplative. Tragic. Heartbreaking...

In Portland, a single bipolar mother, Elaine, suffers a final psychotic break and is confined to a mental hospital. Her eight-year-old daughter, Francie, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Los Angeles. Twenty years later, Francie still thinks about that day and is troubled by the memories of three things she can't stop seeing: a dead butterfly, a desiccated beetle, and a bouquet of dried roses...

The Butterfly Lampshade is a beautifully written and quietly sad story. Bender's prose softens the complex reality of Francie's childhood trauma and the lingering fear that she may be headed in the same direction as her mother. This is a heart-wrenching and slow-moving read with hard-fought battles for both Elaine and Francie, and journeys that feel mysterious and frightening to witness.

The 7H 23M audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan, provides the listener with a keen sense of Francie's character and her attention to detail through her first-person point of view.

The Butterfly Lampshade is a blend of Literary Fiction and Magical Realism, which gives this evocative story a fair balance between what is real and what might be imagined!

4⭐

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed Bender's writing in the past (The Color Master: Stories) and requested a copy of this on the strength of that. So it's a shame that this never really lives up to the promise in the blurb, and instead is a pedestrian and meandering pseudo examination of the impact of mental illness on one family. It's not often when reading that I find myself confused, but not insignificant chunks of this book focus on things which do not seem to further the plot. I tried to like this, but ultimately the story and its characters failed to win me over.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK / Cornerstone for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a quiet, contemplative mystery to this book—a journey to remember and fully process the past, and then move on. If you love the inner journey and are happy to live with metaphor, you may really enjoy this beautifully written novel. I certainly did.

11/12/20 Thoughts
I finished this book the day before yesterday and I found it coming up in my morning contemplation. That’s a sign of a good book. Morning contemplations are something I’ve always spontaneously done, mostly without even labeling them. They are a time when I sit quietly, usually predawn, and suddenly I realize what I’m thinking about as my thoughts wander, and this leads me to asking myself a question. This morning my question had to do with what I and my life would be like if I shed my worry and sometimes sense of overwhelm. And this led to thinking about the protagonist in Aimee Bender’s The Butterfly Lampshade, Francie.

Francie has a tumultuous upbringing with a crazy mother. But this morning I realized there is something heroic about the way she deals with all the residual mess of that. Rather than foist it on other people, she acknowledges her dark thoughts and dangerous impulses, and does what she can to protect others from them. Juxtaposed with the violence inside her, her actions of taking on an honest inner journey are heroic.

Perhaps only people who have grappled with impulses they may be ashamed or frightened of may recognize this heroism. Francie’s naked admission about all her worst impulses give this book an authenticity that I value and would hold up as a model to any author who writes slickly. There is nothing slick here. No false truths, no manipulated transitions. And how Francie comes to a quiet ending of the mysteries of herself is also heroic. No trumpets blare, nobody but Francie even understands where she has been and therefore where she has journeyed to.

On contemplating this book, I find myself admiring it even more. Hence, I’m changing my rating to 5 stars. Brava, Aimee Bender, and brava, Penguin Random House for publishing it.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Butterfly Lampshade is the third novel by NYT best-selling American author, Aimee Bender. Francie is just eight years old when her mother Elaine has a psychotic episode that lands her in hospital. Even at this tender age, Francie is ever-vigilant for the tiny changes that indicate a deterioration in her mother’s condition and suggest the use of the lock on her bedroom door. Not that Elaine has ever hurt her…

This time, though, it’s clear that the situation will be longer term, and Aunt Minnie, nine months pregnant, sends Uncle Stan to Portland to collect Francie and bring her to Burbank. Because Francie won’t get on a plane, her care is transferred (like a baton) from Stan (urgently flying back for the imminent birth) to Shrina (her babysitter) to Stan’s second cousin (for the train trip) to Stan at the other end. At the house she meets Aunt Minnie and her new cousin, Vicky.

Now almost twenty years older, and still carrying memories of that time, Francie feels the need to withdraw socially from almost everyone, to properly examine exactly what happened during this upheaval in her life. Because it was a strange few days, and it began at the babysitter’s with a butterfly lampshade, from which one of the insects materialised, floated in a water glass and was drunk down. A beetle that escaped a page, a besuited pair on a train and roses that fell from a curtain: these all need to be examined.

Up to now, Francie “could feel the memories there, wanting my attention, but I did not know what to do with them”, they “came to me in parts, in fragments and pieces, tugging at the corners of my thinking like a half-captured dream”. Her cousin talks of “sticky memories” and Francie enlists her help to create a place where she can concentrate her thoughts on remembering: “I liked the idea of giving the memories a place to emerge, like they had an inherent gaseous nature, and the tent would prevent them from floating away.” Remember she does, in intricate detail. What effect will it have on her?

What a magical story Bender has created! The narrative jumps back and forth to different times of Francie’s life, yet is easy to follow. Eight-year-old Francie is a wonderful character: clever, sensitive and insightful, with a pragmatism that guides her in protecting herself and those for whom she cares. These characters are easy to invest in, to care about. There’s a tinge of paranormal that adds to the fascination.

Bender has a marvellous turn of phrase: “my thought returned to its track, a train lining up synaptically that I could now get on and ride” and “Who would handle my mother’s clothes and perfumes? It was all spread in bits, like the trash we had left in Salinas, this life rubble” are examples. This is a brilliant read!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I'd enjoy this book. Mental health, introspection, odd main character - these are all ingredients for a book I generally enjoy/ appreciate. However, I found this book incredibly incredibly incredibly boring. I struggled to keep picking it up again. To make it to the end of the chapter was a huge feat. Between the writing style of massive blocked pages of text, zero dialogue breaks, and incessant recapping of super mundane daily activities or thoughts, I really didn't see the point. There are way better titles exploring mental illness out there, and this felt like a waste of time.

[Sarah A-F · Rating 2 out of 5]

"What would I do?"
"You would cry," she says.
"And what would you do?"
She looks at me with surprise. "Honey," she says. "I would stop."

disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration. All of the opinions presented below are my own. Quotes have been taken from the advanced copy and are subject to change upon publication.

This review can also be found on my blog.

At its core, this feels like a book about processing trauma through fantasy. In theory it sounds like something I would enjoy, but I just found the execution lacking. While highly readable (I managed to get through this in a single day), I just didn't feel particularly connected to the characters or the story. I wasn't reading because I wanted to see what would happen next, but because I wanted to finish the book and get on to another. Those who like slow-moving plots and magical realism are more likely to get along with this, but I found it just didn't hit the spot for me.

content warnings: intrusive thoughts; psychosis

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[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

It isn't easy to name what I felt; as a child, I was immersed in feeling without name...

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because of the vivid, beautifully descriptive writing.

Eight year-old Francie has a lot to deal with when her mentally unstable mother is taken away after a psychotic episode and she has to stay over with a baby-sitter, then travel with a stranger on a train to move in with her aunt.

As a grown-up Francie struggles with three incidents that makes her doubt her own sanity, and finds the need to build a memory tent, a place where she can slow things down, to work through the effect her mother's mental illness had on her childhood.

If you are looking for a fast-paced plot driven book, then swiftly move along. The Butterfly Lampshade is a slow, internal exploration of Francie's life and mind, written in exquisite prose and sprinkled with some magical realism. It definitely hit the spot for me.

[Kitty | MyCuriousReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Saturday, I curled up with The Butterfly Lampshade, which was like wrapping a chenille blanket around my shoulders, while sitting on a pink cloud during a thunderstorm.

Wickedly ethereal imagery with grounded characters created the perfect atmosphere to tell an accurate, at times disturbing and compassionate fable of the complexities of the mother daughter relationship.

Amy Bender magically wrapped a red bow around mental illness, childhood trauma, friendship, and love, which will stay with me. I loved it and can’t wait to read more of her work.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK..but there was something off about everyone reassuring the narrator that she didn't have a mental illness like her mother -- and yet her behavior said something else entirely.

[Emily Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I don't quite know how to describe what this book did for me as a person and as a writer, but it feels like a teeny-tiny shift in my soul. The low ratings are so strange to me; how can anyone be bored by this weirdly yet perfectly paced and structured story? I have really weird taste, though.

As I was reading this, I could vividly imagine it translated to the stage. I think it would be as mind-blowing and impactful as a play, and I would dedicate my entire existence to that adaptation.

When I read the synopsis, I was nervous about how psychosis would be portrayed, but Elaine's illness never impedes her ability to love her family, even if she cannot be there for them physically. As a reader, I felt so much compassion for everyone in this story, and I appreciate the lack of human antagonist. I watched a live stream/reading where Bender talks about the power that objects have because we give them that power, and thoughts are the same way. I am also a person who attaches significance and power to physical objects, and some of Francie's childhood thoughts and tendencies put into words things I never could.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and I enjoyed that format, but I'll definitely reread this physically. If you like unconventional storytelling and magical realism, ignore all the one or two-star reviews. This novel is definitely worth your time.

[Michelle Keil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bender's book is luminous and true to the work of surviving trauma and later, remembering and healing from it. We are accustomed to a hero's journey where objects speed and explode and humans radically transform in a way that's easy to see. But my favorite sort of adventure is the internal kind.

I was afraid for Francie when her mother's mental illness escalated. I was afraid again when she made her memory cocoon on the balcony with the intention =to relive them. Any survivor will tell you that remembering is often more terrifying than living something the first time. With childhood trauma, this is especially true. The act of building and inhabiting a place for these memories to emerge was, to me, extraordinarily brave and breathtaking to read.

On a craft level, The Butterfly Lampshade is masterful. The fine, photographic level of detail slows the pace in way fiction usually avoids-- we are taught to compress time to keep the reader's attention or expand it in overview as quickly as possible so we don't interfere with the pace of the plot. By slowing us down to almost real-time, Bender makes space for us in Francie's tiny world so that, by the book's final chapters, a small shift in behavior has enormous significance. Just like it can in real life.

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The opening chapter of this book gripped me right away. In that chapter, 8-year old Francie's mother has a psychotic episode and is taken away. Francie is temporarily left in the care of her babysitter until transportation can be arranged to her aunt's house in California. While at the babysitter's place, Francie becomes enthralled by a lamp with a butterfly shade. Francie finds a dead butterfly exactly matching the ones from the lampshade floating in her cup of water and gulps it down before the sitter can spot it. And so begins Francie's story.

The story flits and floats backwarrds and forwards in time from current day when Francie is an adult with a thriving Ebay business to back when she was a child staying with the sitter and the times in between. Francie questions her own mental health while she still tries to unwind what happened in her childhood. The writing was lovely but for me there was almost too much floating that the story couldn't quite settle with me. I am a long time Aimee Bender fan so I am always thrilled to read anything by her. This was worth the read to me but isn't my favorite of her books.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this one and really enjoyed it. It’s definitely a slow-moving, introspective book, but the narrator does such a wonderful job telling her story. When she’s eight years old, her mother has a psychotic break, and Francie moves to LA to be with her aunt and uncle and new born cousin Vickie. The book takes place when Francie is twenty-six, and thinking back on that transitional time in her life, when the lines between reality and fantasy seem to blur. I definitely recommend this one, but would probably rec the audiobook more than anything. I couldn’t stop listening once I started.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess I requested this arc solely based on how much I loved The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by the author. I struggled to connect with Francie. I don’t do well with characters that feel aloof or detached. I think this will resonate with many of her fans. I was just hoping for more and a story that would stick with me the way TPSOLC did.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I vastly prefer her as a story writer, but that is so selfish, I know. Reading this novel with an open mind: the strengths were the flaws. I thought it was too long, with circuitous explanation of the same thing several times. BUT-- that served to underscore the workings of Francie's mind, so it was deliberate and I am just impatient. I didn't appreciate the story until about 2/3 of the way through, realizing that Francie's quirks and behaviors are clear survival skills, self-taught because of her mother's mental illness. She was a marvelously self-sufficient child, even with a strong network of support to lean on. As a teenager and adult, the methods she chose to review her own mind and functionality seemed outlandish... but would I do any different or any better? Probably not. That perspective softened my view a bit. Truthfully, I very much enjoyed this novel, probably even more than I liked Yellow Cake, and I can't wait for more people to read so I can chat with them about it.
I received an advance from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Maureen Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Butterfly Lampshade is my first introduction to Aimee Bender and all I can say is WoW! I loved this book from the very first sentence and traveled the wonderfully strange and heart wrenching journey of a young girl into womanhood as she manages her mother's mental illness. Her fear that she may be like her mother drives the narrative that is at once unsettling and deeply felt. I love this book and highly recommend it!

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything Aimee Bender writes is tinged with the magical, and this novel is no different.

[Maxine (Booklover Catlady) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly this book was a real let-down. I was super excited at the premise of it but the writing did not deliver. I found it slow and cumbersome and not cohesive. The length of some paragraphs with no punctuation was just crazy! Then it was choppy in other places. This made for a very difficult flow of concentration. I think this author was let down with some editing required.

Overall this was just not enjoyable and not a book I'd recommend comfortably. I don't seem to be alone in my views of this book. Hopefully this author will write another and take on board reader feedback. Only 2 stars from me unfortunately.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy. All reviews are my own and totally unbiased.

[eirignis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mon rapport à ce livre a été très particulier, je ne saurais pas dire exactement ce qui m’a plu dans ce livre mais pourtant il m’a beaucoup touché. J’ai toujours peur quand la maladie mentale est abordé du point de vue de l’entourage de la personne concernée parce que peur de l’appropriation de la douleur mais ici ça n’a rien à voir, on vit la résilience de la protagoniste à travers son propre rapport au monde et au réel sans être lié à sa mère. C’est une lecture assez légère, bien moins lourde que ce que j’avais imaginé, menée par cette idée de voyage, de quête, qui nous anime tous quelque soit la forme qu’on choisi de lui donner : un papillon, un scarabée ou une rose ?

[Alison Hardtmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Francie is eight, her mother has a psychotic break and is hospitalized. Now twenty-four, Francie decides to revisit her memories of the week surrounding that event. So this toggles back and forth between Francie's past and her present, as she comes to terms with the results of having a mother who is too mentally ill to care for her and her own fears of becoming mentally ill herself.

Bender is wonderful at writing from the perspective of a child and with a child's understanding. Francie is a necessarily cautious, watchful child, but she never seems precocious, or too old for her age. This was a thoughtful look at how a parent's mental illness impacted the life of her daughter and how that daughter came to terms with her memories and of her fears of following in her mother's footsteps.

[Robert Blumenthal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had avoided Aimee Bender for years, afraid of being subsumed by fantastical elements of which I have a difficult time relating. And yet, in the right doses, I can really appreciate such elements. This is her first novel in 10 years, and it was so worth the wait for any of her readers. Where The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was a bit more based on fantasy (the ability of the narrator to sense peoples feelings through what they have cooked), this one was more of a symbolic journey through a traumatic experience, with some metaphorical fantasy elements.

Francie is 8-years old, living in Portland, OR, when her mother's mental illness becomes so severe that she needs to be at a mental health institution for many years to come. Francie spends a few days at her babysitter's house, and then she joins her Aunt and Uncle and just born cousin Vicky and lives the rest of her life in Los Angeles. Her aunt and uncle become her surrogate parents and Vicky her surrogate sister. The story is essentially about how Francie works through all the emotions around the abandonment by her mother and the possibility of her mother passing on any mental health issues to her.

When she is 28 and living in her own apartment, she decides to seriously delve into the process of coming to terms with her mother and her mental illness. She builds a tent on her balcony and calls it her memory tent. It isn't so much that she doesn't remember specifically what happened when she was eight, it is more of a rite of passage that she needs to go through.

There are three occurrences that have held significant importance to her: 1) a butterfly seems to have fallen from a lampshade at her babysitter's apartment and appeared dead in a glass of water that Francie then proceeds to drink, 2) a beetle that was part of a drawing from a fellow classmate has left the page and materialized as a real beetle, which Francie then takes for her own, and 3) roses appear to come off a curtain and become dead roses on the floor. These are all very symbolic of the transformation that occurs in Francie's life when she essentially loses her mother.

This book is so well written and so strong. It is quite compelling, a little strange, and profoundly moving. I am so glad that Aimee Bender has entered by literary life.

[Lisa Spicer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to start with this book? I am a long term fan of Aimee Bender, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake has been a favourite for many years. So needless to say, I was beyond pleased when I was granted an ARC for her long awaited new novel.
The Butterfly Lampshade is stunning, and I think that I will need to go back and re-read her other novels with a fresh pair of eyes and try her short stories (of which there are many).

Aimee's use of mystical realism in this tale that studies the mind and our mental wellbeing is exquisite. I was submerged totally in Francie's story, so immersed that it almost felt physical. The affect that her writing had on me, mirrored the details of the book; the thought that what she described was possible, tangible is testament to the skill of Aimee's writing.

Francie's mother has suffered from mental illness all her life. At the age of 8, Francie goes to live with her Aunt when her mother is institutionalised, after a particular psychotic episode.. This book is the story of the few weeks surrounding that time, as remembered by adult Francie. Told gradually, over a number of years, as Francie puts together her memories, her thoughts and her feelings of that time.
How it has influenced the person that she is, how she thinks, how she lives her life and her fears of being the same.

Butterfly Lampshade focuses on the affect that mental illness has on those closest to the sufferer, it portrays the impact that it could have on a child. It shows the power of memory; the journey of letting your memories emerge and allowing yourself to fully process them, giving yourself time to heal and permission to move on.

Don't come to this book looking for plot, there isn't one really - the level of detail slows the pace to almost a stop, allowing you to totally absorb the narrative, to be consumed by it. By the final chapters, you feel that you are part of Francie's world and what she remembers is all perfectly reasonable and believable.

Thank you #netgalley this was amazing!

[Catherine (The Gilmore Guide to Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Aimee Bender’s ability to blend magical realism into reality in a way that makes it feel not only possible, but likely. Her latest novel, The Butterfly Lampshade, has a trace of this element, but is largely an introspective psychological journey.

When Francie was 8-years-old her mother had a psychotic episode and smashed her own hand with a hammer. Francie was quickly removed to the loving care of her aunt and uncle, but it meant moving to another state and leaving her mother in a care facility. They never live together again.

Now in her late 20s Francie is trying to reconstruct the unusual events that occurred in her own life after her mother’s breakdown. It’s intriguing, but the magical element hinders rather than helps the novel. What is one family’s journey in dealing with extreme mental illness loses its impact with the magical phenomena Francie remembers. I liked it, but did not love it the way I hoped I would.

[Han Whiteoak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book about a daughter coming to terms with her mother's mental illness and the disruption that occurred to her life as a result. There's some very light magical realism involving creatures pictured on paper (or lampshades) coming to life - or rather acquiring solid form but being dead.

What I enjoyed most about this book is how much kindness it contains. When eight-year-old Francie is afraid to fly to her new home with her uncle and aunt, instead of forcing her onto the plane, people rally around to allow her to take the train. When she insists on being locked into her bedroom at night, her new family installs a lock and - letting her know they will let her out whenever she wants it - goes along with what makes her feel safe. It was delightful to see a child being treated with so much respect and autonomy. Over the course of the book, Francie heals in her own time and in her own way.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book better than I did. Such obsessive navel-gazing wore me down after a while, and the excruciating, detailed accounts of daily chores (did we need to experience so many pages taken to clean up after a dinner, loading a dishwasher, please?) made my eyes cross. I'm not one for bang bang action, but a little movement would be nice, not consistent rehashing the trauma when she was nine. No. Not the book for me.