The Iron Butterfly:
A Trip Through the Twentieth Century
Doris Colmes 

 Review by Alyce Wilson     

How often have you heard someone finish telling a great story about their life only to be told by their friends, "You should write a book"? Most people don't take this advice, which is good because most of our stories would not come across nearly so well on paper.

That's not the case with "Iron Butterfly" by Doris Colmes. It is, indeed, an amazing trip through the 20th Century. And it's a trip in every imaginable sense.

We start in Germany just before World War II. Doris introduces us to her rich, Jewish family, to the sisters regarded as prodigies and to the overly strict but morally questionable father. The family escapes to America and a very different life, where Doris learns about interracial friendships, and sees poverty up close for the first time.

As she progresses from tomboy to teenager, from young woman to young wife, Doris, as author, pulls no punches. Whether it's a brutally honest depiction of the hopelessness of date rape or the glory of small moments such as discovering new musicians or sailing, her writing has a richness that helps her story come alive.

As the decades roll by, Doris abandons an emotionally abusive marriage, striking out both spiritually and physically into the world of the Flower Children in San Francisco. She never stops learning or growing, although some lessons take more than one attempt to learn, such as how to recognize an unhealthy relationship.

Through experiencing these adventures with her, the reader gets that rarest of chances: to truly learn from the accumulated wisdom of someone who has seen and experienced, learned and never stopped growing.

Yes, Doris' journey through the 20th Century is a strange and interesting trip, and it's a trip worth taking with her.

PublishAmerica; ISBN: 159129472X