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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Bloodletting a Butterfly by Alec B. Hood follows a transcripted encounter between two characters: the Surgeon and the Subject. The Surgeon conducts a formal assessment to decide whether the Subject qualifies for an unspecified but implied operation. Over the course of their conversation, the Surgeon questions the Subject about past experiences with child death, reactions to grief, and the disturbing poetry the Subject submitted in an application. The Subject responds with increasingly long passages of verse, describing death, decay, failed faith, and self-annihilation. The Surgeon interprets these words as evidence of obsession, despair, and a desire for self-erasure. The dialogue circles whether the Subject seeks to be healed or destroyed. After hours of testimony and recitation, the Surgeon records his judgment of the Subject's operation application.
Bloodletting a Butterfly by Alec B Hood, illustrated by Feather Hazel, is a daring work that is so unlike anything else I have read. It is written entirely in theatrical, almost stage-scripted dialogue in language that pulses with originality, carrying us into scenes that shift between the surreal and the startlingly concrete. It's incredible how poetically Hood pits us against encounters with insects embedded within, blood transformed into living things, and surreal rituals involving leeches, tarantulas, and tarot cards. Each moment is rendered with dark imagination. Hazel’s gorgeous hand-sketched charcoal illustrations heighten this experience, anchoring the words in artwork that feels raw and unforgettable. Together, text and image create a book that feels alive, offering an experience that is entirely singular and impossible to forget.
