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Reviewed by Jon Michael Miller for Readers' Favorite
Countdown Butterfly by R. R. Raita (who says the tale was “inspired by true events”) traces the personality evolution of protagonist Alex Raita, a young Romanian Uber driver in contemporary London. We meet Alex during his first visit to a psychologist whom he engages to help with his social anxiety and clumsiness. The reader eavesdrops on this therapy session which ends with the doctor cautioning Alex about the use of self-hypnosis. Alex’s pal Dan encourages Alex to join the party crowd and fixes him up with an attractive young woman who is easily lured away by a competitor. Alex has encounters with young women Uber riders but always fails ... until he goes against his doctor’s advice and invents a self-hypnosis system of counting down from ten with his eyes closed and finally thinking of the word 'butterfly.' It works. He becomes many times his opposite. Whenever he begins to lose his powers, he resorts to Countdown Butterfly to regain his strength.
I howled with laughter throughout this book. At first, I thought I was reading a sad story about a young man who seriously lacks confidence and is bound for loneliness and failure. I felt sorry for poor Alex who was too shy to attend his friends' parties and who always dropped something or tripped at crucial moments. But after his countdown butterfly exercise, his confidence knows no bounds. We follow the now brash, bold, assertive womanizer, poker player, thief, fist-fighter, and, yes, poet through a host of scenes set in London's streets, pubs, and five-star hotels. He beats up the toughest gangsters, seduces the sexiest women, and defeats the slickest gamblers. He proudly recites his poems. Yet, sooner or later he slips back into his true identity and needs his countdown exercise again. R.R. Raita’s Countdown Butterfly is a comedy of the highest order, and I’m still smiling as I write this review.
