SOURCE: "'That Most Honest Form of Love,'" in The New York Times Book Review, November 14, 1993, p. 13.

In the following review of Butterfly Stories, Ryman, a novelist, praises Vollmann for his frequently beautiful writing, but faults him for being manipulative and at times disingenuous.

William T. Vollmann has written about prostitutes before, most recently in the novel Whores for Gloria, and it would appear that he encountered criticism for it. His latest novel, Butterfly Stories, begins with a plea for the public not to be censorious about "that most honest form of love." He compares himself and prostitutes to butterflies, of which there are "billions of species."

One of Mr. Vollmann's stated aims is to detail such variety. He distinguishes his prostitutes by what a customer sees of them—their varying abilities to feign affection, their working procedures, the state of their pubic areas. Sometimes he gives the...