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mccluskey's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
rontronium's review against another edition
4.0
Bugler gets bullied. Bugler becomes leader. Bugler lives to tell a story or two.
The End.
The End.
momji's review against another edition
4.0
More like 3.5-3.75. The first 2/3 was wonderful but the final third was less heartwarming and the rich characters were a bit more flat. Still, overall a good read.
anitaashland's review against another edition
As is always the case with Butler's work, I enjoy the Wisconsin setting and references. The first half of the book is set in 1962 and focuses on the childhood of Nelson and his friend Jonathan. Then the remainder of the book switches back and forth between 1996 and 2019. I like this multi-generational aspect and it is very easy to follow.
jeffmauch's review against another edition
5.0
There's an awful lot that I love about this book, even with so many characters that are not just flawed, but unlikable. This is the story of three generations of men told through a few different narrators and set for the most part around a yearly trip to a Boy Scout camp. On the surface this doesn't sound like much, but I found this book hard to put down after the first couple chapters and it kept up to the very end. It starts in the 1960's and culminates in near present day and mostly in an examination of what it is to be a man, with a particular focus on raising boys, but from men with very different points of view. This book asks what it truly means to have principles and even to have a code of sorts and how having one and actually adhering to is are two very different things. This is a beautifully written novel that spoke to me in a number of ways, from the subtle references to Eau Claire, WI, where I lived for a few years in college, to the relationships among the scouts, a fraternity I belonged to at one point. This is the fourth book by Nikolas Butler that I've read and its far an away the best one. There's a beauty here, even when he's writing about the imperfect and fallible, both as young boys who are learning and as old men who should know better. While I can see and understand an issue or two others have pointed out in their reviews, specifically a late plot device that wasn't well received, I truly loved this book and I'm certain that even now in February, this will be on my short list of the best books I've read this year. 5/5
munsontime's review against another edition
4.0
I’m an Eagle Scout and it’s something that I’m really proud of. This novel did an excellent job of showing the evolution of Scouting and the way it intertwined with families and lives. It turned boys into men and men into boys. Well-written with great characters, it was tough at some points and beautiful at some points. It made me long for the simpler days of Boy Scout summer camp, while also showing the worst of some people involved. It reinforced something that I’ve always believed, that Scouting is what you make it. I was lucky to be surrounded by people that, despite their flaws, made it great. Nelson was one of those people.
bedeker's review against another edition
1.0
This is the first book by this author that I have read. I know that he is an Iowa Writer's Workshop grad and his first novel was well received so I had a level of expectation when starting this book. The author absolutely failed to meet that expectation on multiple levels. First of all his characters, particularly the males, are one-dimensional, and it feels as if he was too lazy to actually flesh them out and let the reader see what truly was in their "hearts", or what each man's code of ethics was, or whether any of his characters actually had a code of ethics. Next, some of the plot turns feel very contrived, and all too obvious and shallow. Would a man who is the leader of a scout camp really sit by idly as his friend takes his son to a strip club and encourages him to go into a back room for a one-on-one session with a stripper? And would that kid, who's as straight-laced as they come and puppy-dog in love with his high-school sweetheart, actually go forward with this? Would that scout leader even go the strip club, which is essentially in the backyard of the scout camp? Finally, where was the author's editor when it came time to their job? As another reviewer mentioned, maybe the editor was afraid to step on the toes of an author who has achieved some acclaim with a first novel. That's being generous. The author has one of the characters placed in the Special Forces, which is an army special ops group. Then, in a flashback, that character (Trevor) tells his girlfriend that he's joining the Marines (not the Army). And then he's in the Seals, a special ops group in the Navy! And when his girlfriend visits him, it's at Fort Bragg (an army base) and he also spent time at Fort Benning (another army base). Lazy writing, and lazy editing.
jenleah's review against another edition
1.0
The first half was pretty good. The next 2/3 were not so good, and the last third made me want to throw this book across the room.
robynryle's review against another edition
5.0
Such a beautiful, sad, intentional book about MEN. Not, men, as in men as stand-ins for all humanity, but men as men. Men as boys who are wounded by the process of growing up. About the horrible things we make men do in war and the horrible things men do to women and each other. About sons and mothers and sons and fathers. Just lovely and perfect.