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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This was a fast read, and I really enjoyed this story. The book is set in a small (made-up) town in Wisconsin. It tells the stories of a small group of friends. I thought each character was well written and believable. I look forward to discussing this book in my library book club, and I would definitely recommend this one to others.
This book is a perfect summer read: requires little effort, fully of rich imagery and relatable characters. It doesn't strive to make a comment on society but simply to entertain.
Picked this up as an interesting yet light read. Expected the male character ensemble to be different and it was. It was great until the author took a weird turn in the last 4-5 chapters and sort of ruined the mood of the whole book. I would have given it 4 stars with a better ending.
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley.
I didn't expect to like this book. The hokey sounding title, the graphic design of the book cover both said- no, this is not your kind of book. However, it had excellent reviews, and I figured I would give it a try. So glad that I did.
It is a story of 4 men who grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. They are all very different as men, but were best friends growing up. The novel goes back and forth between the present and the past, with chapters from the point of view of the men and their wives, lovers.
What drew me in was the honesty of men in the story and the description of the town and surroundings. Growing up in small towns of the NorthEast, many descriptions resonated. Perhaps, not the wide open spaces, but the feelings expressed by the characters as we were brought back in time, felt real to me.
I enjoyed the stories of the big fish in the small pond and the various roads they each took to success in their own right.
I didn't expect to like this book. The hokey sounding title, the graphic design of the book cover both said- no, this is not your kind of book. However, it had excellent reviews, and I figured I would give it a try. So glad that I did.
It is a story of 4 men who grew up in a small town in Wisconsin. They are all very different as men, but were best friends growing up. The novel goes back and forth between the present and the past, with chapters from the point of view of the men and their wives, lovers.
What drew me in was the honesty of men in the story and the description of the town and surroundings. Growing up in small towns of the NorthEast, many descriptions resonated. Perhaps, not the wide open spaces, but the feelings expressed by the characters as we were brought back in time, felt real to me.
I enjoyed the stories of the big fish in the small pond and the various roads they each took to success in their own right.
I try not to read too much about a book before I read it because I like to form my own opinion. When I discovered Shotgun Lovesongs I only knew it was about dude friends, it was set in a small town in a northern state and the author had loose association with indie-god Bon Iver. Stories set in small towns and deal with the themes associated with being tied to people for life, just because you were born in the same hospital as them really speak to me. So that aspect trumped the other two giant red flags for me going into it..
The dude bro friendship stuff didn't end up being all that bad in practice. But because I knew there was this Bon Iver/Justin Vernon connection to the story, it was absolutely impossible to get into this book without being pulled right back out it with the lingering feeling that I was reading real person fiction.
So some background - I used to read a lot of Twilight fan fiction, not because I liked the characters or the themes from the actual series, but because women took the boring characters and premise of Stephenie Meyers and made it into better stories...I mean better in the sense that they were more entertaining...sometimes. Other times it would end up being creepy odes to Robert Pattinson falling deeply in love with a self-insert of the author and then I'd have to reevaluate how much time I was wasting on reading Twilight fan fiction.
As embarrassing as it was to admit I used to read Twilight fan fiction, is directly akin to how embarrassed the author of this book should feel for writing blatant real person fic about a musician who has never seemed to interested in sharing his personal stories and selling it for profit/recognition. And when I say blatant, I mean it's actually what Nickolas Butler uses to sell the story, boasting about the fact they are from the same 'small' town (um Eau Claire is nowhere near small town status but ok) and ensuring interviewers know where the inspiration behind Leland Sutton came from. As if we couldn't tell from the balding, bearded, lumber jack, hippie hipster, who sings in a falsetto about Wisconsin and winter and isolation, so on and so on...don't worry Butler, we got this - Leland = Bon Iver, you've effectively captured the 18-24 demographic.
And the reason that this all bugged me so much, because it was such a waste of great writing potential. Nickolas Butler has great sense of painting that mental image readers love, and he even showed us how to hear music in words. Granted he was describing previously recorded music by a mainstream artist, but still.
Where Butler truly falls short is story tell. Shotgun Lovesongs is a multi-character POV story about being childhood friends in your 30s that only needed to be told from one character's POV. We first meet Hank who is a simple man with simple means and simple life goals, and just simply uncomplicated. He is the perfect insightful, thoughtful but undramatic narrator for this kind of story. But then we get his wife's gossipy, side where she reads too deeply into other character's subtleties (and is annoying always right), and the frenemy Kip's absolutely cold and useless story about how he tries to impress the town with his successes, and then we get filler from Leland, and Ronny, who seems to have nothing to tell us about except how much he loves his friends.
So if the problem starts with having too many captains on this ship, things start sinking once you realize literally every single character narrates the same way. Hank paints a beautiful picture of a Wisconsin sunrise in a poetic fashion we'd expect from multi-platinum selling folk rock superstar. So does Kip. And Beth. And Ronny, the wannabe rodeo star who we were told nearly drank himself brain dead in the first chapter. In fact, the only person who isn't that poetic is Leland. His voice is choppy, cold and mostly serves as filler to tell the reader what goes on with his rock star life when the other characters aren't around. At least with Hank we learn that he is secretly artistic, why not just write the whole book from his perspective?
Story telling aside and focusing on the story line, things aren't that much better. We're dealing with a tale as old as time here. That's right, unrequited love triangles! Here I thought I was reading something different form my usual Twilight fan fiction. But that little ditty isn't revealed until about half way through the book, so in the beginning I'm liking all the friends - Kip, Ronny, Hank and Leland - and I'm excited to see how their friendships change over the years...and then nothing. Nothing happens. Their friendship is basically the exact same by the ending, which is so saccharine sweet, I wondered if I was actually reading a young adult novel for a moment.
But the raw writing is good. I'd give Nickolas Butler another shot, only if he doesn't try this opportunistic bullshit again.
The dude bro friendship stuff didn't end up being all that bad in practice. But because I knew there was this Bon Iver/Justin Vernon connection to the story, it was absolutely impossible to get into this book without being pulled right back out it with the lingering feeling that I was reading real person fiction.
So some background - I used to read a lot of Twilight fan fiction, not because I liked the characters or the themes from the actual series, but because women took the boring characters and premise of Stephenie Meyers and made it into better stories...I mean better in the sense that they were more entertaining...sometimes. Other times it would end up being creepy odes to Robert Pattinson falling deeply in love with a self-insert of the author and then I'd have to reevaluate how much time I was wasting on reading Twilight fan fiction.
As embarrassing as it was to admit I used to read Twilight fan fiction, is directly akin to how embarrassed the author of this book should feel for writing blatant real person fic about a musician who has never seemed to interested in sharing his personal stories and selling it for profit/recognition. And when I say blatant, I mean it's actually what Nickolas Butler uses to sell the story, boasting about the fact they are from the same 'small' town (um Eau Claire is nowhere near small town status but ok) and ensuring interviewers know where the inspiration behind Leland Sutton came from. As if we couldn't tell from the balding, bearded, lumber jack, hippie hipster, who sings in a falsetto about Wisconsin and winter and isolation, so on and so on...don't worry Butler, we got this - Leland = Bon Iver, you've effectively captured the 18-24 demographic.
And the reason that this all bugged me so much, because it was such a waste of great writing potential. Nickolas Butler has great sense of painting that mental image readers love, and he even showed us how to hear music in words. Granted he was describing previously recorded music by a mainstream artist, but still.
Where Butler truly falls short is story tell. Shotgun Lovesongs is a multi-character POV story about being childhood friends in your 30s that only needed to be told from one character's POV. We first meet Hank who is a simple man with simple means and simple life goals, and just simply uncomplicated. He is the perfect insightful, thoughtful but undramatic narrator for this kind of story. But then we get his wife's gossipy, side where she reads too deeply into other character's subtleties (and is annoying always right), and the frenemy Kip's absolutely cold and useless story about how he tries to impress the town with his successes, and then we get filler from Leland, and Ronny, who seems to have nothing to tell us about except how much he loves his friends.
So if the problem starts with having too many captains on this ship, things start sinking once you realize literally every single character narrates the same way. Hank paints a beautiful picture of a Wisconsin sunrise in a poetic fashion we'd expect from multi-platinum selling folk rock superstar. So does Kip. And Beth. And Ronny, the wannabe rodeo star who we were told nearly drank himself brain dead in the first chapter. In fact, the only person who isn't that poetic is Leland. His voice is choppy, cold and mostly serves as filler to tell the reader what goes on with his rock star life when the other characters aren't around. At least with Hank we learn that he is secretly artistic, why not just write the whole book from his perspective?
Story telling aside and focusing on the story line, things aren't that much better. We're dealing with a tale as old as time here. That's right, unrequited love triangles! Here I thought I was reading something different form my usual Twilight fan fiction. But that little ditty isn't revealed until about half way through the book, so in the beginning I'm liking all the friends - Kip, Ronny, Hank and Leland - and I'm excited to see how their friendships change over the years...and then nothing. Nothing happens. Their friendship is basically the exact same by the ending, which is so saccharine sweet, I wondered if I was actually reading a young adult novel for a moment.
But the raw writing is good. I'd give Nickolas Butler another shot, only if he doesn't try this opportunistic bullshit again.
Maybe this would have been a 4 star story had I read it and not listened to it on audio, but luckily I'll never know. The audio production was so well read; the story poetic, heartbreaking, and relatable. I felt like as the listener, I was a part of the story of these four characters, lifelong friends finally coming of age in their early thirties. The small town a fifth character holding everyone together. Observant and straightforward, I'll be looking for more from this author.
I loved this book and I'm not sure exactly why. Beautifully written, so that is surely part of it.
Butler is a storyteller and Shotgun Lovesongs is his love letter to the Midwest. This one is highly character driven with a very slow plot. Because of that, it wasn't my favorite of his books, but I appreciated the Midwest culture and references. The sense of place is strong and atmospheric, which felt comfortable to me since I am from Butler's hometown.
Check out my full review at: https://www.mynightsbooked.com/post/shotgun-lovesongs
Check out my full review at: https://www.mynightsbooked.com/post/shotgun-lovesongs
We read this book for my October book club. An interesting character study about a group of friends from a small town in the United States.