A review by jbingb
Godspeed by Nickolas Butler

2.0

67: Godspeed by Nickolas Butler

This is a brand new book by a Wisconsin author whom I have met and whose books I've read, so when I discovered a signed copy at the local bookstore I had to grab it and read it right away.

Gretchen, Cole, Bart, and Teddy are the book's main characters.

Cole, Bart, and Teddy together comprise True Triangle Construction; they are friends who went into business together, but this is one of several skimpily explained, inconsistently supported components of the book. Essentially they bought three matching pick-ups and started to do construction work. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot substantiating their entrance into the field of work, seemingly quite competitive in that particular area, nor much support or explanation for how they gained business at all, let alone of the prestige Gretchen was now demanding. Seemingly none had much training or education at all, but just decided that this is what they would do for a living...and have somehow supported themselves, made decent livings at it to this point, though none own their own homes, and only Teddy is (somehow?) supporting a family of six on his wages.

Gretchen is a hugely--hugely--successful lawyer attorney in California if, that is, success is measured solely in dollars made and by the hours billed to earn it. She has a lot of money. That's about it. And perhaps that is part of Butler's point, that true success is measured in far more complex ways--to include the value of relationships built and sustained, the satisfaction one feels in daily and weekly life both at work and at home, true enjoyment of many to most of the hours that make up days and weeks, months and years. But Gretchen's very superficial life is lacking substance enough to have her even seem fully believable as a character. And Butler's writing just doesn't always pan out in the details, as it's either an editing issue or something else that Gretchen would ever, in a fancy restaurant, order "chocolate ganache" as a dessert. (That's just fancy frosting to my understanding. Or maybe I'm not the foodie I think!)

Bart, Cole, and Teddy have slightly separate personalities and issues, yet it is not easy to keep them straight, really, as their incividuality is not wholly developed through their voices or issues, the talents or expertise in their construction trade/skills that distinguish one from the other, or anything else, really. Only Teddy has a present spouse; Cole is going through a divorce. And they are completely united in their desire to satisfy Gretchen's demands that this house be completely finished by Christmas, primarily so that they can all claim their share of the promised bonuses. While each has a different plan for the money, their eyes are just really on that prize and how the money will somehow solve all of their problems. Again, maybe this is Butler's point, that there is more to life and happiness than money. But if that's the case, the long story doesn't give sufficient depth to these men as having a whole lot more going for them than that. Teddy is the only one who shares glimmers of character and integrity. And truly none of the three are innocent or clean in all the dark depths that develop in the book.

It feels like Butler's primary aim may have been to address the very real issue that meth abuse and addiction is. The references to crystals and glass and in all sorts of ways dominate much of the book, and they're possibly the only thing that is left to be figured out by the reader, as everything is told and overtold, no trust in the reader to figure things out and nothing written to take us down a path of value without telling us exactly what we'll find as well as all we'll see on the way. The book begins with a dedication to someone he "wish[es] were here" and then the opening lyrics of "Crystalised" by the XX: "You've applied the pressure to have me crystallized..." and two of the three men definitely entertain the substance and suffer greatly for it. It ruins them in unrecoverable ways.

And if that's what I'm to gain from reading this book, then...well, I got it...get it. It made me sick to my stomach to watch them ruin themselves and the others near them in their abuse of the substance, and to also see the lengths to which their meddled with minds took them--ala violent movies I don't care to watch. Given how unbelievable much of the story was, they all seemed less like real people and this more like a morality tale, where the lesson mattered more than the individual people involved. And while that works for many--and many may even include you...and if so, I hope you enjoy the book--this picky reader needs substance, needs the details to pan out and the story to be...more realistic and believable. And I need to be trusted to figure out some things on my own through writing that stands up on its own rather than be told what to see and think all the way through.