Picture of nicholas butler author lives

Along the way he has worked as: a meatpacker, a Burger King maintenance man, a liquor store clerk, a coffee roaster, an office manager, an author escort, an inn-keeper twiceand several other odd vocations. He presently lives on 16 acres of land in rural Wisconsin adjacent to a buffalo farm. He is married with two children. Write a Review. Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews. Search review text. Displaying 1 - 30 of 2, reviews. Orsodimondo [in pausa]. Lo trovo adatto per qualche sfigato film indy e per le picture of nicholas butler author lives stagioni di Grace Anatomyche dopo le prime meravigliose due, si sono susseguite senza che il qui presente scrivente spettatore avesse voglia di continuare a guardarle.

Ogni capitolo ha una consonante come titolo, a distinguerlo, e rappresenta il passaggio di testimone tra i vari io-narranti: Henry, Lee, Kip, Ronny. Los cuatros amigos. Ma direi che il romanzo rimane nella sostanza un romanzo maschile, con voci e personaggi maschili. Invece, scavallata mezza strada, cresce, regala momenti migliori. My mini review: 2.

The book follows a group of childhood friends from their high school years through adulthood in a small town in America's heartland. It was well-written from a technical standpoint but I found myself bored, wanting to hurry the story along, and considering abandoning it. Not much happens and I grew weary of the purple prose, in particular, Leland's flowery and heartsick musings.

It didn't ring true to me and my eyes got a work out from all the eye-rolling. The lead singer of Bon Iver, Justin Vernon, was the inspiration for one of the main characters, but it's not a group I'm familiar with so maybe that affected my impressions. In the end, this just wasn't the book for me. As a reader, I'm drawn to books written in Butler's style: plain-spoken language, characters who aren't overly complicated yet still complex enough to be believableand a setting so true it becomes an integral element to the plot.

In the hands of a writer like Butler, an author who's clearly put the time and effort into making the story one with great flow, these elements have aligned in such a way to elevate "Shotgun Lovesongs" to the five-stars, favorites shelf—-at least, for me anyway. On my end, I suppose Butler gets extra bonus points because he is a Midwesterner too someone who also takes PRIDE in that fact, I might addand because, a few years into my 30s myself, I felt a kinship with these characters in a way I probably wouldn't have at 23 or even A book that, as a writer, I expect to keep thinking about for much of the rest of the year too.

For the sake of record keeping, in that title for me went to Meg Wolitzer's "The Interestings"; I didn't exactly have one There's plenty that's been written already about the plot of this book—five somethings in a small town in Wisconsin, all trying to find their way in life while figuring out the challenges that accompany it: loyalties, friendships, relationships, finances, a sense of belonging.

The most notable of the group is Lee, who's struck it big as an indie musician here's where that Justin Vernon comparison comes in, Butler being from the same town as the Bon Iver frontmanbut the characters who ground the entire book and the ones whose chapters I eagerly awaited most were Henry and Beth, the married couple of the book, good 'ol salt-of-the-earth people tied to their family farm, struggling to stay afloat, but content in so many ways I saw in them traits of many of the people I grew up with in my small hometown in Indiana.

You know a book is good when you don't want to quit its characters, when they stay with you even off the page, and it seems like, once or twice a year, I experience that with a title. I certainly did with "Shotgun. Especially when there were so many other wonderful lines to treasure. For me, anyway, it has the effect of making my own life feel like a well-loved thing.

I pulled his face down to me, and we kissed. Because on those few occasions when they surprise you, it feels like the biggest thing in the world, like a crack in the sky, like the moon, suddenly rising over the horizon twenty times bigger than the last time you looked. When I asked about the status of the book being turned into a film Fox Searchlight is working on the scriptI brought up actors for characters and suggested that Ryan Gosling would make one hell of an awesome Lee.

He agreed, but mentioned that the Hollywood types thought Justin Timberlake. I knew I already liked the guy, but when he wrote, "This made me cringe a little Where do I start the campaign for The Gos? Nickolas Butler does a fabulous job in his character development. I swear those men came from my town. There are 4 men and one woman who grew up together and are now back together at their hometown in Wisconsin.

My first 5 star novel of This book was exquisite. Well-rounded, highly developed characters. Exploring the depths of friendships, home, family, forgiveness, and our "place" in the world, this novel was a stand-out. I think it would be appreciated by those who have enjoyed Anna Quindlen and Elizabeth Strout's work.

Picture of nicholas butler author lives: He is married and

Author 3 books 53 followers. Author Nickolas Butler was fought over by high-brow publishing houses and walked away with an amazing contract. Movie rights are sold as well. Because his debut novel hits home—hits you where you live. Breaks your heart. You will. The premise is simple and timeless and very Big Chill-like, ask your mom what is refreshing is that it takes place here.

Somewhere very close to here and I really liked that. The small town appeal was refreshing. I sat up straight when I read this novel and took pride in the knowledge that this is where I am. The writing is often times more like poetry.

Picture of nicholas butler author lives: Father, husband, son, brother,

It flows like our hills and valleys. It will pull you in and make you see things in a different light, an amber one. Author Butler is an observer of life and love and heartbreak and joy and sorrow and holding hands and holding on. He gets us. One is famous, one damaged from too many rodeo falls, one is a farmer and one is just plain rich.

Buddies since childhood with all the history of growing up. Yet a storm is about to blast their friendship wide open and change them all. A secret that should have stayed just that, lands in Little Wing like the bomb it was. This turning point is where the idyllic Little Wing becomes something else altogether. And nothing makes sense anymore.

Gravity is gone. Love is gone. Though the ending seemed rushed, as though a deadline was tapping a foot in some New York publishing house, it got you there. You were returned to the beginning again. Life is like that, a big circle, a long ride home…. This is apparently a novel about the musician who is known as Bon Iver. I've heard a few songs by Bon Iver before, but I know very little about him yeah I know he has a real name, and maybe Bon Iver is the name of the whole project.

I'm not a fan. I'm probably not the intended audience for this book. If I were a fan, or even mildly interested in Bon Iver I'd probably find the book interesting despite it's flaws. Where to start this review? The novel takes place in a small Wisconsin town, the hometown of the musician at the center of the story. It's the town he grew up in and returned to in a low point of his life, after some bands he had been trying to get going had failed and then in the winter isolation recorded an album in seclusion.

An album that would make him a star. The novel takes place after he's a star and is told from the viewpoint of him, his best friend, his best friend's wife, his brain damaged ex-rodeo friend and his ex-commodity trader friend. Five different viewpoints tell the story of living in this small town, each character in their thirties and living their adult lives that have left some in the small town.

Taken others away. But in one way of another brought them back to the town. Problem one. The voices of these five different narrators aren't all that different from one another. Problem two. The story is fairly predictable. The characters while possibly based on real people they feel like stock characters. The farmer best friend is the good guy, the all around good guy.

The brain-damaged friend is the man with the heart of gold. The musician is the overly sincere artist, who maybe does a few things that flirts with the excess of celebrity culture but is really just a country boy who only feels at home and honest in his hometown, maybe splitting some wood or just aimlessly driving his John Deere around, while wearing his Red Wings and Carhartts, and waving to his buddy in the Wranglers while his other buddy uses his Craftsmans to repair his own John Deere.

Did you see what I just did? Authenticity in this novel feels bought with product placements. Sort of the same way us city hipsters buy our own authenticity by donning our brand name clothes to set us apart and drinking some PBR at some dive bar. And speaking of city folk, the first person observations made when some of the characters travel to New York City seem a picture of nicholas butler author lives too 'sophisticated' for a person not attuned to the ways of the city.

Except that the book is about an indie-rock god, it doesn't feel all that different from a lot of other books out there. I think it would have been a stronger novel if there hadn't been so many first person perspectives telling the story. As I mentioned above the voices all sounded too similar, and it kind of gave the feeling that the author was a little too timid to leave the first person behind, which is understandable, it is much easier to write in this style than in the third person, but you well I want to see authors being daring.

No one goes to the circus to see a high-wire act done with the tightrope walker wearing a safety harness. Author 6 books 2, followers. Back in the day, I was a huge fan of the TV show thirtysomething. Back when I was still in my teens and thirty-something seemed impossibly distant and terribly romantic. Babies and briefcases. I loved all the navel-gazing angst, the soap-operatic lives, Hope Steadman's hair.

I wanted to be Hope: a writer, a mother, wife to a hunky, kind of dorky husband. Amazingly, now that I'm fortysomethingI got most of what I wished for, except the babies. And I definitely don't have that hair. I derived the same sink-into-a-comfy-chair-and-be-entertained pleasure from Nickolas Butler's Shotgun Lovesongs as I did from that iconic, pre-grunge television series.

I have to chuckle when I read the professional reviews of Shotgun Lovesongs ; it's as if—at least in the critics' eyes—Butler has broken new literary ground by telling a straight-forward story about the emotional journeys of everyday characters, set against the backdrop of domestic life, weaving in the antics of BFFs, and entanglements of the heart.

Women authors have been doing this for years, in case they hadn't noticed. There's even a whole category devoted to these stories: Women's Fiction. Although Women's Fiction is largely ignored by professional reviewers and award-givers, readers have known for years that a sentimental story, with empathetic characters and relatable themes, can be deeply satisfying.

Nickolas Butler has a terrific sense of place and his affection for his homeland of Wisconsin is so evident, it had this devoted Pacific Northwesterner recall her years in the Midwest with homesick longing. The characters are warm and cuddly, all wrapped in flannel and Carhartts. This is meat-and-potatoes comfort food reading. The plot's a bit of Lycra stretched too tightly and occasionally Butler falls in love with his own voice, veering to purple, poetic phrasing, but it has the same small-town America charm as a Bob Seger song.

You'll be singing "Mainstreet" if only because you can't actually discern the words to any Bon Iver song. Larry H. Some books do a great job evoking a sense of place and a general mood, which draw you even further into them. Nickolas Butler's Shotgun Lovesongs is one such book. It's beautifully written—poetic, even—and tremendously compelling, and I read it between two short flights.

Little Wing, Wisconsin is a small rural town. Henry, Lee, Ronny, and Kip were best friends who grew up together. While Henry stayed in Little Wing to take over his father's dairy farm, Ronny found some success on the rodeo circuit before his drinking led to a brain injury following an arrest, Kip moved to Chicago to become a broker for the Mercantile Exchange, and Lee was the successful one, becoming a popular singer.

Picture of nicholas butler author lives: Nickolas Butler is a year-old

Ten years later, the friends are reunited for Kip's wedding, as he has returned to Little Wing to breathe life into the town's defunct mill. Lee agrees to sing a song at the wedding, and he finds himself caught between the magic of a new relationship with a successful actress and the desire to return home, where life is simpler. But the wedding also causes the start of some stresses among the friends, as they deal with the problems of their own lives and the envy, frustration, jealousy, and insecurity of small-town life when you've known each other forever.

The book shifts in perspective between the four friends as well as Henry's wife, Beth, who also grew up in Little Wing, and had a special connection with many of the friends. It moves back and forth through time, touching on the victories and defeats, hurts and happy times. While some characters are more engaging than others, Butler has imbued them with such life and complexity that they feel almost larger than life, and you find yourself wishing you had friends like these.

While nothing out of the ordinary happens in the plot, it doesn't matter, because you become truly invested in their lives. Shotgun Lovesongs is a paean to life in small-town America, its virtues and its disadvantages. It's a book about trying to live your dreams and worrying about what to do if the dreams don't turn out the way you hoped.

It's a book about how far the power of love can take you and how far the power of friendship can carry you. And Butler's use of language is so evocative and mesmerizing, but yet still simple and appropriate for the story. Here's an example: "Strange, I thought to myself right then, how his life was like my own and yet not at all like it, though we came from the same small place on earth.

And why? How had our paths diverged, why were they still even connected? He is especially interested in a relative by the name of John L Butler who fought in civil war and made it to Appomattox. The links beside each book title will take you to Amazon where you can read more about the book, check availability, or purchase it. As an Amazon Associate, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

If you would like to link to us, Get the Code Here. I often get asked by readers if they can donate to the site as a thank you for all the hard work. Are you a fan of psychological thrillers? A big fan of authors such as Gillian Flynn? These are our most recommended authors in the thriller genre, which is my personal favourite genre:. I just want to thank everyone for visiting the site.

To read more about the site or if you want a graphic to link to us, see the about page for more details. Homepage Characters Authors. Nickolas Butler Books In Order. In Western Counties Beneath the Bonfire Sandra Bostian: 1 year ago. Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. Please Note. It's been 5 long years since Joseph Finder wrote a novel, but great news as the master of the excellent Nick Heller series, and some incredible standalone thrillers is back.

His latest release, The Oligarch's Daughteris out this month. Order now at Amazon. Subscribe today! Click here for all past recommendations. Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Let me know! In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. American novelist born Not to be confused with Nicholas Murray Butler. Early life and education [ edit ].

Career [ edit ]. Literary career [ edit ]. Political career [ edit ].

Picture of nicholas butler author lives: Nickolas Butler is a year-old

Personal life [ edit ]. Electoral history [ edit ]. Wisconsin Assembly [ edit ]. Awards and honors [ edit ]. Bibliography [ edit ]. Novels [ edit ]. Short story collections [ edit ]. Short stories [ edit ]. Poetry [ edit ]. Nonfiction [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. The Country. Retrieved September 30, Volume One. Weekend Edition Saturday.