The Hearts of Men

Starred review from November 21, 2016
Butler (Beneath the Bonfire) returns to rural Wisconsin in this big-hearted epic full of sturdy characters that wear their hearts—and pride—on their sleeves. Told in four parts spanning from 1962 to 2022 and set against the woodsy backdrop of a Boy Scout summer camp, Camp Chippewa, the narrative follows three generations struggling to find their place in a world bent on dealing them a bad hand. In the first section, 13-year-old social outcast Nelson finds little comfort as the camp’s bullied bugler while dealing with conflicted feelings about his abusive father. A tentative friendship formed with cocky older Jonathan saves Nelson’s hide more than once while also demonstrating the limits of just how much Jonathan can give. Part two narrows in on 49-year-old Jonathan’s 16-year-old son, Trevor, falling in love with Rachel, as well as his front-row seat to Jonathan’s marriage-busting affair on the way to Camp Chippewa. The slow-burn heartbreak continues in the two final sections. Once-widowed and twice-divorced Rachel makes an ill-fated decision to accompany her and Trevor’s son, Thomas, on his last summer as a Boy Scout. In a fiery conclusion, Nelson and Jonathan reunite after more than 20 years—wealthy and reclusive Jonathan is now a grandfather, and Nelson is about to retire as Camp Chippewa Scoutmaster. Butler demonstrates enormous command over the material and sympathy for his flawed characters. This beautiful novel might be his best yet. Agent: Rob McQuilken, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

Starred review from December 1, 2016
Across three generations and as many wars, this earnest novel explores the ways boys become men and how even flawed men may stand as models for the young.Butler starts with a bleak picture of bullying at the Boy Scouts' Camp Chippewa in Wisconsin in the summer of 1962. Bespectacled Nelson, at 13 the youngest boy in his troop, progresses from blunt isolation ("Nelson has no friends") and ridicule to an awful ordeal in the camp latrine. His one defender, the older Jonathan, betrays him, while the upright scoutmaster, World War I veteran Wilbur Whiteside, leads him into snitching on misbehaving counselors. Wilbur, who can recall how many boys in his neighborhood were beaten by their coal-miner fathers every night, also saves Nelson and his mother from her abusive husband, sending the youngster to a military academy that shepherds him to West Point and Vietnam. Meanwhile, Jonathan grows up to have a son, Trevor, whom he introduces to his mistress and lap dances on the same night. Trevor will marry his high school sweetheart--despite his father betting against it--and sire a son, Thomas, before going to war in Afghanistan. His wife will eventually take Thomas to Camp Chippewa, where Nelson is now scoutmaster and her longtime friend; she stays on as a chaperone and will deal with another kind of bully, older and more dangerous. Butler's debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs (2014), explored the forces that bind and erode friendship among a group of young men growing up in a Wisconsin town. This book mines a darker seam, delving into the roots of the male character and how it may be shaped by a code of behavior or an exemplar and warped or strengthened by trauma. He presents few strong women characters, but the exceptions suggest he has much to offer in that area. Butler's mostly unembellished prose delivers a well-paced, affecting read.

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October 15, 2016
Butler, who debuted with the heartfelt award winner Shotgun Lovesongs, returns after the story collection Beneath the Bonfire with another look at male bonding. At Camp Chippewa in 1962, timid 13-year-old bugler Nelson Doughty is befriended by the vastly more popular Jonathan. Their relationship endures into adulthood, as Nelson becomes the camp's scoutmaster. But their ties are tested by an incident involving Jonathan's family at a camp get-together. With an eight-city tour.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2017

In this novel set in 1962, Nelson is an unpopular boy who is bullied at his Wisconsin Boy Scout camp, but he plays the bugle and pleases the head of the camp. He makes one friend, Jonathan, who becomes financially successful later in life. However, Nelson never entirely recovers from his experiences fighting in Vietnam. Years pass, and Nelson becomes the camp director, ready to help the son of his old friend. This well-crafted and complex but immensely accessible title proceeds slowly until the thrilling final fourth of the book, when Nelson must find the courage to prevent a tragedy. Readers willing to undertake such a long tome will be rewarded with an insightful and entertaining gem. VERDICT A rich, beautifully wrought work that will resonate with fans of coming-of-age tales.-Karlan Sick, formerly at New York Public Library

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017
Butler's best-selling debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs (2012), garnered widespread praise for its poignant depiction of small-town life in a Wisconsin farming community. Using the backdrop of his home state once again, this time centering on a Boy Scout campground in Wisconsin's north woods, Butler's latest work follows the erratic fortunes of Nelson Doughty, an aspiring Eagle Scout and virtually friendless outcast. During the life-changing summer in 1962, Nelson unexpectedly befriends a popular older scout named Jonathan Quick, who, after the pair loses a clandestine contest between scout troops, abruptly betrays him, prompting Nelson to rat out his peers in a camp scandal. Decades later, after surviving a harrowing tour of Vietnam, Nelson ascends to the rank of scoutmaster and finds himself in charge at the same campground where Jonathan's teenage grandson and daughter in-law are involved in a very different but similarly unsettling incident. Butler achieves a rare triple play here of brilliant characterizations, a riveting story line, and superlatively measured prose, putting him in the front ranks of contemporary American writers of literary fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)