Beneath the Bonfire

March 30, 2015
Though all 10 stories in Butler’s (Shotgun Lovesongs) new collection may be populated by restless, contemplative, and hardscrabble characters, it’s the sense of place (rural Wisconsin) and the natural world that’s grounding the events. In the unforgettable opener, “The Chainsaw Soiree,” a cherished recurring winter-solstice party ends up offering complicated betrayals and resentments among a group of friends and lovers. Trouble comes in a variety of forms for Butler’s characters: the stoner mushroom hunters in “Morels” must process a fatality and its damning consequences; a soft-hearted, newly laid-off diabetic and his adoring wife fret about the future in “Apples”; in the title story, a bonfire on a frozen lake sets the scene for two scuba divers with a complex, sex-addicted history of “feeding each other nothing but motion and sweat.” Some narratives have been gloriously expanded into fully molded works of art, while others are mere portraits, short yet no less poignant, such as “Rainwater,” in which a grandfather raises his grandson after his junkie mother disappears without a trace. Sensitive to the human condition, Butler continues to demonstrate his impressive command of atmosphere and humanity.

April 1, 2015
These 10 succinct stories center on the subject of loss. There are the inevitable losses that life doles out, notably illness and death, and the losses caused by men's bad behavior or women's absence. Male bonds are severed to maintain lies in Sven and Lily and Morels, in which a longtime ritual must end after a deadly accident. Love affairs or marriages end frequently, including in the title story, in which scuba diving in a frozen lake near a bonfire of discarded Christmas trees has unintended consequences. Two of the longest stories also pack the biggest punch. In Sweet Light Crude, an old ecoterrorist who's dying of cancer makes an oil company CEO pay for the Gulf oil spill, and In Western Counties features a retired female police officer acknowledging mental loss who helps a younger woman recover from physical loss. The permeating sadness is relieved somewhat in the closing story, Apples, a sweet celebration of a marriage. From Butler (Shotgun Lovesongs, 2014), these are skillfully told, if overwhelmingly sad, pieces.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2014

After receiving some powerful reviews when it appeared last spring, Butler's Wisconsin-set, warmly small-town, big-friendship debut, Shotgun Lovesongs, went on to become a national best seller with a movie in the works. This follow-up collects ten stories. As a preview, "In Western Counties" will be released as an e-original on January 6, 2015.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2015

An aptly chosen Cormac McCarthy quote precedes Butler's story collection, chiefly set in rural Wisconsin and Minnesota and featuring characters who often fail to demonstrate "right" behavior. In "Sweet Light Crude," an oil spill leads to a battle of wills between an environmental activist and an oil executive. "In Western Counties" features a dog-fighting ring, an abused girlfriend, and a retired police officer with early signs of Alzheimer's. The final tale, "Apples," about an older man laid off from his job and feeling useless without work, has an uncharacteristically upbeat ending. As he demonstrated in Shotgun Lovesongs, Butler has a gift for depicting the bonds and emotional depth of male friendship without crossing over into sentimentality. Even those characters with conventional, well-paying jobs and stable relationships seem only to unlock their true, feral nature when drinking and smoking weed with their buddies, with sometimes tragic consequences. Women often appear as a civilizing influence, the wild Sunny in "Train People Move Slow" a notable exception. VERDICT The frankly masculine point of view brings to mind Jim Harrison along with McCarthy; the book should appeal to adventurous readers interested in that perspective, and it will attract regional interest as well. [See Prepub Alert, 11/10/14.]--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.