Shotgun Lovesongs

A Novel

By: Nickolas Butler

Narrated by: Scott Shepherd, Ari Fliakos, Maggie Hoffman, Scott Sowers, Gary Wilmes

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Little Wing.

It’s a place like hundreds of others, nothing special, really. But for four friends—all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town—it is home. And now they are men, coming into their own, or struggling to do so.

One of them never left, still working the family farm that has been tilled for generations. But others felt the need to move on, with varying degrees of success. One trades commodities, another took to the rodeo circuit, and one of them even hit it big as a rock star. And then there’s Beth, a woman who has meant something special in each of their lives.

Now all four are brought together for a wedding. Little Wing seems even smaller than before. While lifelong bonds are still strong, there are stresses—between the friends, between husbands and wives. There will be heartbreak, but there will also be hope, healing, even heroism as these memorable people learn the true meaning of adult friendship and love.

Seldom has the American heartland been so richly and accurately portrayed. Though the town may have changed, the one thing that hasn’t is the beauty of the Wisconsin farmland, the lure of which, in Nickolas Butler’s hands, emerges as a vibrant character in the story. Shotgun Lovesongs is that rare work of fiction that evokes a specific time and place yet movingly describes the universal human condition. It is, in short, a truly remarkable audiobook—a novel that once listened to will never be forgotten.

©2014 Nickolas Butler (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Fliakos and Shepherd ably handle the sometimes plaintive voices of the male characters, while Hoffman carries most of the emotional weight with her redolent vocal talents.... There's no question that all the narrators connect with the characters' emotional journeys." ( AudioFile)

Thirty-Something angst

I think our mid-thirties may be the time of our lives (other than our teens) when we are most likely to take ourselves too seriously. Worried about how we have defined and sought success, wondering if we made mistakes and if it’s too late to take them back and start over. That seems to be where the five friends of Shotgun Lovesongs are in their lives. Probably because I am two decades older than they are and have already been through the twenty year college reunion that proved that we all grew older if not wiser, that I was able to find many gentle smiles of recognition as these friends work through the beginnings of their mid-life angst. I did like all of them because they seemed nicely and not so nicely real. There was plenty of humor along with the worries, and Butler was able to infuse small town sensibilities into the narrative as if Little Wing was another character. Sometimes the prose got a bit overdone - like too much frosting on a cake - but I was willing to forgive.

This love song was fine up to the point of The Conflict, when a secret is accidently let out, putting two friends at odds with each other in a way that may be impossible to repair. How Butler chose to resolve The Conflict lost the authenticity of the story. The final scenes, essentially in the final hour of the book, he went a bit off the tracks and I turned off my IPod kind of shaking my head. Perhaps guys really would behave that way and as a woman I just don’t get it. But I’m doubtful. Anyway, a star fell off the rating as the final credits rolled.

3/5s of the narration was excellent – Henry, Leland and Kip being very real and natural. Beth and Ronny tried too hard, like catching an actor in a movie working at staying in character. The harder they try, the more you are aware of the acting. Not awful, but broke the spell enough to drop from 5 to 4 stars.

Best Sleeper book of 2014

This debut novel is going down (even in March) as the best new book of 2014 in my world! Absolutely loved the richness of the writing, they lyricism of the words and the strength of the characters. I ALSO loved the fact that each main character had a different narrator as that made this a "movie in my mind". I could see each of them because the narrators gave them so much individuality. I plan to tell everyone I can to either read this book or listen to it. Thanks for such a well written and well narrated book!

Middle of the Road

This was just a middle-of-the-road book for me. I enjoyed it while I was reading it but once I finished I realized it was nothing to write home about. I never really felt invested in the characters and that led to me not really caring much about the story.

These characters stay with you

Beautifully written, heartfelt narration. I can’t help but think about these characters well beyond the end of the book. It’s a glimpse into enduring friendships and how time transforms those bonds. I highly recommend this story.

Boring. No plot

The narration is good but there is no story. Seems to be a collection of writings from a narcissist who didn't really understand what it is like to live in this town.

Wow, so much hype for so little substance...

I purchased on the strength of New Yorker review and was excited at the prospect of a good story. At about 1/3 of the way in, I thought, this is a good book and I was excited to keep listening. Sadly, the story quickly ran out of substance. All the characters sound the same note, repeating the same thoughts and actions. No one is very likable and that is fine but beyond this fact, they are generally boring and immature to the extreme

Add to this the fact that nothing happens yet the character(s) acts like his actions have the gravitas of State Department decisions. Too, I don't mind that nothing much happens if the prose in new and interesting but sadly no, the prose is tired and unremarkable. In fairness Butler can turn a good metaphor; is an observant man. This would have been a good short story, but stretched into a novel it is just unremarkable and repetitive.

Resist the urge...

Boring. Wasn't my cup of tea.

Kept listening hoping for the storyline to get more exciting. the characters were interesting but I wished there was more juice to their storyline.

Melodic . . . Poetic . . . and Going Nowhere Fast

I love poetry . . . I love music . . . I love a good book . . . what I don't care much for is bits and pieces that never tie themselves together . . . I gave it a good try . . . but after a couple hours of listening to dreamers go on and on about not too much, I had to quit . . . I like a little meat on my sandwich . . . a little substance to my story . . . it had the promise of good things . . . just way too much rambling on for me . . .

Small Town Life

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

There was no story. The characters were well developed but just sort of drifted through the narrative. Was the author trying to make the point that life is as aimless as this story ?

What was most disappointing about Nickolas Butler’s story?

The lack of a plot to drive the narrative.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

There were (5) narrators. The best was Henry.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

This would be a good choice for someone who longs for the sense of community in a small town.

Where are the mosquitoes? Where is the humidity?

Having lived in Wisconsin my whole life, I really hoped to love this book, but no such luck. Not only is the plot almost non-existent, what there is of it is weighed down by sentimentality, over-writing, and cliches (if we're in a bar, the Packers are on (unless someone is watching Jeopardy, in which case the topic is the Packers); cheese curds appear with regularity; that last beer in the fridge: a Leinenkugels, and so on). In addition, all of the characters sound alike, except for the rodeo guy and his stripper girlfriend, who double and triple their negatives while everyone else is in love with poetic metaphors and rhapsodic praise of the land.