‘Shotgun Lovesongs’: Novel tackles life in small town, friendship

Writers' Workshop alum Nickolas Butler knows the Midwestern landscape and the landscape of the human heart. In his debut novel, 'Shotgun Lovesongs,” newly out in paperback, he introduces us to a close-knit circle of friends in a small Wisconsin town. The friends relate the story of their shared lives, each taking several turns as the narrator. What emerges is a quiet story of strong emotions and lasting bonds, often tested but never fully severed.

Butler's most significant accomplishment may be the creation of five distinct narrative voices. The four men and one woman who speak directly to the reader are fully realized. We are privy to their hopes, fears, failures and secrets. We see them struggle to be better people and to hold on to what is precious in their lives.

Here's Kip explaining why his marriage is falling apart: 'I don't think I'm a good man. I'm not good to people. I know that. What I'm good at, what I understand and what I intuit, is how to make money. Or, at least, that's what I used to be good at. How do I explain it? That all I needed were two things, a world weather report and the nightly news, and I could tell you where to stick your money the next day in such a way that I was rarely ever wrong … But throw me into a dinner party, invite me over for your kid's birthday party, and suddenly helpless.”

The ways in which small town life can both push people away and pull them back home is a central concern of 'Shotgun Lovesongs.” So, too, is the give and take of friendships and romantic entanglements and commitments. Butler's characters invite us into their circle, and by book's end, we find ourselves feeling truly fortunate to have made their acquaintance.