Nickolas Butler's strong debut novel created an anticipation of excellence for his second novel, "The Hearts of Men."
Butler lives in Wisconsin, where he set "Shotgun Lovesongs." His inspired selection of a Boy Scout camp in northern Wisconsin is the focal point for his second novel, a 50-year retrospective of an evil event. The setting combines beautifully with a couple of generations of complex characters seeking paths to redemption for a variety of shortcomings.
Protagonist Nelson Doughty's struggle with an abusive father; his small, frail body, and his compulsive need to play by the rules leave him isolated and vulnerable to the thoughtless cruelty of teenage boys.
A singular, sickening act in 1962 defines the lives of Doughty and the only person who remotely resembles a friend, an older teen named Jonathan Quick.
A fascinating codependence grows from this childhood relationship that eventually envelops Quick's progeny and sweeps in the moral ambivalence of Vietnam, the challenges of women's lib and a bizarre millennial coming-of-age tale.
Propelled by his pain, Doughty leaves his broken home for a private academy, then West Point, then killing sprees crawling through the Viet Cong's underground network of tunnels.
Quick, meanwhile, rises to riches as a businessman, but neither he nor his family can find fulfillment.
The rest of the narrative draws heavily on Doughty's role model, the camp's longtime Scoutmaster Wilbur Whiteside, whom Doughty eventually follows in running the camp. Like most of Butler's characters, Whiteside is as flawed as he is inspirational. He devotes himself to the development of honest, upstanding young men as penance for an act of cowardice that saved his life in World War I.
