Skip to main content

Shotgun Lovesongs

A few months I heard National Public Radio commenter, Scott Simon, talk about Shotgun Lovesongs, a novel by Nickolas Butler. I was taken by the piece and ordered the book from my mobile phone as I had my coffee and a bagel at Brugger's. 

I was drawn to Lovesongs because it sounded like the book was about friendships and place.  I like friendships, especially those that are long term.  I also like "place" as a human theme.

Even before I got my copy of the book, I contacted members of a bookclub that last met over a dozen years ago and told them about the book. One of the bookclub members recommended that we read the book and meet online to discuss it.  

The book was everything that I'd hoped it would be, including good friendships, a strong sense of place, complexity, warmth, surprise, understated heroism, and good doses of redemption. 

Lovesongs is written differently. Each chapter is written in the first person point of view of a character. I had to catch on and I wrote down notes on each character to keep things straight in the beginning. That style takes a while to build a framework for who is who and their relationships. But it works for this book. Once the framework was in place, which was about the first half of the book, the story takes off with intensity. At that point, I couldn't wait to get to the next page.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Harriet

My younger sister passed away early Thursday morning following a long illness. My heart is broken. I will miss her terribly.  I used to say that Harriet never met a stranger. She found something to talk about with everyone. Harriet LOVED people, and they loved her in return. She also loved celebrating Mardi Gras. And, she loved introducing me as her Big Brother.  My brother and I are happy that so many people are sending us photos and memories of our sister. We look forward to continuing to celebrating her. John 11: 25 Jesus said to her,   “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.  26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”  

Staying Safe

  I love a good adventure.  The emphasis is on good .  I started in Ventura and drove up California Highway 33 this past Monday. Potrero John Creek Trail was the destination.  Potrero John Creek is in the Sespe Wilderness of Los Padres National Forest.  Highway 33/Maricopa Highway is a stunning drive that quickly rises from the Pacific Ocean to over 3000 feet elevation.  Soon after leaving Ventura, the road goes through Casitas Springs, which is the home of Johnny Cash.  Cellular phone service dropped out even before I had properly left Ojai, the last town before heading up the mountain.  The trail is rocky and remote. I was not prepared for either. I was the only person on the trail. In fact, there was no one around, and car traffic was extremely sparse. I made a game-time call to venture slightly down the trail, but not to go too deep, given that I had no way to reach help should anything go wrong.