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    The Hearts of Men: A Novel
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    The Hearts of Men: A Novel
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    The Hearts of Men: A Novel
    Ebook412 pages6 hours

    The Hearts of Men: A Novel

    By Nickolas Butler

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Camp Chippewa, 1962. Nelson Doughty, age thirteen, social outcast and overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan.

    Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces, and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths—and the limits—of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery.

    The Hearts of Men is a sweeping, panoramic novel about the slippery definitions of good and evil, family and fidelity, the challenges and rewards of lifelong friendships, the bounds of morality—and redemption.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 7, 2017
    ISBN9780062469700
    Author

    Nickolas Butler

    Nickolas Butler was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His award-winning debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, was an international bestseller and has been optioned for film by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Butler graduated from the University of Wisconsin before attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and currently lives in Wisconsin with his wife and their two children.

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    Reviews for The Hearts of Men

    4/5

    68 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Like other reviewers, I would really like to add an additional half star. I enjoyed reading this book; the writing is very polished and evocative, and the setting is so lovely I spent a few minutes Googling job ads and real estate in Eau Claire. But also like other reviewers, I liked it best at the beginning, when the main characters were young boys in the early 60s. I would like to have seen a little more of Jonathan's life between his time as a kind-spirited, but not particularly brave, boy and his time as a middle-aged man who has apparently lost that spirit.

      And of course, the part at the end with Rachel's sexual assault was just ridiculous. All the foreshadowing--her musings on being aware of the enemy, her shooting lessons--went in a completely different direction. I don't know if this was supposed to be deliberately misleading or not, but it felt rushed, and wrong.

      Overall, though, I thought it was a really good summer read. Not too heavy, but not too light either. Recommended if you like stories about summer camp and Baby Boomers.

    • 5/5
      Great story that was very moving on CD. Nelson Douty was a friendless boy who was active in scouting but slept in his own tent because nobody wanted to bunk with him. He plays Reveille every morning a scout camp and gets the nickname bugler. His father goes to scout camp with him but ignores him. At home he beats him for infractions. One summer a group of scouts and counselors are discovered watching stag films, smoking and drinking. Nelson was the informer. He is shunned by his fellow scouts and his father derides him for being a snitch.
    • 5/5
      Upon turning the last page of The Hearts of Men, I have a woman’s heart full of emotions that I am completely unable to express in words.

      That is all.
    • 5/5


      I bought The Hearts of Men this book from Nickolas Butler at the Lakefly Writers Conference in Oshkosh. He is a Wisconsin writer and I loved Shotgun Love Songs. Mr. Butler’s books are quality and quite frankly, so is he.

      Butler read the opening paragraph of this novel and yet I was not prepared for the originality of this story. It follows logical sequences and yet it has twists and turns. I could not have predicted where the story was going to end up.

      Butler’s writing kept me turning pages. He made me care about the characters and they have lived on in my mind. To me that is all you require in a book. Yet, Butler’s description of Wisconsin is vivid in details. He goes into literary detail about the characters.

      The story as a whole centers on a boy scout summer camp in Northern Wisconsin. This unique character Nelson strives to be the best Boy Scout at the cost of popularity. I believe Butler uses Nelson and the other men in the story (don’t worry it has women too) to explore what it is to be a man. As with all good literary work, it leaves the final decision up to you, the reader. I’m still thinking about it.