FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
Accomplished narrator Danny Campbell gives a loving tone to a story of an “unbelieving” grandfather who desperately wants to keep his grandson and daughter safe from a radical religious cult in Wisconsin. Campbell’s folksy manner works well with the author’s storytelling style. He captures the regional speech of rural Wisconsin and makes listeners feel as if they’re hearing their own grandfather telling a dark family secret. With subtle emotional inflections and changes in timbre, Campbell captures the man’s loving nature as well as the confusion and frustration he feels in a situation with no easy choices. V.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 01/28/2019
In Butler’s breathtaking yet devastating novel (following The Hearts of Men), a family is ripped apart and nearly destroyed when one of its own gets involved with a radical church. Set in a gorgeously rendered rural Wisconsin, the story unfolds over the course of a year, as 65-year-old Lyle and his wife, Peg, grow increasingly uneasy as they watch their once estranged adopted daughter, Shiloh, fall under the influence of—and eventually get engaged to—Steven, a charlatan disguised as a devout pastor and founder of the cultlike Coulee Lands Covenant. Their worry intensifies when Steven convinces Shiloh that Isaac, her six-year-old son from a previous relationship, is a faith healer and he uses Isaac’s “gift” to attract new parishioners and solicit donations for the church. At first, Lyle—who has grappled with the existence of God ever since his infant son died—tries to accept the situation so as not to alienate his daughter again. But when Isaac is diagnosed with diabetes, and the boys’ parents choose prayer instead of giving him access to medical treatment, even after he slips into a coma, Lyle intervenes. Butler weaves questions surrounding faith, regret, and whether it’s possible to love unconditionally into every page of this potent book. Secondary plots, including Lyle’s friend Hoot’s slow decline from cancer, Shiloh’s adoption story, and Peg and Lyle’s early courtship, are brief but equally resonant. This is storytelling at its finest. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
[A] tender and perceptive novel.... An open-minded inquiry into the nature of religious belief, in both its zealous and low-key forms.... “Little Faith” is [Butler’s] best so far, unafraid of sentiment yet free of the kitsch.” — Wall Street Journal
“With its focus on spirituality and reverence for the joys of everyday life, ‘Little Faith’ calls to mind Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Gilead.’” — New York Times Book Review
“[Peopled with] regular folks, behind whose plain-spoken reserve and dry humor beats the heart of the country, at once practical and passionate, poetic and earthbound.... Butler is very good at getting...the routines and rituals as subtly infused with personal history as with the changing of the seasons.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Butler blends a sweet situation — a grandfather’s love for his grandson — with a divisive religious conflict that could have life-altering consequences for that child.... Butler represents a continuum of believers and doubters.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“A powerful story filled with deep emotion, no matter your religious proclivities.... [A] stark and honest discussion of faith and doubt.” — Volume One
“Breathtaking yet devastating.... Butler weaves questions surrounding faith, regret, and whether it’s possible to love unconditionally into every page of this potent book.... This is storytelling at its finest.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Powerful.... [Butler] skillfully handles the complicated—and heartbreaking—psychological and emotional complexities of this story, crafting a deeply moving novel about love, faith, and loss.... A beautifully realized meditation on the nature of parenting and living in a perplexing (and often cruel) world.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“A heartland novel that evokes the possibility of everyday miracles.... Like a favorite flannel shirt, relaxed and comfortable, well-crafted even as it deals with issues of life and death, faith and doubt.... The novelist loves this land and these characters, with their enduring values.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Exploring the complexities of faith and family, Butler...also tackles the power and pitfalls of devout Christianity. Fans of Richard Russo and Jan Karon will appreciate Butler’s sense of place, which lets seasonal shifts and harvest cycles propel the novel forward. Little Faith is quietly and deeply moving.” — Booklist
“A novel as tender and generous as any I’ve read. It’s a three a.m. I gotta get some sleep but can’t stop reading sorta book. Heart stoppingly good.” — Willy Vlautin, author of Lean on Pete and Don’t Skip Out on Me
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Butler blends a sweet situation — a grandfather’s love for his grandson — with a divisive religious conflict that could have life-altering consequences for that child.... Butler represents a continuum of believers and doubters.
Wall Street Journal
[A] tender and perceptive novel.... An open-minded inquiry into the nature of religious belief, in both its zealous and low-key forms.... “Little Faith” is [Butler’s] best so far, unafraid of sentiment yet free of the kitsch.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
[Peopled with] regular folks, behind whose plain-spoken reserve and dry humor beats the heart of the country, at once practical and passionate, poetic and earthbound.... Butler is very good at getting...the routines and rituals as subtly infused with personal history as with the changing of the seasons.
Volume One
A powerful story filled with deep emotion, no matter your religious proclivities.... [A] stark and honest discussion of faith and doubt.
Booklist
Exploring the complexities of faith and family, Butler...also tackles the power and pitfalls of devout Christianity. Fans of Richard Russo and Jan Karon will appreciate Butler’s sense of place, which lets seasonal shifts and harvest cycles propel the novel forward. Little Faith is quietly and deeply moving.
New York Times Book Review
With its focus on spirituality and reverence for the joys of everyday life, ‘Little Faith’ calls to mind Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Gilead.’
Willy Vlautin
A novel as tender and generous as any I’ve read. It’s a three a.m. I gotta get some sleep but can’t stop reading sorta book. Heart stoppingly good.
Wall Street Journal
[A] tender and perceptive novel.... An open-minded inquiry into the nature of religious belief, in both its zealous and low-key forms.... “Little Faith” is [Butler’s] best so far, unafraid of sentiment yet free of the kitsch.
Booklist
Exploring the complexities of faith and family, Butler...also tackles the power and pitfalls of devout Christianity. Fans of Richard Russo and Jan Karon will appreciate Butler’s sense of place, which lets seasonal shifts and harvest cycles propel the novel forward. Little Faith is quietly and deeply moving.
Kirkus Reviews
2018-12-11
A heartland novel that evokes the possibility of everyday miracles.
The third novel by Wisconsin author Butler (Beneath the Bonfire, 2015, etc.) shows that he knows this terrain inside out, in terms of tone and theme as well as geography. Nothing much happens in this small town in western Wisconsin, not far from the river that serves as the border with Minnesota, which attracts some tourism in the summer but otherwise seems to exist outside of time. The seasons change, but any other changes are probably for the worse—local businesses can't survive the competition of big-box stores, local kids move elsewhere when they grow up, local churches see their congregations dwindle. Sixty-five-year-old Lyle Hovde and his wife, Peg, have lived here all their lives; they were married in the same church where he was baptized and where he's sure his funeral will be. His friends have been friends since boyhood; he had the same job at an appliance store where he fixed what they sold until the store closed. Then he retired, or semiretired, as he found a new routine as the only employee at an apple orchard, where the aging owners are less concerned with making money than with being good stewards of the Earth. The novel is like a favorite flannel shirt, relaxed and comfortable, well-crafted even as it deals with issues of life and death, faith and doubt that Lyle somehow takes in stride. He and Peg lost their only child when he was just a few months old, a tragedy which shook his faith even as he maintained his rituals. He and Peg subsequently adopted a baby daughter, Shiloh, through what might seem in retrospect like a miracle (it certainly didn't seem to involve any of the complications and paperwork that adoptions typically involve). Shiloh was a rebellious child who left as soon as she could and has now returned home with her 5-year-old son, Isaac. Grandparenting gives Lyle another chance to experience what he missed with his own son, yet drama ensues when Shiloh falls for a charismatic evangelist who might be a cult leader (and he's a stranger to these parts, so he can't be much good). Though the plot builds toward a dramatic climax, it ends with more of a quiet epiphany.
The novelist loves this land and these characters, with their enduring values amid a way of life that seems to be dying.
