This was probably my favorite short story collection since Jhumpa Lahiri's. Even though some of the stories just seemed like failed novel ideas, they grew more compelling as the book went on, and I sincerely enjoyed his prose. ( )

Nickolas Butler is a fine writer. I enjoyed reading these short stories. ( )

I bought this book from Nickolas Butler at the Lakefly Writers Conference. Nickolas is a great guy. His books are also great. Beneath the Bonfire was a great read. I love his approach to short stories. It is literary and yet still approachable. I found his characters and his settings, especially in the details to be uniquely Wisconsin. Anyone that has lived in Wisconsin will feel right at home. He describes the bars and the pickups, and the winter cold so well, he takes you right into the story.

I especially like how his characters were interesting without being extreme. I love Raymond Carver, but so many of his characters were drunks that were on the edge and able to do anything. I liked that the characters in this book were in extreme situations, but were not desperate.
To be clear, I need Raymond Carver, but I need stories like this as well. ( )

Not a fan of some of the stories within it, due to personal reasons, but overall the compilation is good. ( )

Digital audiobook performed by Holter Graham, Luke Daniels and Andi Arndt


In this collection of short stories Butler explores relationships: men and women; male bonding; fathers and children; people and the land.

In one story a group of young couples has a “chainsaw party” … cutting firewood for the coming winter, and two long-term friends’ paths diverge. In another an aging environmentalist takes matters into his own hands after he hears news of a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And then there is the story of a group of men who annually hunt for morels in the woods of their youth, and find despair instead. A man and his wife work to clear out his recently deceased mother’s home, and he comes to a decision about their future. Two women help one another seek revenge against a man who has hurt many. A man inherits a family and grows into fatherhood.

The ten stories are dark and mesmerizing, Butler’s characters are lonely and yet reaching out for connection. I recognize the landscape which can be brutally unforgiving for the person not experienced or equipped to survive the dangers of the north woods. I’ve been in these bars, hiked the wooded trails, fished on the pristine lakes (but NOT ice-fishing), stayed in remote cabins where you’re more likely to see deer or even a bear than another human. I could smell the wood smoke, hear the squeak as I walked across a snow-packed path, taste the butter-soaked morels, feel the sting of icy sleet and the almost uncomfortable warmth of a blazing fire.

The audiobook is marvelously narrated by a trio of skilled voice artists. I have no idea which artist reads which stories, but they are all equally good. I can hear the gravelly, whisky-soaked, cigarette fueled rasp of a lonely man, and also the quiet, despair of a woman who has been beaten down by life. They give the listener the exuberance of youth and the quite confusion of an older woman’s encroaching dementia. ( )