The Baldwin Library Afternoon Book Club last met on March 12th to discuss the book, Little Faith by Nickolas Butler, about a rural Wisconsin family confronting the power and limitations of faith.
Lyle Hovde is grateful to have his daughter, Shiloh, and grandson, Isaac, back in his life after a painful estrangement. But when Shiloh falls under the influence of a radical church whose beliefs threaten Isaac’s safety, Lyle is forced to make a decision that could tear his family apart forever.
Please let us know if you’ve read the book and what you thought of it. Here is a link to some discussion questions.
If you haven’t read the book but would like to tell us about the great (or not so great) new book you just read, we’d love to hear about that as well!
I liked this book. It’s definitely one of those stories designed to tug at your heart strings, so at times it felt a little sappy and overly sentimental. In general, though, it was a good story with interesting characters and descriptive writing – you could really see and feel what the author was describing. The ending was a bit abrupt for my taste, but otherwise I give it 4 out of 5 stars!
I’ve been hearing about what a good author this Eau Claire native is and I’m glad I read this book. Having lived in small towns in Wisconsin and Iowa, I thought Butler’s characters and descriptions were pretty right on (though his people had a little wittier dialogue than most real people do). You see what’s lovely and what’s hard about rural life, and his prose can be beautiful.
Examining faith can be a touchy subject and I thought he did a good job of showing complex people and complicated issues. He didn’t resolve much at the end, which might be OK with some people so they can work it out themselves, but I would’ve liked a little more. It would’v been hard to resolve it realistically though and still make us happy about all the situations.