The Water Goats, and Other Troubles

In the vein of Mark Twain andRing Lardner comes this gleefully absurd collection of early 20th-century American humor. The centerpiece, 'The Water Goats,' follows Alderman Michael Toole on a magnificently misguided mission to procure exotic 'dongola water goats' for the city's new park. The only problem: the alderman has never actually seen a dongola goat, assumes they swim like ducks based on their name, and hilarity unfolds as he correspondences with his cousin about goats that absolutely refuse to enter the water. Butler's stories trade in the sweet spot between confidence and idiocy, following ordinary men stumbling through extraordinary misunderstandings involving nursing bottles, false hair, acorns, and civic responsibilities they barely comprehend. These are comedies of embarrassment, where the gap between what people think is happening and what's actually happening creates pure farcical magic. Butler writes with a newspaper columnist's snappy timing and a satirist's eye for the way small-town ambition curdles into grand absurdity. If you've ever wondered what happens when bureaucratic confidence meets total ignorance, these stories are a delightful disaster.