Rating: 
Summary: A story of life
Review: This was my first time reading a Garrison Keillor novel. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book was. It follows the life of 14-year-old Gary as he grows up in the summer of 1956. I love how Garrison Keillor writes. The story moves along in a lazy manner. You almost don't even realize that the story is progressing. It is much the same as I remember spending my summers. The days blend together until suddenly you wake up and realize that the summer is half over, and then suddenly you're waking up for school early in the morning again. This would make for a boring novel if Keillor wasn't such a gifted storyteller. The characters are wonderfully human and I found myself laughing out loud as Gary described the adventures and personalities of his small town. And just when you think that the book is going to be nothing but a comedy, Keillor hits you with a profound lesson about life.This was truly a great book. Some people may be offended by parts, but this book is about life and life isn't always innocent and pretty. Garrison Keillor did a terrific job writing this book and I definitely have to recommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Lake Wobegon: Summer 1956
Review: Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 reminds me of when i was young garys' age. All he has on his mind is girls, naked girls. He gets dirty magazines and reads them fantasizing about himself and his cousin Kate. Gary has an older sister that notices Gary reading his magazine, steals it from him, then uses to get him right where she wants him. She can do anything and everything and Gary must follow to stop the magazine from getting to his mother. After reading his magazines he writes his own little stories about his manhood and Kate. This book inspires me to read more of Keillors books because i can connect to Garys way of thinking and acting seeing as I remember them days as if it was yesturday.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet And Evocative, But Somewhat Tired
Review: There are few authors alive today who possess the ability to seamlessly mix sweet nostalgia with bittersweet melancholy in their writings. Garrison Keillor maintains his reputation as one of these authors in Lake Wobegon, Summer 1956. Keillor skillfully juxtaposes the serenity of small town life and the closeness of family with the frustrations of teenagers and the not-so-idyllic reality of day-to-day family existence. The result of these depictions is a setting and a set of characters that seem real. My problem with the book is that I felt like I've been here before through Keillor's other Lake Wobegon books. I was already familiar with the Bunsens, the Larsens, the Sanctified Brethren, and the Chatterbox Café's location. While I don't mind revisiting familiar territory (a sentiment with which I'm sure many of his readers would agree), I felt that there was nothing really new in this book. Since Keillor's attempts outside of the Lake Wobegon milieu have had mixed success, it is easy to understand why he would want to stick closely to his "comfort zone." The combination of this familiar setting and his tremendous talent makes the result of an enjoyable read a foregone conclusion. Yet, one can only hope that Lake Wobegon, Summer 1956 is not the first sign of that one of America's finest writers is running out of ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: Is This Lake Wobegon?
Review: Since when do all the Lake Wobegon husbands cheat on their wives and teenage lust is transformed to unnecessary pornography. The writing is nice but the story weak and uneven. It's no wonder this book got panned in the press. And it's a shame since Keillor is wonderful at rendering nostalgia, human quirks and frailties in a way that is so comforting and yet makes us laugh at ourselves. I have the sneaking suspicion that Keillor's editors just publish whatever he writes rather than make useful suggestions regarding plot and tone.
Rating:
Summary: Another great one by America's favorite storyteller
Review: Wonderful read.
Re-entering into the thoughts of a 14 year-old is no walk in the park, but Mister Keillor has certainly managed to do it successfully.
Weaving a great story into believable characters' lives and hearts isn't easy either but he's done it masterfully. Maybe this is why people can't get enough of reading Keillor.
Great stuff. I just bought 4 other Keillor books from ebay! Guess I'm hooked ....
Rating: 
Summary: Needs a PG-17 Rating!
Review: Please be warned: If you enjoyed family style listening to Keillor's older feel-good radio-style vinettes of Lake Wobegon, such as "Faith", "Rhubarb," and the like, DON'T play this for the family without reviewing it first. You are in for a suprise.
Garrison has made off-color jokes in his monologues to a degree before, but not to this degree, freely talking about erections and much more here.
And if he's not talking about the sexual awakings of boyhood, it seems he's giving a backhand jab to the "Sanctified Brethren."
I tried, I really tried to pass over those parts (as I was listening to it on CD,) but they came so frequently, I just had to turn it off and leave it alone.
Hopefully, Keillor will unburden himself in this CD, and get back to the family-oriented wholesomeness that I had come to love him for.
Rating: 
Summary: Lake Wobegon Summer 1956
Review: LAKE WOBEGON - SUMMER 1956 is a delightful fictional autobiographical thigh slapper of a 50s summer in one boy's life in a very conservative Minnesota town, watched over by Jesus himself, standing side by side with the author's granddad while passing out judgments.
Although the main character in an autobiography is the writer himself, his intense focus however is on his cousin Kate and the trials and tribulations of her love life with the local hero, a talented baseball pitcher whose family puts hers to shame. The 14-year-old Gary, who composes pornographic poetry to fend off the school bully, adores the 17-year-old Kate for her boldness in standing firm against the conservative morality her overly religious family imposes on her. We sense a message that the author tailors into the story how both Gary and Kate use their individual talents to try to escape the rigorous boredom of the pious country life, each in their own way. Gary succeeds in becoming the town's paper's sports writer and Kate gets her lover to marry her.
Unclear is the symbolic presence of his self-righteous older sister who is unrelenting in tormenting him. But pleasant is the array of eccentric and hilarious individuals with names worthy to be called dickensian, that populate his forsaken Midwestern town.
In a story full of anecdotal historical tidbits of a summer with doo-wop and baseball and poems and family gossip, Kate represents the symbol of many a country bumpkin trying to shake off the restraints put on her. Reading atheist verses "and worldly novels by Hemingway, Cummings, Steinbeck and Kerouac", she has chosen to live a life free from the religious rigors of Luthern doctrine and in Gary's company even visits a Roman Catholic service which gives Keillor the opportunity to mock the world of blatant superstitions the town (and the nation?) is enclosed by. During a two page comparison, he gives the reader also a chance to reflect on his or her own stance and the valor people associate with organized religion.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice vignettes, but weak plot
Review: I found that although this novel has a lot of nice vignettes and colorful characters, the plot was too weak for my tastes. Some reviewers said that the book is "slow-moving," though I think the of the novel as more of an atmospheric portrait of GK's character, "Gary" and of his town, the fictional Lake Wobegon. Even though several scenes & charactors were entertaining, I thought some others lacked entertainment value & could have been cut --- for example, at one point 14-year-old "Gary" writes short stories involving boogers and constipation. Now, I admit that it's realistic for a 14 year old to do, however, as a reader, I didn't find it compelling or entertaining. Also, the "shotgun" wedding at the end of the novel wasn't a really positive way to end the novel, either. Overall, I think GK paints a good portrait of his fictional character Gary, and of his life in Lake Wobegon. Despite this, the book didn't keep me turning the pages enthusiastically, and I probably could have skipped it. However, I'm not partial to any of GK's novels (I prefer his radio program & short stories), so if you're a die-hard fan of the other Lake Wobegon books, then you might want to give this one a try.
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Summary: Woe is me
Review: Unfortunately, there's something a little disappointing about Garrison Keillor's latest book of Lake Wobegon lore. I read LAKE WOBEGON DAYS a few years ago, and although I found it to be generally slow-moving, it was nonetheless also consistently moving, poetic and sweet (something like maple syrup, all told). It was probably my favorite book in a year full of pretty good books, so I was eager to pick up another Keillor title before long. When LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956 came out in hardcover, I snatched it up and dove in with exuberance and relish (and a little picnic table mustard and ketchup).
LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956 starts off strongly enough, setting up an interesting family of characters, and putting them through a series of interesting and keenly observed episodes of mid-twentieth century interpersonal drama. The young male protagonist portrays himself, often humorously, as something of a tortured soul: a sensitive artistic type saddled with an incurably filthy mind who, as plain bad luck would have it, was born into the midst of a thick-witted, Bible-toting household.
Young Gary is relentlessly persecuted by his goody-goody older sister, unjustly scolded and disciplined by his humorless father, and gossiped about by his aunts. It's only his free spirit cousin, whom he has the hots for, and his somewhat free-thinking mother that give Gary some of the room he needs to grow into the adult who'll eventually write down all of these sometimes fond, sometimes painful memories. There's also an uncle that gives him the best gift anyone could give a boy with too many thoughts in his head: a typewriter. Gary spends most of the summer of 1956, when he's not fantasizing about his cousin, or writing dirty stories on his new typewriter, covering the local baseball games for the LakeWobegon paper. It's not a bad way to spend the summer when you're fourteen and just starting out. The problem is, the way it's written, it doesn't make for that great of a novel. One problem is that nothing really happens. Gary almost gets involved with his cousin, goes to baseball games, spanks the monkey, learns to write lead sentences, meets the lead singer of a local musical group, and that's really about it. LAKE WOBEGON DAYS didn't have much in the way of conflict either, but it managed to propel itself with a quiet, dreamy worldview that always left you hungry for another lick, and kept you from putting the book down unless you absolutely had to. In LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956, you get the feeling that that wonderful ice-cream like narrative substance was left out of the freezer a little too long and got soupy on you. There are nice moments LW SUMMER 1956, and it's worth a look if you're a frequent visitor, but all in all, it just doesn't have the hard to define stuff to keep you interested. Still, it's clear from this book that Keillor has many talents as a writer, and his humor and sense of irony remain intact throughout. If you're looking for a good chuckle and don't mind blue material (or actually seek it out) LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956 is probably worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Yuck
Review: while there were instances of humor, mostly the book seemed rather gross. If Garrison's goal was to get into the mind of a sexually obsessed 13 year old (the main character seemed younger than 14 to me), perhaps he achieved success. I was unpleasantly surprised. It seemed overworked: it certainly was an effort to read it. At least I bought it on sale. If you are new to Garrison's work, please, read anything else he has written!
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