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Summary: A bright spot in New York City
Review: Great, funny book. On September 10, Garrison did a reading here in New York, and after leading us in a ridiculous chorus of Great Balls of Fire proceeded to read the more salacious moments out of the book. It was the last time I felt pure unreserved joy! I put it aside after the events of the next day and have just recently picked it up - this is a very very funny tale - I actually had to stop bringing it on the train with me because when I laugh I end up shaking the whole row of seats. Then I have to stare at the cover or my shoes and pretend everything is ok - and that the convulsions are just supressed laughter! It's very embarrassing . . . why I should I be happy? But that just speaks to the power of this book - that through all that we go through, day in day out, Garrison Keillor, like a knife, cuts through the gloom . . . That's about as high a praise as I can give- Loads of fun especially if you like smart, though juvenile, potty humor!
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Summary: A 14-year-old fundamentalist learns about sex...
Review: A very enjoyable book. Coming from a fundamentalist background myself, I see a lot of truth in Keillor's writings concerning the "Sanctified Brethren". It is with this as his background in which young Gary grows up and learns to write about such things as fatal blood diseases, talking dogs, and watchful dead grandpas. There are a few quibbles I have with this book, such as an overdoing of the soft-core fantasies of the young author (once or twice to get his mindset, sure, but at least 8-10 different scenes of sexual fantasy? Too much), a worthless two-page chapter 15 in which young Gary finds his his old stomping ground isn't the way it used to be, and finally never really developing the character of Roger Guppy except in his relationship with each of the other characters; for such a central character, it would have been nice to know him more. Overall, however, there are a number of times I laughed out loud at the word pictures Keillor gives us. He writes well as a 14-year-old. Nothing will ever take the place of his true masterpiece, "Lake Wobegon Days", but this is still a very entertaining read.
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Summary: Just As Funny As Ever
Review: Get a grip. This isn't a children's book--it was written for adults. It is well written and just as entertaining as all the previous Keillor books.
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Summary: Whatever happened to continuity?
Review: As a longtime book reviewer at a midwestern newspaper I have read (and reviewed) much of Keillor's work. It's wise for Keillor to write about Lake Wobegon a.k.a. small town America with all the requisite quirkiness, nostalgia, etc. That's what his audience wants and expects. However, he should also be respectful of this promise. Suddenly LW is populated with husbands who constantly cheat on their wives and girlfriends, and his charming and lyrical pages have become filled with unnecessary pornography. I imagine Keillor's work floats through a publishing house relatively untouched, and that's fine as far as his wonderful prose goes, but a brave editor should have helped him sharpen the storyline to offer more reader satisfaction and to maintain LW continuity. Despite landing on the bestseller list, this book received mostly bad reviews ("USA TODAY," "The New York Times") and I believe these two things would have saved it.
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Summary: That Summer you got a little older
Review: This is an outstanding book. Mr. Keillor is a wordsmith to be admired and paints a masterpiece with his command of the language. Upon finishing this book, I sat and deciphered its meaning. I knew I felt sad for Gary but I didn't know why. Then I figured it out; Gary had grown-up a little in the summer of 1956. I longed for the simplicity of childhood and wonder why when we are kids, we want to grow up so fast. Mr. Keillor's book gives us a peek into lifes little events and make you realize that, like it or not, "grown-up happens".
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Summary: A sheer Delight
Review: I started reading this book on a flight from Boston the end of September, 2001. There weren't many things to laugh about, then I read this book. The first half of the book had me laughing so hard my side hurt. I sat in Logan airport laughing uncontrollably. People must have thought I lost my mind. This is Garrison Keillor at his Finest. I loved it. Don't think this is lighthearted fluff either. The book reminded me of what it is like to be a boy in small town America. There was a real story of substance here. One of the things I enjoy so much about Garrison Keillor's work is that he is able to tell a story with an extremely important message while making you laugh. This book touched my heart. As I read the final paragraph there was more than one tear in my eye. Well done Mr. Keillor.
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Summary: Once Too Often to the Well
Review: First off: I think Garrison Keillor is a (minor) national treasure. That being said, this offering is his weakest to date. Advertised as a coming of age novel, it doesn't work for me. The characters are likable certainly, and the plot is mildly amusing; but, missing for me is the "ah ha" moment that I've found in his other books. I'm probably four or five years younger than the lead character (and grew up in a small California town as opposed to Lake Woebegone), but my "coming of age" memories are of the sixties with their concommitmant music, upbeat tempo and divisive social issues. Not the slow, turgid feel of this book. Maybe its just the difference of a few years, but I was disappointed.
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Summary: A Simpler Time, A Simpler Life
Review: A different sort of work from Keillor, as told from the adolescent male point of view. Bearing that in mind, we do lose some of the adult viewpoint of the Lake Wobegone that we know and love, but Keillor more than makes up for it in the angst that young Gary endures throughout this very well-spun story of small town life in the fifties. Yes, there is some gross-out humor, and a great deal of sexual boy-stuff, but heck, this is a story from the perspective of a teenage boy! I enjoyed this book tremendously, and found it to be a humorous yet poignant reminder of times past, when life was simpler, our troubles were fixable, and our families were no further away than the front porch.
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Summary: I Was Disappointed
Review: I have always loved Garrison Keillorbooks and audios. I have always beenable to share them with my grandchildren and always knew therewas nothing I had to worry about thatthey shouldn't hear.This is a total departure from the goodclean family entertainment of the otherbooks. Even though there are some really good parts it is ruined by thesmut that is inserted all through thebook. Now I can no longer share thisone with others in my family. I don't understand why they felt itneccessary to ruin a good book by making it R rated. I was very disappointed in it.Laura Robertson
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Summary: HE GOT IT ALL
Review: I am loathe to review fiction; but this is probably autobiography, so I'll take a chance. Keillor was born 10 days after I was. Had his talent been split evenly between us, we could have had *two* magnificent writer/humorist/story tellers. But, he got it all; and God bless him for sharing it with us. The best I can say about this book is that it rings true, very true -- true to Keillor's previous tales of Lake Wobegon, true to much that he has said about himself in the past, true to much that I remember of the same era. I thought, "He is shameless about recycling old material." Or is he? Is he just being true to the record of the past, of Lake Wobegon in fact and fiction? I didn't grow up in a "town that time forgot" in the Midwest, though I did live in one just before Keillor went on the air in the mid-70's. This story rings true to the time and place, and to the universal angst of being 14 and looking like a tree frog.
Thanks again, GK.
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