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Summary: Cute book.
Review: Cute, somewhat heartwarming, somewhat funny. OK to read if you don't have anything better around.
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Summary: lake wobegpm summer 1956
Review: Disappointing. Someone recommended At Home it Mitford, which I finished before beginning Keillor's latest book. Although I am a great fan of Keillor's short stories and We are Still Married, this one doesn't compare. Why all the sex talk--I, for one, am not interested in what makes him go! Mitford was so sweet and well-written- much better written. I'd recommend it rather than this last Wobegon book. Sorry! I'll reread the old books about Lake Wobegon. I didn't like K's last novel either. He's better with short stories about others.
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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: What a talant.
Review: Fof many years I listen to his radio show. There is nothing better. The show is good, but the Lake Wobegon stories take the price. Mr. Keillor, all the best to you.
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Summary: Quite Possibly the Funniest Book I've Ever Read
Review: Garrison Keillor is a study in contradictions. A famously private individual, he opens up his heart and mind to the reader in this hiliarious "memoir" of growing up in Minnesota in 1956. It's rare for me to break into LOUD guffaws while I'm reading something, but this book had me giggling and chortling and wheezing every other page. Just Keillor's description of fourteen-year-old Gary is worth the price of the book: a tree-frog boy with Herkimer hair and high-water pants..... What more can you say? Anything Garrison Keillor writes is genius, in my opinion. This may be his best work yet. I highly recommend it.
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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: 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: 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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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.
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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