Lake Wobegon Summer 1956

Rating:
Summary: Nerdy, horny teenager turns into writer
Review: "I look like a tree toad who was changed into a boy but not completely."

Meet Gary. He's a geeky fourteen-year-old with self-esteem problems and an alarming crush on his cousin, Kate. Within the course of the book he discovers he has a love of writing. His first stories have talking dogs, incurable diseases and unpleasant weather phenomena, but as he grows up a little and gains some insight into his family, his friends, and himself, he realizes that there's more to write about.

At the heart of it, the book is a pretty typical coming of age story, but it's worth reading if you're a Keillor fan and love his kind of humor (though his jokes and descriptions are more explicit here than they usually are). For me there weren't a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, but I was smiling often and enjoying Keillor's unusual descriptions ("her big yellow butt like two pigs fighting in a laundry bag"). If you're a writer, or just interested in the writing process, you might also like the book because it will give you some wry insights into a writer's mind and also show you some of the development of a novice's work. Plus, there are also some truly touching moments that leap out at you unexpectedly. So if you want a quick, entertaining read that will surprise you sometimes (with funniness or poignancy) read Lake Wobegon Summer 1956.

Rating:
Summary: Read his other books
Review: As usual, Garrison Keillor is a good storyteller. But all his years on the radio must have caused a lot of vulgar, adolescent humor to get bottled up inside, since he can't say it on the air. And he finally found an outlet for it, he put it all in this book. So if you're a fan of "A Prairie Home Companion," and don't mind the crude humor, this book might be for you. Otherwise, his other Lake Wobegon books are much better.

Rating:
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.

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.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Funny and Startling at the Same Time
Review: I really enjoy Garrison Keillor's writing, and this book is no exception. What I enjoyed most were his moments of enlightenment. For example, when he realized his father didn't like to be around people crying because he was afraid he'd cry himself, I got a real sense of this boy growing up. His ability to perceive things going on around him, yet not letting these things get to him in a negative way, prove he is a true writer in the making in that Summer of 1956. In addition, Garrison's character development is superb. As a reader, you get a real sense of what these people are really like. In some ways, you wish you could know the characters...then again, maybe not...hehehe. The startling aspect of this book is the amount of sexual content, but alas, this is a teenage boy we're referring to, so I took it as a reflection of the character himself, not as an attempt to shock. All in all, it's a good read. Not excellent, but definitely entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Funny and Startling at the Same Time
Review: I really enjoy Garrison Keillor's writing, and this book is no exception. What I enjoyed most were his moments of enlightenment. For example, when he realized his father didn't like to be around people crying because he was afraid he'd cry himself, I got a real sense of this boy growing up. His ability to perceive things going on around him, yet not letting these things get to him in a negative way, prove he is a true writer in the making in that Summer of 1956. In addition, Garrison's character development is superb. As a reader, you get a real sense of what these people are really like. In some ways, you wish you could know the characters...then again, maybe not...hehehe. The startling aspect of this book is the amount of sexual content, but alas, this is a teenage boy we're referring to, so I took it as a reflection of the character himself, not as an attempt to shock. All in all, it's a good read. Not excellent, but definitely entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Needs a PG-17 Rating!
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: Juvenilia is worth the effort
Review: My dad was from Albany, Minnesota; my mom lives in Freeport and was raised on a farm outside St. Rosa. All of these small towns are mentioned in Keillor's Wobegon stories, usually in connection with the amateur baseball teams who play the Wobegon Whippets.
I've read all of the Wobegon books. I've even read WLT: A RADIO ROMANCE, THE BOOK OF GUYS and WE ARE STILL MARRIED. And I love Keillor's monologues on Prairie Home Companion.
I can also relate to this novel in another way. I grew up wanting to be a writer. I wrote stories for fun, showed them off to my friends, got some of them published in the high school newspaper. So I can understand why Gary, the protagonist, is so thrilled when he receives an Underwood typewriter from his uncle. Keillor peppers the book with samples of the stories and poems Gary writes on the Underwood. They're the most remarkable aspect of the book. Keillor manages to "overwrite" just as a fourteen-year-old would, showing glimpses of a remarkable talent.
Now for what bothers me. Gary peruses dirty books, albeit camouflaged by the National Geographic, right in front of his Sanctified Brethren father. Somehow I doubt a skittish little nerd would have this kind of guts. Gary is also obsessed with his kissing cousin Kate. He writes stories about ravishing her, which his sister, a holy roller who'd embarrass Billy Graham with her overzealousness, almost always reads. .. I haven't been quite this repulsed since I read Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King, another scatological endeavor.
Read the book for Keillor's masterful job portraying Gary's youthful writing, but hold your nose when you encounter Kate.

Rating:
Summary: Yuck
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.