The Tall Pine Polka

by Lorna Landvik

Balanced on the remote edge of the boundary waters in northern Minnesota, the Cup o' Delight Café is home to a motley crew of locals. Drawn to the addictive coffee and the equally addictive company, the customers share the fortunes of life together. Having left the dangers of the big city and an abusive husband behind, owner Lee O'Leary helps guide and inspire her friends, particularly Fenny Ness. There seems to be no problem that Lee or her coffee can't solve.

Then Hollywood arrives and chooses the town of Tall Pine as the setting--and Fenny as the star--of a new film. With the encouragement of her friends, Fenny overcomes her inhibitions and agrees to act. To add to the general excitement, a handsome stranger arrives in town. Big Bill has qualities that draw both Lee and Fenny to him; as their world turns upside down, Lee and Fenny struggle to balance loyalty and happiness.

Author Lorna Landvik has won acclaim for her blend of quirky humor and bittersweet realizations. As in her earlier novels, Patty Jane's House of Curl and Your Oasis on Flame Lake, Landvik juxtaposes a slapstick sense of rural Minnesota with humble and human pathos. Unrequited love, personal insecurity, and post-traumatic stress disorder may not be the most original sources of profundity, but Landvik builds her characters' growth like layers of translucent watercolor, and ultimately creates a complex and endearing novel. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Book Club, Humor, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Friendship

440 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Lorna Landvik is a mother of two and wife of one. She is the author of eight novels, including the best-selling ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL and OH MY STARS. Also an
actor and playwright, Lorna has appeared in many stage productions. She is a new and passionate neophyte to the practice of yoga, which is a fine antidote to her long established practice of lounging.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Lorna Landvik...I read it as a result of a recommendation of my wife who's been raiding the neighborhood book exchange boxes...From the other reviews, I feared I'd chosen poorly, making this my first, and last, from this author, however, this was a perfectly wonderful, meaningful and funny book of friendship, tragedy, and hope...Very Lake Wobegone-ish...Wonderful, colorful characters, with a "Fish Out of Water" storyline, as a Major motion picture is being shot in the Northwoods Minnesota town of Tall Pines...I'm definitely going to read "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons!"

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this, Landvik's latest. It was about 200 pages too long and corny as all get-out. Interesting characters, but smarmy writing, syrupy, clichéd, contrived. Plot twists you could spot a mile away—quick, everyone pile into the car with the pregnant woman for a high speed chase. What? She's in labor? Who saw that coming?!

I skimmed through the last part, intent on finishing but not really interested. I love Landvik but this one was a miss. Not in the same class as Patty Jane's House of Curl or Your Oasis on Flame Lake.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Ms. Landviks best, but most certainly not her worst. This book follows her usual formula and there is comfort in that for me.

[Barbara Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Small Minnesota town life..... And I think it had potential to be an ok book but it was not, one villager becomes a Hollywood star, there is a love triangle, a pregnancy, one man howls due to bad dreams, a gay couple, domestic abuse, a crazy ex husband who comes shooting... Totally unbelievable, kind of ridiculous. Too bad

[Kelly Bleck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, because I have a hard time giving any book a bad review, this was very boring. okay writing paired with too many characters and little character development. seemed to be reaching to keep the story going, or didn't have have a clear story fleshed out at all.

[Dee Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read some reviews that called this book 'sentimental', 'predictable'. Maybe, but it was what I needed to read right now. I enjoyed these characters, their small Minnesota town and their friendship. I am a fan of Lorna Landvik's writing, and this book was good.

[Tara Rugg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out promising...but I lost interest in the characters pretty quickly. I finished just to see how it turned out, but was mainly just annoyed with the behavior of most of the characters.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Several characters in a small town interact and form a found family.

I liked the author's "Angry Ladies Eating Bon Bons" a lot, but I didn't like this one. Several of the characters were trite stereotypes of small town folk. The plot veered from nothing happening to 'wacky' big happening (one of the small town folk becomes a movie star! one of the small town folk is shot!) and back to boring. I would not have forgiven some of the people in this book for some of the things they did. It needed to be at least 150 pages shorter.

I have "Patty Jane's House of Curl" but I'm a little leery of reading it after this.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice cozy book until halfway through, then it took a turn I wasn't expecting and got kind of depressing.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book---one of my favorites in a while. Reminds me of the characters in Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone stories. (And it takes place in Minnesota!). Highly recommend---I had a little trouble getting started, but hang in there--it's worth it!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a charming book though a little over the top! So many things happening to the characters. Death, illness, movie making in their small town, pregnancy, love, unlikely friendships, a love triangle, a shooting.
Tall Pines is a small town full of friends as family. So many things happened in this book I won’t even try to summarize.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading Lorna Landvik’s books and started with this one. I really love her writing. She creates quirky characters that are endearing and story lines that comment on life with its ups and downs. I love books that just tell you about people’s lives and how they are connected.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiny Tall Pine, MN sets the stage for a tale of friendship, tragedy, and hope. It also sets the stage for a Hollywood film: Ike and Inga.

The focal point of this novel can be found in the gatherings at the Cup O’Delight Café. This is the heart and soul of Tall Pine and the home of the Tall Pine Polka.

By the way, the Tall Pine Polka is not a dance; it is a state of mind. It is the sharing of one’s talents and the celebration of life in the company of good friends. Isn’t that wonderful?

There isn’t room enough to describe all of the great characters and subplots in this novel. Plus, I don’t want to spoil any surprises. Just read and enjoy this warm and sweet novel of friendship in small town Minnesota.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have seldom been as disappointed in a book as I was in this one. I read Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons several years ago and loved it. I read Patti Jane's House of Curl later and thought it was pretty funny. I was delighted to find this book and looked forward to reading it. I tried to get into it during the first 3 or 4 chapters, skimmed through a few more - up to Chapter 14. It was just plain boring. No plot, no humor, no intriguing characters. I didn't want to waste any more time on it, so I abandoned it and added the book to my bag to donate to the local library book sale.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and the characters, but.... In my opinion there was too much; too many characters, too much going on. There were so many different outlandish things going on and over the top characters that it was hard to relate to each one. Right when I began to feel sympathy for one character, something else happened to switch my focus to another character, and on and on. When I felt the book should end; something else magnanimous happened until at the end I had trouble even caring about the epilogue.

[Elizabeth Castro · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Tall Pine Polka promised to be more than it was. The characters were people I wanted to know, until the plot became too outlandish for even daytime soap operas.
The ending (not limited to this scenario) was bazaar and unrealistic when the main character Fenny, finds out her new husband Bill, is married to her best friend Lee. And when Fenny finds out Lee's baby is Bill's , Fenny has a baby with Bill.
Wish I had not wasted my time.

[Tien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too many characters. I feel that I barely got to know anyone and in a way, they feel too perfect even with their quirks / flaws. I think that's because I barely got to know any...

I don't like the final twists. I could've done without them.

[Adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

of all her books this is not a favorite very boring read

[Melissa (Always Behind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out so cute--small town, movie filming, quirky characters. But it unraveled and got very messy toward the end.

[Nancy Cummings · Rating 1 out of 5]

I generally like this author very much but I quit this book about a 1/4 of the way through, something I very rarely do! It was that boring....

[Anne Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was definitely the saga of Fenny Ness, a girl from Tall Pine in northern Minnesota. Tall Pine probably has more winter than anything else. But a faithful group of locals and good friends, gather at the Cup O’Delight (owned by Lee O’Leary) to have the best cup of coffee and have fun doing the “Tall Pine polka.” They sing, dance, and most of all enjoy each other’s company.
Fenny was raised in Tall Pine. Her parents owned the bait and tackle shop and a gift shop. They were always adventurous and unfortunately passed away while on vacation, leaving Fenny to live by herself in Tall Pine. One day, Fenny is “discovered” by a Hollywood writer, and is cast in a movie called Ike and Inga. The movie is made in Tall Pine, so there are parts for the locals too.
A new-comer, Big Bill, comes to town and finds his aunt, Mae Little Feather, to live with. (Actually lives in her yard in his tent.) He makes friends with everyone in town, including the owner of Cup O’Delight, Lee, and Fenny. Lee likes Bill, but Fenny is the one that captures Bill’s heart.
Ike and Inga is a success, even though accidents happen. Fenny winds up breaking an arm and losing a couple teeth, but her injuries heal and new scenes are written in to accommodate.
Then another more tragic event happens when Lee’s ex-husband comes to her place while all the friends are there. He intends to shoot Lee, but Pete, owner of The Shoe Shack, and secretly in love with Lee, takes the bullet and dies. Miss Penk gets paralyzed. Slim gets shot in the foot.
With Lee traumatized by what happened, and Bill upset he wasn’t there to possibly stop more friends from getting hurt, they go away for a bit, winding up in a casino where former one-hit-wonder Lorenz Ferre is performing. They decide to spend the night since it’s too late to drive home, but one thing leads to another. The next day, Bill leaves, and Lorenz asks him to tour with him and write songs.
A few months pass, and Bill and Fenny are reunited. They decide to get married.
Lee, in the meantime, went off on her own after Bill left the morning after their casino trip. She doesn’t go back to Tall Pine until she learns that Slim is sick. When she returns, she’s nine months pregnant.
Fenny could leave and never forgive Bill and Lee for making a mistake in judgement. But she’s married to Bill now and helps Lee when she’s giving birth to her and Bill’s son. Over time, things work out. Lee is happy to have a son, the best thing that has happened to her. Slim is able to get a blood marrow transplant, the pastor‘s wife a match for donation. Bill and Fenny find a love for travel and adventure like her parents, and she has a baby girl who will grow up together with her brother.

[Elliemay · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is AWFUL. The characters are bland and boring. I can’t stand the heroine, she acts like a helpless child. Not the strong smart woman they describe her as. If I see one more conversation where she says “oh, Harry!” “Oh, bill!” “Oh, lee” oh make me puke.
I absolutely hate reading about Frau Katte, can the author make this any more stereoptypical??? She makes every th into a z (this =zis) bc the woman talks with an accent. It’s not well done.. she should be ashamed of this.

It’s just page after page of rambling, run on sentences. Most the time they don’t even make sense and I had to skip to the end. Also, was there a real plot or did Landvik just feel she needed to waste more of her readers time?? It started off with a decent story line and then just did not stop. What else can I fit into this awful story? Someone got engaged? How about an engagement the next day while the first couple tells of theirs! Someone’s having a baby? How about the same man fathers a baby with the woman’s best friend. CORNIEST book I’ve ever read and quite frankly a waste of time. Did not finish it . I read reviews and was told the ending and thank god for that because if I spent more time waiting for this story to wrap up only to see that there was more stupid plot twists I would have burnt this book. Putting it back in the lending library with a sticky note “do not read unless you want to waste a week of your life”.

Needless to say, I will never read a Lorna Landvik book ever again. And as much as I’d be willing to give her another shot, this book has reviews and almost 5 stars, just like her others. Can not trust it .

[Josephine Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between three and four. This book is long, so many characters to keep up with. Many are fun to read about, others are not. The book drags quite a bit, long and hard to get through, but I finished this section. The second part of the book was more interesting, better characters. The book is entertaining, humorous, but does have its dull parts, sometimes silly, not serious literature. I did get some good laughs from the book. Other books by Landvik I like better.

Fenny, both parents killed in an accident in a long delayed trip to Belize, is going to Hollywood. A scout saw her and said she was the perfect one to play Inga, a mail order bride. Fenny doesn't care for Hollywood, she loves her small town in northern Minnesota, just across from Canada. The movie is being made in the small town. This is the section of the where I became bored with the Hollywood bunch. All this complaining, cutting down, comparing one part of the country with others. The book is set in Lone Pine and the Hollywood and Los Angeles area.

There is the story of two good friends who get angry with each other. They both love the same man. One lady, who has two men in love with her, prefers her best friend's guy. There are two lesbians, older ladies, who are proud of their relationship. They have money, but are constantly entering giveaways, always winning, have a basement filled with winnings. Slim, the war hero, who now has PTSD, Pete who could make a lot of money on his beautiful shoes, makes beautiful shoes for his lady, who he is too shy to tell her of his love, Mary, who feels she is a poet, the members of the Lutheran Church and many more.

[Eliza Bull · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟.75 stars

This book was a bit of a rollercoaster ride. At times it was hard to follow and the plot wasn’t clear, other times the storyline was fluent and easy to read however the plot often remained a mystery. At the conclusion of the book I realised that the plot is about following the life of two best friends their ups, their downs, their achievements, and their pasts. At times Fenny was portrayed in quite a frustrating way making me want to go back to Lee a sweet, down to earth, someone you can’t relate to and an honest character that you can’t not love! However, throughout other parts of the book Fenny was funny and believable making the story engaging. Throwing Bill into the mix tested their friendship and showed how strong the foundations of the girls friendships are.

Overall Tall Pine is a tight nite community with the story portraying strong themes of togetherness, found family, strength, courage, friendship, and support.

This is the first book I have read of Landvicks and I will be intrigued to read more to see if her books are similar!!

[Robin Drummond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lorna Landvik really understands how convoluted life can be, and that stories seldom follow a logical path. Her novels are famously populated with quirky (yet endearing) characters who manage to put one foot ahead of the other, even slowly, no matter how bad things get.

Alas, Tall Pine Polka reads like two story lines bounced into each other and got tangled, leaving several characters gasping for breath. It's badly edited, too. (A character speaks in a later scene, when she is actually thousands of miles away and has yet to appear. There are additional hiccups.)

Don't let this be the first of Landvik's books you read. Most of her characters will stay with you long after you have finished the story and the plots provide lots of grist for wondering how you or someone you know might have dealt with a situation. Not this one. Pass this one by and pick up one of the others.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. From the start the characters seemed like old friends & I was totally wrapped up in their lives. Fen's "adventures" in the film industry made me smile , while it brought a lump to my throat with the tragedy that occurs at the Cup O'Delight - about which I'll say no-more as I don't want to spoil it for future readers!

The only thing I felt slightly let down with was everyone's reactions to Lee's "big announcement", I think the other characters came around a bit too quickly to be plausible, however this in no way spoiled my enjoyment of the tale.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this book from my box of used books after seeing the author’s name - I had just finished Patty Janes House of Curl.
If anything, this one had more characters (quirky characters abound) more plot twists to keep it lively… And the same fun writing that sometimes made me wish i really did keep post its on hand while reading. There are laughs, and poignant moments. Its all there, but not all lightweight - she covers issues that may resound with you, or reflect what is going on in society. Have fun!

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story starts out really well and I love the characters but wow what a mess of a book. Every adjective belongs in this book, happy, sad, tragic, silly, goofy, every random thought that wandered through the authors mind is here. The random goofy silly thoughts are not needed or have anything to do with the rest of the story.
But I did finish it bc the basic story underneath all the weird stuff is a good story. Still good, but not her best.

[Suzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting into this book, as I often do with a new author. By Chapter 3, it caught my attention and I read several chapters a day. This story has many twists and turns and when I expected it would end, there was another half of the book to go! It is very unlike the typical romance - there is less sappy sex and no predictable story progression. Unusual characters add spice and interest. While it isn't on my 'love enough to read again' list, I do recommend it as a good read.

[Donna Brau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good summer/beach/vacation read - light-hearted silliness in many parts. I lost it a little at the end (though I'll share no spoilers). I just didn't find the ending too believable. Also, note I was born and raised in MInnesota, so it was fun to read a book that was anchored in places I'm familiar with and that I have enjoyed. It wasn't a huge stretch for me to see most of this story might actually happen.