We Are Still Married: Stories and Letters

Lake Wobegon #3

by Garrison Keillor

“Garrison Keillor made it possible, after twenty years of black humor…to be both funny and nice, hip and winsome, scathing and loving, all in the flick of a single many-barbed quip——The Washington Post Book World“Keillor’s literary style is as flexible and assured as his vocal delivery. It can slip from mood to mood so subtly and quickly you’re never quite sure where you are…. [His] writing has the silvery slip of running water, so graceful and easy it’s hard to believe it can carry so much that is jagged and unresolved. His integrity lies in his not smoothing away those rough edges in the swift current of his prose; they’re bruisingly, sometimes cuttingly there.” —The Village Voice

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, Literature, Poetry, American Novels, American

402 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 1989

About the author

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion (called Garrison Keillor's Radio Show in some international syndication), which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion. On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also continues to tour a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion, although these shows are not broadcast by MPR or American Public Media.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

I borrowed this collection of short stories and poems and thought it was quite funny. I particularly enjoyed the Finn who wouldn't have a sauna and the hapless writer of bad cowboy stories who spent his days down at the library watching people read books written by his rivals.

So I got a copy for my Mum. After some time I asked her if she liked it and found it funny. No, she said and started to tell me about one story, but as she did so she started to laugh. So she started to tell me about another of the stories and again she started to laugh.

I went on to read a couple of other Garrison Keller books and they didn't make me laugh either. Perhaps I should have told somebody about them down the phone.

[Barbara Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of Keillor's work is simple and brilliant and easily identified with by any ordinary person who isn't struggling to be hip. But occasionally GK writes a real clunker, some story that goes on and on and on until you want to take a hatchet - or a book of matches - and put it out of its misery. Those pieces almost always involve a struggling artiste who is misunderstood, which makes me think it's just GK blowing off steam. Still, some editor should have said, "Nuh-uh. This one isn't going in the book."

Overall, though, the title says it. We are still married. It's the small, daily triumphs that count and comfort us.

[Deborah Bausmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not a “short stories” girl, but this is mostly a collection of pieces, letters, stories & poems held together by Keillor humor & dry wit. Even his definition of humor is a droll rambling—of humor. “Sometimes I wish I could quit writing humor and just write irritation for a while. I grow old and irritable.”

Unfortunately, he did write irritation with some of the pieces. Didn’t read them all—some were glib, several were downright strange (maybe funnier in their day?), & “A Liberal Reaches for Her whip” had imagined Hitler being interviewed on the “Today” show which was a tad upsetting.

His comment re: his long-running radio show: “It was a long reach for a writer, to do a radio show all those years, like a dairy farmer sailing the Atlantic, but that sort of thing happens all the time. The open sea casts a powerful lure and dairy farmers are particularly susceptible.” And he’s off on a tangent about sailing farmers, and that’s just in the intro!

I grew up in a day of letter writing. A couple of boyfriends (one I married) & I exchanged quite a few letters. In a time of texting & emails, handwritten letters feel like ancient history. I enjoyed his “How to Write a Letter”. “We shy persons need to write a letter now and then, or else we will dry up and blow away. It’s true. . . Such a sweet gift—a piece of handmade writing, in an envelope that is not a bill, sitting in your friend’s path when she trudges home from a long day spent among wahoos and savages, a day our words will help repair. They don’t need to be immortal, just sincere.”

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in any collection, there are bound to be things you like and things you don't, as well as things which are just dated (such as the essays), but most of this is timeless and a good read.

[Deb Mohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good bits. I thought it was going to be a lot better than it was. However, it is not a new book, so given it’s dated, it was still a valuable read. #1270.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I’m not sure how this book found it’s way to my bookshelf, but I was a big fan of GK’s Prairie Home Companion so it may hav been gifted to me by my children. The book was first written in 1982 so it’s been around quite awhile. As GK notes in the introduction this is a collection of writings. Some of them have appeared elsewhere, but all of them were written during the time Ronald Reagan was our President.

I moved from Minnesota to Nebraska during that time period, and watched as family farms were put for auction one after another. Family farms have been on the decline throughout my lifetime, but during the 1980’s Willie Nelson started Farm Crisis Concerts to raise money for some of the folks who were losing their farms. The church I served in Minnesota has closed now. The farm crisis was devastating to that community.

GK’s writing style is probably an acquired taste. If you don’t like PMC you might not like his writing either. On the other hand I found reading these stories and poems to be sort of like rubbing lotion on dry skin. You wouldn’t have to do it, but when you do it feels pretty good.

[Scot Bellavia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book you can skip or leave on your coffee table. Somewhere in it, he briefly describes the anatomy of laughing, something like "a breathy exhale from the spine" and that's what I did throughout. Might have been laugh out loud if I gave more time to each short story or entry, whether reading in the living room or in the bathroom. He's funny.

I did like these two quotes:

"The marvelous work we could do if only we didn’t have to begin it, but could start in at the middle. The things we could accomplish if only we didn’t know what we are doing until later."

"The night when your child returns with dust on his shoes from a country you've never seen is a night you would gladly prolong into a week."

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve owned this book for years and had read some of the short stories, which were kind of funny so I decided to read it cover to cover.

It was ok, but probably better the way I’d read it before just in short snippets! The book was written in the 80s or 90s and so some of the material seemed a little outdated. But I really enjoyed the chapters that dealt with his children and traveling with or teaching them something.

[Koren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a Keillor fan but I would not say this is his best work. I had to go back a re-read a lot because I couldnt figure out what he was talking about. I wouldnt say that I laughed very much. Part of it may have been that the book was written in the late 1980's. I had started this at one time and decided to put it aside for a while. This time I powered through and finished.

[Timothy Rooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Further tales of lake Wobegon continue to entertain... But we've heard the stories before. Unexpected surprise to see some darker stories--a more accurate reflection of real life! The poetry was also nice--adding light whimsy to the prose makes for an amusing interruption!

[Darla Ebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having heard of Garrison Keillor's writings for years I was looking forward to a comfortable and amusing read, however I discovered that the stories were not exactly to my taste. I can see where they would appeal to many other people, the style is amusing however outdated.

[bumperr mat Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was in my mum collection, and it was a good read. Sure the sentence structure albeit hard to comprehend as non-native English, the story was quite okay. My highlight would be Garisson Keilor guide on writing letters, really need to checkout on that!

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Not a typical Keillor piece. I think it was a thrown-together mish-mash of leftovers designed to make a few buck. Glad I read it, but wouldn't read it again.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of it and enjoyed a lot of it.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection. Not his usual form.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book to have out on the coffee table for a quick read and laugh. As you read, you hear most of the stories in those radio voices from Prairie Home Companion.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some were interesting but a bit dry

[Craig Strang · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, essays and poems, not as good as The News from Lake Wobegone. There a few gems including a very funny poem, The Lonely Sock.

[Pam A · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. A collection of rambling short stories. I like the radio broadcast better.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really a mixed bag. On the one hand, Keillor can be a really fantastic writer. I've heard him called "American Magical Realism" and definatly liked that way of looking at him. He has a knack for capturing beautiful moments, for making a story absurd but not too much, and for his famous humor. On the other hand, I was very sick of hearing about Lutherans and small american towns and his life in general. It just got to be too much. Also, it felt like a book that was thrown together from peices that he just happened to have lieing around his house. The "Peices" section was quite mixed- the first 100 pages were spectacular, but then the next 150 were not very much fun to read- too short and plotless. And I'm not a big fan of his poetry, of which there was not very much. But the last section, stories, was quite good and worth the read all by itself. In all, I'd recomend it, but feel free to skim.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I had to laugh out loud many times while reading this. Keillor has an incredibly deft touch at writing humor. For some reason, maybe living in Montana for twelve years, which, like Lake Wobegan, has Lutherans, Norwegian bachelor farmers, a very developed music scene in the schools, fierce snowstorms most years, and used to have people who ate breakfast regularly in town at the Western Cafe--I have acquired a Midwestern sense of humor. I actually laughed uncontrollably while reading a "The Young Lutherans Guide to the Orchestra" which tells young people which instrument they should choose to play based on the type of people which tend to play those instruments. Read it - you won't be sorry.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this aloud to each other in early days of marriage. Very touching and funny.

"Meeting Famous People" is a must-read.

"You're Book Saved My Life, Mister" is great read-aloud.

And a tender story about a husband/father who reflects on his own father's passing and what he did and didn't do to help him parent.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may as well just cut and paste my reviews for other Garrison Keillor's books into this space, since I feel the same about all of his work I've read. I find it very enjoyable, but as a native of the type of towns that Keillor describes, it is hard for me to be objective. I have the same nostolgia that Keillor has.

Gentle humor, solid writing, compassion and humanity. I love Keillor.

[Tristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a real fan of Garrison Keillor and his writing and improv but what I think must have been hilarious in 1982 (when it was published) just did not hold up well in the here and now. In fact, the funniest piece to me was Garrison Keillor complaining about how old he is - at 43! I wonder how he feels now.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book grew on me, and as I read more and became more receptive to the author's style of writing, I enjoyed it more. Garrison Keillor looks at life somewhat askance, and from a viewpoint slightly removed from the modern prevailing cultural ethos. Quirky is the word that most readily comes to mind when describing the short pieces presented in this book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this as a first anniversary gift from my husband, perfect for reading to your loved one. I really enjoyed the following essays: "Front Porch," something about band instruments, and the stories about road trips.

[Kati · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not know what I was expecting but not this. I just did not enjoy this book that much... and I love GK. Well, I didn't even get a quarter of the way through. I just gave up. I don't have enough time to read semi-crap books.

[Butterfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories was a bit hit and miss, but contains some real gems: 'How to write a letter', 'Three Marriages' and 'Meeting famous people' stood out for me. I generally enjoyed the autobiographical stuff (In the Letters section) more than the fiction.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big Garrison Keillor fan. I could almost hear him reading these essays aloud. Most of the humor is pretty timeless, but the odd joke is that he is NOT, in fact, still married to the woman he was with at the time this was published.

[Trudy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one would expect, this short story collection is full of trademark Keillor humour. A few of the stories are very funny, but an entire collection of the same type of humour over and over becomes tiresome.