The Book of Guys

by Garrison Keillor

"Guys are in trouble these days," says Garrison Keillor. "Years ago, manhood was an opportunity for achievement and now it's just a problem to be overcome. Guys who once might have painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling are now just trying to be Mr. O.K. All-Rite, the man who can bake a cherry pie, be passionate in a skillful way, and yet also lift them bales and tote that barge." This brilliant collection confirms Keillor’s reputation as an ingenious storyteller and a very funny guy.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, Audiobook, Comedy, Novels, Modern

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

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

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

“But love is tender in any language.”

Garrison Keillor is an acquired taste. Full disclosure, I love him. However, “The Book of Guys” is best read at a pace of one story at a time, in between other books. To sit down and read this book as a standalone would be an unpleasant experience, due mainly to the inconsistent quality of the contents.
I won’t dwell on the negative, but when “The Book of Guys” is bad, it is bad! Enough said.
The highlights are the following selections, which you could just pull from the text, and ignore the rest-
“The Mid-life Crisis of Dionysus” is clever, and a little depressing.
The story “Gary Keillor” has the unmistakable Keillor voice. Maybe that is because I have heard him read it on his radio show and that was in my head?
“Casey at the Bat (Road Game)” is another take on an iconic poem. I love it.
“Earl Grey” is a story with a nice flow and voice. Just an entertaining, simple read.
The selection “Winthrop Thorpe Tortuga” has an interesting premise, and literally made me snort with laughter.
The final selection “Zeus the Lutheran” is okay, and was an amiable end to the book.
Nothing profound with this collection of short stories. Some big ole misses, some congenial reads, nothing extraordinary.
Not a waste of time. I would revisit the above-mentioned pieces again.

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

As readers, we all know the distinction between the narrator of a story and the author, and of course, there are glorious exceptions where the author is the narrator, but the distinction needs to be clear in our mind. The narrator can get away for telling a bad story but the author cannot get away for writing a bad story. Why am I bringing this up? I have seen some reviews that have lambasted Garrison Keilor - the author of this book for being sexist and anti-feminist for some of the views in the book which is hard to argue but not essentially true. An author can take a certain stance which they do not necessarily agree with or advocate for, and that's basically the freedom that comes with literature.

Now, The Book of Guys is an anthology of short stories about miserable guys(all the main protagonists in all the stories are miserable men) and they are told from the first person, the second person and the third person narrative. For some reason I don't know, the ones that were narrated from the first person resonated well with me. Most of the stories were good, some were excellent and few were wanting, but still, I wouldn't recommend the book to ladies who happen to be the majority on this platform. I came to discover that Goodreads is predominantly female which is quite understandable because most people who buy, read and subsequently review books are women, but for a strange reason, Youtube is predominantly male and I have never understood why. Pardon the digression. Anyway, the common denominator in all those stories is the degradation of women and how some men perceive and talk about women. Behind every successful man there stands a woman, as the old adage goes, but that's not the case here where we get to see that behind every miserable man stands a woman. The stories make jokes about women in a painful way. A good joke as you will come to realise is made at the expense of someone and that someone, in this case, happens to be "women".

Let me highlight some of the quotes in the book that might give you the gist of it:

"Listen, you pineapples. Damn women writers write absolute drivel and dreck and people fawn over them. Women win blue ribbons even though they didn't come in tenth. They get hired for jobs they're barely mediocre at..."

"Men can never be feminists. Millions have tried and nobody did better than C+."

"Adolescence hits boys harder than it does girls. Girls bleed a little and their breasts pop out, big deal, but adolescence lands on a guy with both feet, a bad hormone experience. You are crazed with madness."

" A monogamous man is like a bear riding a bicycle: he can be trained to do it but he would rather be in the woods, doing what bears do."

"Marriage takes too much out of a man ... Marriage is an enormous drain on a man's time and energy, it produces continual deficits, it reduces him to stillness and servility, it is the deathbed of romance.."

And am barely midway imagine but he also had some wonderful philosophical musings that one can ponder about though they are few and far apart:

"Silence is a form of anger ... a person can be just as aggressive with silence as they can be with a gun."

"The love between two people is fragile and one false move can break it ... and when it breaks, it's broken."

"Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk."

"In reduced circumstances, one must show generosity and elegance of spirit,.."

"..a person misery is never diminished by the greater misery of others,.."

The long and short of it is if you are reserved, fragile, serious and incapable of self-referential humour and especially if you are a lady, then this not for you. The author actually meant it when he said, The Book for Guys or did he say, The Book of Guys? Anyway, this is a book about miserable guys written to alleviate the misery of miserable guys.

[Nathaniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I sometimes enjoy A Prairie Home Companion , I thought this book was absolutely dreadful. So dreadful that after reading the first several stories, I skipped to the last few in the hope that it would improve. It didn't, so I gave up.

In this book, Keillor is essentially the Midwestern Woody Allen. It's 300 pages of self-indulgent whining about obsolete ideas concerning midlife-crisis gender relations that's just badly unfunny. Most of the stories are somehow anachronistic in a way that's supposed to be amusing but comes off as just plain trying too hard (e.g. cowboys carrying around patterned china, or Zeus inhabiting the body of a Lutheran), and the dialogue is so stilted that it's not believable, even as satire. Keillor's characters are unsympathetic and unlikeable stereotypes that aren't even vaguely honest and universally fail to take responsibility for their own actions in any meaningful way, making them a chore to read about. Even the overdone, self-referential Minnesota Lutheran jokes, normally the only thing that Keillor is guaranteed to be reasonably good at, fall flat. This book is obviously supposed to be a satire of a time in US history in which affluent white Boomer infatuation with "labels" and with yuppificiation generally had gotten out of control. Instead, it manages, ironically, to be a part of the problem: vaguely sexist, obliviously classist, at times racist, and self-indulgently yuppified all at the same time. Throw in a gay stereotype and you'd be all set.

In short, this is "intellectual" writing at its worst. As satire it's pretty dismal, and as social commentary it's even worse. Oblivious white Boomers of the Keillor mold who are permanently obsessed with the seventies and don't understand that the rest of the world has moved on may still find this amusing in the context of its time. Those of us who have grown tired of self-serving, elitist Boomer neurotica will find very little to appreciate here.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

Keillor, I'm really disappointed in you and/or your editorial team. There's no reason to run with the cheap and easy anti-feminist backlash garbage that made up so much of the content in this book. Just write the damn stories about guys, and let the audience figure out that many male characters are ignorant, small-minded, and mean. You don't have to lay it on so thick.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I consider myself something of a feminist, though I know that term means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

I can understand why some in the feminist camp may have issues with this book.

That said, I still really liked it.

I was hooked with the first story - "The Mid-life Crisis of Dionysus." Aging and mortality take their toll on all of us. When my hair went, it went all at once. My dad, when he was 50-something told me he still thought of himself as 22 or 23. But when you're 50-something/60-something/70-something you can't act like it. It would be an awkward worker's comp claim: "Jumped down 12 stairs... I used to do that all the time when I started teaching here..."

So, when the immortal Dionysus finds out he's turned 50... Well, I don't want to get into it here. I'm tired, and I'll end up spoiling something. All I'm saying is Keillor hooked me with a great story. And the charm that men have at 20 might just be a chauvinism that is more easily identified at 50. A feminist can appreciate the humor in that, right?

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 Stars with the extra .5 given solely because I pushed through and finished this book for some reason, despite hardly liking it at all.

I usually enjoy short story collections, but there were things about this collection that just irked me. As Garrison Keillor is known to do, there were points of humor and randomness where I found myself giggling, but there were just as many points where I found myself cringing. I realize this book was published in 1993, and that context can matter. Perhaps if I were 33 years old in 1993 I would've enjoyed this more. 1993! That means this was before Monica Lewinsky and her stained dress, before 9/11 and the war on terror, before Columbine and the many school/public shootings afterwards, before the first African American President and his drones, before the first billionaire President and his swamp rats, before Occupy Wall Street and the 2008 stock market crash, before #BlackLivesMatter and Colin Kaepernick, and (perhaps most importantly) before #MeToo and the author's own alleged sexual misconduct.

I was going to write some clever review about how an author's writing may be indicative of his own character, but having avoided this review for several weeks I'm just tired of thinking about this book. Do yourself a favor and don't read it. Or, if you do, go at it with low expectations.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the reviews I'm looking at on Goodreads, there are a lot of guys who think that this book has the guts to say what every dude is thinking, and there are a lot of women who are offended at what they perceive as a celebration of a patriarchal attitude. And they're both wrong.

This is a very good book. It's very good, because Keillor is doing what he's best at: parodying specific types of people who we all know and exaggerating certain characteristics to the point of caricature. But although Keillor encourages us to chuckle at the more ridiculous elements of their personalities, he also demonstrates his trademark sympathy for them and lets them explain themselves in their own limited, imperfect ways, without judgment.

And that's why there are so many men's rights jerks who celebrate it as a blow against the feminazis, and why so many recently graduated women's studies majors accuse it of all but endorsing date rape. It's sad that some people can't get their politics out of the way of their enjoyment of a very good storyteller, but if you're someone who can, you will probably enjoy this.

[Sarah Booth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Garrison on men and women. Sort of grim on both. Makes me think he wrote a few of these when things were tense in his home life. A bit darker than his usual stuff.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't get it

[Betty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book of short stories, and I enjoyed the first one, but then as I read on, found I really couldn't be bothered reading any more. Not particularly engaging, not particularly well written, so I abandoned it.

[Tupelodan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Not as good as I thought it would be, but then again I only paid $2 at an estate sale so everything balanced out.

[Daniel Bensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some violence in these stories, much absurdity, and yes, some bitterness against women. But they're honest and funny. I owe a debt to the friend who reminded me about Garrison Keillor, whose radio show played a big part in raising me. And I seem to have turned out all right. By the way, Keillor's substack is gracious and sweet, and a lot of his books are available free with your audible subscription. Check them out.

[Kip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Garrison Keillor is an easy guy to make fun of. The folksy earnestness of A Prairie Home Companion, not to mention his slow, soft speaking voice, made him seem elderly even when he was only middle-aged. As a child of the shock-jock era, I’ve never been a big fan of his radio work (though like everyone else, a part of me wishes Lake Wobegon were my hometown). I’ve enjoyed his books more, as his humor is a bit more pointed – and raunchier – than he can get away with on NPR. I discovered an abridged audio version of The Book Of Guys in 1994, deep in my wannabe humorist phase, and it became a favorite of mine (though not as much as WLT, which I will get around to reviewing one of these-here daze). That edition culled the best of the stories and poems, and when I finally read the full version, I found that few of the additional pieces did much for me, and a distressingly high number were downright bland.

What we have here is a selection of writings about the plight of the male human, circa the early ‘90’s. As such, a lot of the humor feels quite dated. In a world equally awash in touchy-feely therapy-speak and its fuck-your-feelings manosphere backlash, these themes are still relevant. Maybe it’s more to do with the delivery, but stories featuring women who read too many empowerment articles just seem pretty quaint. Note that the title of the book specifically references “guys” and not “men,” as most of the protagonists are decidedly beta, in today’s parlance. There’s Shorty, the cowboy who longs to live in town in a house with curtains and matching dishes, but who is driven back out onto the trail by a girlfriend who constantly nags him about communicating more effectively. There’s Danny, the ad exec whose career derails at the same time as his loser brother-in-law achieves undeserved fame as a self-help guru. There’s Buddy, a teenager with leprosy who uses a “hypnotic conversation” guide ordered from the back of a men’s magazine to seduce the unwitting maid, only to be dumped by her when he lets his mask slip. There’s a modern Greek tragedy about Dionysus, the god of wine, suddenly turning fifty and nobody caring about his internal anguish. There’s Winthrop Thorpe Tortuga, a suburban milquetoast who vents his impotent frustrations with anonymous acts of petty cruelty. There’s even a Keillor archetype, the wimpy kid who finds his salvation in radio.

One could psychoanalyze Keillor for his (over?)use of the trope of the hapless, henpecked guy subjugated by the strong, domineering woman. But he beats you to it with the book’s introduction, laying out his case in a hypothetical speech titled “Address to the National Federation of Associations Convention,” in which he also recounts being grilled by a ball-busting bikini-clad interviewer who already has her mind made up about him. It all reminds me a bit of the late Asa Baber’s columns in Playboy, never more so than in the update of “Don Giovanni,” as the title character, now well past his prime and playing piano in a dingy lounge in Fargo, still preaches the gospel of seduction and men’s rights like Andrew Tate’s grandfather. “Don Giovanni” ends up being the one story that has aged the worst out of the whole collection.

By and large though, Keillor’s characters are mostly so pathetic (em, sym, or just plain), they come off as more sad than toxic. They aren’t even really motivated by sex, per se, though of course that’s never far from the surface. Buddy adopts the persona of a pick-up artist to combat his loneliness at being ostracized by the community and misunderstood by his parents (his father urges him to come to church, his mother advises him to just smile more). His condition is a probable stand-in for HIV, in a time when the AIDS panic was still just beginning to ease, but really could represent anybody who’s different. Herb Johnson, drowns his sorrow at the loss of his football career to a knee injury by eating himself into a state of outlandish obesity, yet has to put on a happy face for the world because “fat guys aren’t allowed to be sad, it depresses people, we have to go hohohohoho all the time or folks don’t care to be with us.” And poor Shorty just doesn’t fit in anywhere, and can’t keep from sabotaging himself.

There are a few pieces that don’t seem to fit the theme as much. “The Chuck Show Of Television” is a satire of daytime TV, as middle-of-the-road Chuck tries to compete against tabloid trash (one of his competitors is named Harold Dern – git it?). “Christmas In Vermont” is a hilarious parody of Christmas specials, pop psychology AND public radio all at the same time. There’s some very topical political humor in “George Bush,” that would have been very biting in its time, but funny how his entire presidency seems so insignificant now. Oh yeah, and there’s a rewrite of “Casey At The Bat” told from the winning team’s perspective, which is an absolute gem. But I couldn’t tell you now what “Al Denny,” “Earl Grey” or “That Old picayune Moon” were about. And “Norman Conquest” might be the dullest thing in the entire book, followed up by the second-dullest, “Zeus The Lutheran,” ending the book by reminding us that as funny and sharp as Keillor often is, he can also be extremely boring. As much as I loved that old audiobook, there's too much filler here, and so much of the humor feels tied to a bygone era. For those reasons, I'm only giving this three stars, though I had planned on going for four when I set out to write this. Favorite pieces are "Lonesome Shorty," "Buddy The Leper," Herb Johnson, The God Of Canton," "Christmas In Vermont" (but only in season) and of course "Casey At The Bat (Road Game)."

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband read this on vacation and laughed and laughed. I just had to see what it was all about. Its a bookk os short stories. Imagiine that you are listening to Public Radio on Saturday afternoon and enjoy. My favorites are: Earl Grey, the only living American to have a popular beverage named after him, since Dr. Dave Pepper passed away. (Jan, my teashop owner muust rad this one); Gary Keillor (could this one be labeled a memoir?; and don't forget the introduction.

[Yvonne Flint · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that was a slog.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok, ok... I know a lot of women it seems didn't like this book. Or men. Not politically or otherwise correct. (Read this gently, with a smile:) C'mon people, it's a parody, and meant to expose thinking like this so you/I/we can move past it and evolve. Both women and men behave this way to an extent, and then Keillor takes the story to absurd, to make a point. Funny and creative.

I did read it in between other books, not in one fell swoop, and more enjoyable that way.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it but it is dark. This is not the news from lake woebegone.

[Michael Patton · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked up this book, I told myself, "Well, I'll take some time off from heavier reading." As often happens when I take time off, the book matched my low expectations.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this collection of stories. At the same time I understand why it might be regarded as a (mildly) controversial book in political terms. And yet I believe that much of the disdain directed at this book for political reasons is perhaps misjudged.

The book presents itself as pushback, to be more precise as a suite of fictions chronicling a rebellious urge amongst men who feel they have been nudged aside in society by women. A counterstrike by redundant males. In other words, gender wars.

But in fact the unity of this vision doesn't hold. True enough, some of the stories are concerned with the age-old 'battle of the sexes' but it seems that the author lost interest in the limitations of this theme as the book progressed. Many of the stories aren't about men being cast aside by women, scorned by women, outdone by women. Instead they are absurdist comedies, fantastical romps and farces that crossbreed ancient mythology and modern neuroses.

The prose style is one I always enjoy reading. It seems to belong to the 'New Yorker' school of prose styles, a style that reached its zenith with Donald Barthelme, and the best stories in this collection do remind me of Barthelme, sometimes of Vonnegut or even Brautigan, occasionally of Updike, Coover, Cheever, Heller. You know the kind of tone. Once popular, now somewhat looked down upon.

I have certain favourites in this collection. 'Lonesome Shorty' is a droll postmodernist Western. 'The Mid-Life Crisis of Dionysus' and 'Zeus the Lutheran' are genuinely funny/sombre pieces about the trauma of change and one's reconciliation with the process. 'Don Giovanni' is a satirical fable about entitlement and privlege. 'Marooned' is probably the most overt 'battle of the sexes' story here and takes to task the phenomenon of opportunist men who become 'allies' to the feminist cause, not because of sincere convinction but for personal gain and increased comfort in a transforming culture.

'Earl Grey' is a minor bildungsroman about neglect and success. 'Winthrop Thorpe Tortuga' has one of the most interesting basic set-ups of any of these stories: it is about men who treat good and bad actions as if they are accountants who have to balance the books, so for every good act (and the titular character here saves all his good acts for close family members) they have to perform a malign act elsewhere, for the sake of a perverse and imaginary symmetry.

This collection is a lot better than people say it is. And I am someone who couldn't finish Lake Woebegone Days because it seemed formless, directionless, pointless.

[Ronald Poon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A compilation of short stories (22 short stories) in some ways related to guys' lives.

I read it in one go without first reading some reviews up here.... Some reviewers stated here that this book is meant to be read "one story at a time"....a very good advice indeed... I found reading them all in go..... a quite underwhelming experience.

There are some very good stories in between.... those at the beginning of the books are generally better than those coming to the end. (That's why I have grabbed a copy of it.... I read the first story and bought it back home)
Below are the list of my favorite:-
3rd - Mid-life Crisis of Dionysus
8th - Don Giovanni (2nd BEST)
9th - Roy Bradley, Boy Boardcaster
12th - The country mouse and the city mouse
14th - Herb Johnson, the God of Canton
15th - Earl Grey *** (The BEST)
16th - Winthrop Thorpe Tortuga

I bet I would read those in this list again... especially the best two.... For those other than else... sorry that they are rather pointless..... at least to a reader who doesn't share the same culture background and doesn't have the chance to listen to Keillor's program.

Some stories really do have a point.
Better invest your time on other books.

[John R Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Guys was in some ways ahead of its time, anticipating a time of enhanced scrutiny of gender roles. Keillor has produced a great mix of short stories based on male protagonists struggling with various, usually low, levels of success navigating the questions of life. Themes include whether to stay in your home town or travel, whether to stay single or invest in a LTR, and ultimately what to do with a life.

Keillor's characters are often unaware of the wider backdrop to their lives; he writes about them with compassion as they trudge through setbacks. The book is full of life lessons, shared in a relaxed and playful manner.

[Kameron Nettleton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this book really suffers from my 2018 lens, but even in the 90s, I don't think this would've been funny. I get Keillor's general premise (masculinity in America has changed), but the way he goes about satirizing it is in poor taste, at best, and downright offensive at worst. He had a few stories that were interesting, but on the whole, these were dumb and silly.

Also, the way he discusses women makes me uncomfortable in a lot of ways (he's big on discussing physical anatomy). Overall, I just don't think this one was worth the reading.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a gifted storyteller Garrison can always create the curious situations that hold his reader to the end of each story. Once more he has found the heart of the male in modern society and sunk his teeth deep into the male physique. As for those poopie heads who complain he isn't doing justice to the female perspective, one must only reread the title of this book. Guys need books that entertain from a male point of view and if these stories don't make you laugh a little, well just check your humor button. It's probably stuck in the off position.

[David Blankenship · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garrison Keillor is one of my favorite writers. He is of that class of writers where you are never quite sure where things will end up. This is a collection of stories about the fragility of late 20th century men, and while not all work perfectly, there are enough laugh out loud moments to make this worthwhile. I am guessing there is enough here to offend people (hence the relatively low rating), but if you are ready to see both feminism and masculinity knocked back a bit, this book is for you.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garrison Keillor's humor continues to be a fun read even after almost 25 years. Keillor can find humor in giving a speech and in putting "Casey" the baseball player on the road. In another piece Earl Grey goes to a tea conference. (Makes we wonder if Keillor could find some humor in sending Early Grey to THE Tea Party.). Some of the complaints of other reviewers are legitimate. But, in the context of the time of publication, this was a funny book.

[Shelly Moon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Mr. Keillor's other books and understand and appreciate his humor. But this one was a flop for me. Maybe I am not the target audience? Maybe it has not held up over time? It was simply painful to read. One of the short stories has a teen boy being advised to shoot up his school and another has a man spurning a longtime love who is seemingly pregnant with his child in exchange for a job as an overnight deejay. If this is what men are really thinking, I would rather not know.

[Dan Woessner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection from the early 90s satirizing the discussion on the loss of masculinity. Kind of funny that 30 years ago people were talking about the loss of masculinity, and now that's the topic among the people who would have come of age during that era. Just another meaningless conversation exploited by politicians and pundits. The books itself is fine, but not my favorite offering from Keillor.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m a guy, and I find that Keillor’s basic premise - that guys are in trouble these days - smacks of whining. We’re only in trouble if we think we are.

The men in these stories are full of self-made and unaware misery. The stories are without much insight at all.

Garrison Keillor has always struck me as a poser - underneath that rural humor - and he is clever, and he has good taste in music - I find an irritating small-town smugness.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the News from Lake Wobegon and regard Garrison Keillor as one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th and 21st centuries, but this skill is best demonstrated in spoken word. These stories, for the most part, all felt thoroughly disjointed, generally aimless, and honestly too explicit in some cases. I’ll stick to the old YouTube videos of APHC.

[Gillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

In spite of the controversy surrounding the author I still enjoy his humour and writing skills; and I will keep reading him. That said I am so dumb that I read the chapter "Gary Keillor" in its entirety thinking "That name is familiar. How do I know it?"