Wobegon Boy

Lake Wobegon #4

by Garrison Keillor

John Tollefson, the son of Byron and Mary of Lake Wobegon, leaves Minnesota for upstate New York, to manage a public radio station at a college for academically challenged children of financially gifted parents. Free from the Dark Lutherans of his hometown, he makes a pleasant bachelor life for himself in New York. He buys a new house and paints it a deep gold. He has a bright idea for a restaurant specializing in fresh produce. He falls in love with a historian named Alida Freeman. He is presented with public radio's coveted Wally Award. In the midst of plenty, it occurs to John that his life lacks nobility and grace. A consumer of fine food and wine and giver of good parties, he yet has no coherent life story. Compared to his great-grandfather John Tollefson, who finagled his way over from Norway, he feels rootless, restless, joined in no struggle, with nothing at stake. The only true magnificence in his life is Alida, who eludes his courtship and gives him an impassioned speech about the pleasures of living alone. Folded into the romance of John and Alida is the checkered saga of his ancestors - dour butcher, a playboy publisher, a medicine-show politician, Siamese-twin ballplayers, a Texas Pentacostalist, and a bank embezzler - and Lake Wobegon itself, with its bachelor farmers, its stout-hearted burghers and housewives, its simple code: Cheer up, Make yourself useful, Mind your manners, and Avoid self-pity. A useful code, as John discovers in his pursuit of magnificance, especially as the going gets tougher.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Novels, Literature, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Comedy

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

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

[Mrfishscales · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this for the second time. I found that I didn't remember as much of it as I thought I would. This is likely because I listen to Prairie Home Companion nearly every week and so the world of Lake Wobegon has become a sort of timeless alternative reality to me.

Keillor's style is deceptive. It appears to be gentle, but is rapier sharp. It appears to be folksy, but in fact is sophisticated. One thing is for sure: it is relentlessly digressive. He loves to tell stories within the primary story arc and all these secondary tales somehow contribute to enriching the main narrative.

John Tollefson isn't a particularly likeable character. He knows that he is coasting through life and that he has adopted a lot of despicable bourgeois habits and tastes, but he can't seem to do anything about it until his father dies and he travels back to Lake Wobegon for the funeral. He has been living his life negatively; he has been trying very hard to not be like a Lake Wobegonian, but his hometown's response to his father's death serves as a sort of Lutheran epiphany for him.

Tollefson is the manager of a campus-based NPR station in an upstate town called Red Cliff, which is an odd melange of Ithaca and Aurora (the respective homes of Cornell University and Wells College). Keillor skewers the political correctness associated with college towns without mercy, which was a more striking criticism when the book cam out than it is now. But it is still hilarious.

[Joel Robert Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Dad died on the next-to-top basement step ... While in the basement, he fetched a bag of peas from the freezer ... Then disaster struck as he climbed the stairs. Mother heard him gasp and then opened the door to the stairs a moment later, and he was gone, slumped against the wall, the bag of frozen peas in his right hand. She told him she loved him and always would love him. She took the frozen peas from his hand and put them in the refrigerator and called the rescue squad.
... 'He sat there unconscious and your first thought was to make sure the peas didn't thaw?' said Diana. ... Then Diana clapped her hand to her mouth. 'Those weren't the same peas...' 'Yes' said Mother. She had put the peas in the spaghetti with the tomato sauce ... The Death Peas.”

Wobegone Boy by Garrison Keillor is funny and it's sad, bitingly sarcastic and stoically honest, grimly fatalistic and cheerily idealistic, forcing its reader to critically examine their own perspectives and values, and about their existence and contributions to the world that surrounds them. And that's just in the first chapter.

Beyond that, Wobegone Boy is either an idyllic romance, disguised as a tale about an enervated Norwegian PBS radio station manager, providing a sardonic social commentary while going through his mid-life crises, or it's a revolving platform of folksy characters regaling their array of unremarkable anecdotes that create the illusion of being uniquely profound and effectively camouflaging an idyllic romance. It is also quite probably among the largest and best collection of curt, witty, and snarky quotes and anomalous metaphors ever written. Its dark humor is perfectly balanced by its light-hearted sobriety, and it refuses to take its universe, its characters, (or the reader for that matter) too seriously.



John Tollefson grew up in Lake Wobegon and was proselytized early on regarding the local code for a successful life: "Cheer up, make yourself useful, mind your manners, and most importantly, avoid self-pity". A code that apparently never found its way to lastingly embed into his philosophy or perspective. So when setting out 20 years earlier for upstate New York — taking a position as a PBS classical music radio station manager, buying a home and painting it gold, and then making plans to open a "farm fresh" restaurant— he discovers that his quest for having a Life of Relevance never really reveals itself, and perhaps, never will. So he returns home, back to his roots, for a visit with friends and family and a bit of reflection.

Also, John is in love.

Her name is Alida Freeman, a historian, an academic, and an aspiring writer diligently obsessed with a desire to publish a book about a 19th-century Norwegian neuropath. Alida's also is in love with John, however, she remains perfectly willing to remain unconstrained by the relationship rigors of matrimony, and convincingly continues to reassure him that they have the ideal liaison without that conventional legal entanglement. John is dubious of the argument, but doesn't challenge it, and his social interactions during his return home further contributes to his reluctance.

I dubbed Wobegone Boy as my "Summer Read", because it seemed perfectly suited for long, lazy, warm afternoons while sitting in the shade with some cold intoxicant; its cast of multi-dimensional, pseudo-elasticated, and folksy storytellers carving up the larger narrative into quaint pieces of simple homespun gossip, secret scandals and histories, or hilarious and memorable anecdotes about the towns most colorful occupants. It's a reading experience that is easily conducive to either picking up or putting down briefly in order to reflect and smile; an experience that's free of the onus of obligation, and based solely on one's mood, leisure, or the lack there of.



In Wobegone Boy it is also impossible to not to hear in its prose the cadence of Garrison Keillor's voice; it's laid back resonance, its meticulous, imaginative attention to irony, and it's anticipated response filled with his incredulous inflections. It's a voice, that when narrated on the page, is singularly suited for chronicling such tall yarns and moral dilemmas such as the consumption of "Death Peas".

[Bambi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat coincidentally, I picked up this book to read on a trip to my childhood home state of Vermont. It was interesting to see how similar the Minnesota Dark Lutherans and the Vermont Protestants are ... it probably has something to do with the farming culture, the long cold winters, and the desire of the younger generation to get the hell out of their home state!!

So, while I was making peace with my childhood, I was reading about another small-town person dealing with similar issues and confronting mid-life, and honestly, I couldn't put it down!

I will say that Garrison Keillor has a tendency to get detailed about some things that are completely irrelevant and I didn't totally love the entire story (especially the love story part of this book). I would likely give this a 3.5 rating in a fractional world.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might as well acknowledge right up top that this is first Keillor book intended for grown ups that I've read since his disgrace and banishment from NPR. It certainly impacted my ability to enjoy the book and there are passages that read much differently in light of the behavior that has come to light from Keillor. It's a big downer since Keillor has been pretty enjoyable for me for a long time and is a writer whose voice is authentic to my own experiences growing up in a small town plains community.

Putting that rather large caveat aside, Wobegon Boy is not Keillor's best work by a long shot, though it still has its moments. The book suffers from the big majority of it not in fact being set in Lake Wobegone. The sections in LW are the book's best: the funeral and family interaction, the memory of the ice fishing war, the discussions of the varieties of Lutheranism.

But this is only a small slice. Most of the story involves the happenings in a college radio station, efforts to start a restaurant, and our protagonist's love life with a professor at the university that hosts the radio station. The material outside of LW is not exactly bad, but it's hard for it hold my interest. It feels like it could have been written by a talented MFA student.

It may be unfair for me to penalize Keillor for venturing outside of Lake Wobegone, and griping about a decision of setting a story somewhere, else, but Wobegone is a such a fertile vein for him and he seemed to struggle without the ability to send characters to the Sidetrack Tap or what have you. Also, he is the one who put Wobegone in the title, so it does set a certain level of expectation. This is a more middling effort than I had hoped for.

[Nils · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Keillor, this one. I’ve seen him around for decades and he’s been one of those authors I’ve meant to get to for a very long time. My father used to like his books a lot, and coming from Norwegian stock as he did, with a Lutheran minister for a father (my grandfather) I can see just why Keillor tickled him (my dad) so much. The dry Norwegian/midwest humour, the self-deprecating and somewhat fatalistic approach to life, the priority afforded to self-reliance, the importance of not getting above yourself - they are all treated with a gentle, kindly and loving approach in the book. And above all, there’s a kind of slightly weary sense of awe about life and all that happens in it, that is very endearing.
Keillor paints a great cast of characters, and while not a great deal happens … well, that’s the point; it’s the Midwest. I’ll be reading more.

[Jody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to preface this by saying I enjoyed Lake Wobegon Days. That said, half of this book was a little reminiscent of those charming pages. The other half seemed like a rehash of Catcher In the Rye, which I hated. This means I enjoyed about half of my time with this book, and the rest of the time, complained to my wife that it was a waste of time. I almost gave it two stars, but the basic charm of the Wobegon segments redeemed what otherwise would have been a lousy book.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrator, a man from Lake Wobegon, moves to New York to work at a public radio station, and meets the love of his life. And meanwhile, life happens: his father dies, he is fired, his restaurant idea fails as the developer appropriates the land, etc. In other words, there’s not much of a plot per se, but slice after slice of life. I must say, I’m surprised at how much I like this book. Sure, I rebel against what I perceive as Keillor’s good ol’ Middle America anti-periphery values, but I must say that this book is laugh-out-loud funny. Keillor truly excels at telling the weird, fantastic life stories of everyday, normal characters. Everyone has at least one story to tell in this book – and the best part is, they’re all funny.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Keillor the raconteur is much different than Keillor the writer, and probably for the simple fact that it is nearly impossible for him to come to your house and read his books to you. "Wobegon Boy" is succinct, well-written, and occasionaly very funny, but not occasionally enough. The story meanders back forth between an unconvincing crisis of the main character in upstate New York, and his immortal hometown of Lake Wobegon. At its finest when Keillor "recounts" the weird stories of people who make up that strangely wonderful town.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, you don't know whether to laugh or cry, and at almost all of those times, I am grateful that Garrison Keillor chooses laughter. Part of my enjoyment of this book was that I am a huge Keillor fan, but I have previously only experienced him on NPR. Reading "Wobegon Boy," I could hear his voice in the comic timing and delivery throughout. I was slightly disappointed that the protagonist of this book got off way too easy in some of his failed relationships, and the story dragged a bit in the middle, but the humor covered all of those sins.

[Marvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty mediocre book, the last of my Christmas gift books. The main character is a 40-year-old public radio station manager in upstate New York. He falls in love with a Columbia University history professor & returns to Lake Wobegon for his father's funeral. There's cute stuff here & there, but it doesn't add up to much. And somehow characters who come alive when this stuff is presented orally don't seem real at all on the printed page.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not have enjoyed this book more. I’m sure the fact that’s it’s about a 43 year old under achiever having a midlife crisis has no bearing on why it resonated so much with me. It is both poignant and funny. Keillor is a pleasure to read and I very much enjoy the time I get to spend in the world he has created. I also think I’d like to move to Minnesota, but I digress.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading Garrison Keillor. This book is like one long monologue, back in the day. John Tollefson made a good protagonist, being self deprecating and tall. I liked hearing about all his family relationships. Timeless

[Chris Daily · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an entertaining book! Keillor creates such wonderful images of people and places that I could picture them easily. Though, perhaps a reason I enjoyed this so much is my age. I think I used to know some of the characters in Lake Wobegon.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing read. Haven’t read Keillor since “Lake Wobegon Days” which is one of my favorite books. Being Lutheran, I especially get a kick out of his stories. This is a good, solid story, well told. It’s light and smile worthy; a nice break from more serious or complex reading.

[Steven Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Wobegon Boy’ is very far from a fast-paced adventure. The thing moseys along much like Mr. Keillor’s gentle narrations for his radio program Prairie Home Companion. The fictional story is narrated by John Tollefson and begins in 1985 with the thirty-year-old Lake Wobegon boy moving to an up-state New York college where he is the general manager who runs the campus public radio station. The author’s work is not an intricate plot. Instead, the reader is rewarded by reading Mr. Keillor’s subtle jabs of humor. The funny material is peppered throughout the book and if you are not paying close attention, you may miss some of the dry humor.

Mr. Keillor sets his droll sights on highlighting conservative rural attitudes and liberal enclaves. He also makes fun of such things campus politics, his Lutheran upbringing in a small Minnesota town, Lake Wobegon residences retelling outrageous tales, John Tollefson’s complicated relationship with his dad who’s a hoarder, feminism, political correctness, dysfunctional marriages, mortality, and fraternal customs of men’s groups similar to the Shriners. There are some surprisingly tender moments. John Tollefson sure spends a lot of time in the book feeling like he’s missing out on life. ‘Wobegon Boy’ ends with nice observations about New York City and trying to have a positive outlook about your future. I don’t recall any profanity in the story but it does reference sex liaisons and plenty of folks, especially men, getting drunk as skunks.

The author has always been able to mine humor from mundane situations and offer wonderful insights about the human condition. I cannot stress enough that Mr. Keillor’s ‘Wobegon Boy’ has a slow, frequently nostalgic pace to it. Some will find the humor bland and the story boring. I am not one of those people. In many ways, the author’s book reminded me of growing up in rural Maine. Despite the story dwelling on the death of an important character, ‘Wobegon Boy’ was a nice diversion from more morose reading fare.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could hardly wait for my new book club selection to arrive so I could stop reading this book, which I'd just bought and was really looking forward to.
I was so disappointed in "Wobegon Boy." I've long loved listening to and reading Garrison Keillor, but something has changed--perhaps with me rather than with him. I sent one of his recent columns to my seven kids, and one of the most conservative among them was the first to respond; he said it was sexist. And then one of his more progressive sisters agreed. Everyone else just ignored it, which they're all good at. And of course, the two that responded were right. It was immediately apparent to me--even though I'd already read the essay before sending it to them.
And ever since that filial slap in the consciousness, none of Keillor's periodic email essays has been as much fun to read either. It now all seems like just eloquent kvetching. Granted, some of it is leveled at himself, and he has a way of turning a phrase that's so pleasing, but he's made his literate humor into endless complaint about everything--even with the left-handed compliments to his wife and a few others.
I still share some of his prejudices, but I find it tiresome to dwell on nothing but those. Perhaps it's what comes from three months of sheltering in place. But I've never been so happy to put down a book. The yin/yang of enjoying it and cringing at it was taking its toll. :-(

[Caleb Roderick · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a child I spent quite a few road trips in the back of the car listening to NPR and Garrison Keillor. I have formative memories of him being very funny. So you can imagine my disappointment in reading this book.
The protagonist spends 300 or so pages whining dryly about the shallow misery of his life and wondering why no one else in the world seems to have any sense. Though the long lists of his relatives misfortunes are (occasionally) comic in their absurdity, most of his "jokes" seem to involve belittling anyone who has or expects empathy for those who are not white men in the upper middle class.
Featuring memorable characters such as: beautiful women who are inexplicably happy to sleep with him, a secretary he constantly describes as a Botticellian beauty who then "betrays" him by speaking against his inappropriate behavior, and a single black character whose sole function on the narrative is to assure John that no black person actually wants to be invited to the table and any white person doing so is a gasbag.
Humorless, insipid, and self-satisfied.

[Greg Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half is much better than the first. It took me a year to read the first half, and three days to read the second half, so if you have been following a similar pattern, you may want to stick with it. (If you'd like to read a Garrison Keillor book that is great all the way through, may I recommend "WLT: A Radio Romance."

I can't say I picked up on much of a plot to speak of - the main character who seems very similar to the author in one of the Sliding Doors alternate universes dithers from setting to setting, and the events seem mainly a pretext to introduce colorful Lake Wobegon incidents, not all of which were funny, but also moments of quiet beauty, along with opportunities to rail against the author's grievances especially the grievances of people who have grievances against him. But...several of the moments of beauty were quite beautiful.

[Tejas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out very promisingly, but dipped as the story went on. Found it dragging at a lot of places, and I generally lost interest by the end. You don't need to read the first book in the series to pick this up, and it is enjoyable to some extent - but at a lot of places, you will feel like putting the book down.

Remarkable use of description, Keillor is really able to contrast John's attitude with Alida's & Jean's - especially around the part where Alida leaves for Norway. Got me reading Wikipedia entries about Lutheranism & beliefs/wings of Christianity. Any further reading suggestions along these lines would be great!

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in jail for 38 days,in a single cell to get medically stable for my diabeetus.
When i grabbed this book it had no dust jacket, which meant no summary of the plot.
I enjoyed the book quite well, considering I had no idea what i was about to get into. Comprised of HILARIOUS stories from his hometown, also his family history of Norway. Great writing!
The letters between him and his auntie is what keeps you reading. Read this book!

[Richard Brand · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a thing about too much of a good thing. Too much sugar in your tea. This is too much of Keillor stuff: too much putting down lake wobegon, too much putting down his Lutheran heritage, too much low self esteem, and too much dysfunctional family. I enjoyed the Saturday version of news from lake wobegon but in this book it just got weary

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I didn't finish this.
I picked it up at the Swap Shop at the town transfer station out of nostalgia for Prairie Home Companion and the News from Lake Wobegone. What I did read was great - I'd just rather hear a 10 minute weekly piece than read a full book of it. I'll bring it back in case a more dedicated reader wants it.

[Megh Toth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Garrison Keillor but this book was so extra. Every chapter went off on 27 tangents, making it very difficult to follow the characters and even the plot. A lot of interesting tangents but the story was lost in it all along with my interest. I toughed through it but do not recommend, perhaps he is a better radio actor?

[Kinosfronimos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off engaging, but that only lasts for ~20% of the book... Thereafter it is an exhausting trudgery of vacuous conversations related in some weak attempt at irony, except that you're now just reading conversations of trite waffle.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Keillor's book follows the day-by-day, minute-by-minute, second-by-second life of a country boy and his activities away from Lake Wobegon. OMG, was I bored! Literally, had to force myself to finish it.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful fictional, (although I feel, not so much) story of a man named John who places one inside the world of what most certainly must be Garrison Keillor's life. But this story is more real yet just as magical and still humourous as Keillor fans are accustomed to. I just loved it.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

HYSTERICAL. Great read, especially after living in the Midwest for a while.

[Cindy Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like an extended version of "News from Lake Wobegon"

[Mark Slocum · Rating 5 out of 5]

To my surprise, this novel made me laugh out loud. Very pleasant writing style. I will read other Keillor works in the future.

[ROBERT SEAY · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Garrison Keillor you are bound to enjoy this latest installation.