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Lake Wobegon #11
The Lake Wobegon Virus
Bestselling author and humorist Garrison Keillor returns to one of America's most beloved mythical towns, beset by a contagion of alarming candor.
A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a “Keep America Truckin’” Motorway and Amusement Park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year. Clint Bunsen and Elena the hometown epidemiologist to the rescue, with a Fourth of July Living Flag and sweet corn feast for a finale.
In his newest Lake Wobegon novel, Garrison Keillor takes us back to the small prairie town where for so long American readers and listeners have found laughter as well as the wry airing of our most familiar fears, desires, and beliefs—a town where, as we know, "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a “Keep America Truckin’” Motorway and Amusement Park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year. Clint Bunsen and Elena the hometown epidemiologist to the rescue, with a Fourth of July Living Flag and sweet corn feast for a finale.
In his newest Lake Wobegon novel, Garrison Keillor takes us back to the small prairie town where for so long American readers and listeners have found laughter as well as the wry airing of our most familiar fears, desires, and beliefs—a town where, as we know, "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 8, 2020
148 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Garrison Keillor
282 books847 followersGary 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
September 25, 2020
Everyone is allowed guilty pleasures, and it seems a relatively minor one to enjoy stories about Lake Wobegon. I am, after all, the son of Midwestern parents who grew up in the 40s, and in my mind’s eye the silly characters are just my aunts and uncles and cousins and second cousins with different names. I can even forgive Keillor for retreading, once again, the same stories from previous radio shows and books. Nostalgia is a very forgiving balm. Like listening to a favorite old record, it isn’t any less enjoyable when you know all of the words by heart.
October 14, 2020
Garrison Keillor takes us back for another visit to Lake Wobegon, but the bucolic town is in turmoil. Consuming unpasteurized cheese has infected our dear old Wobegonians with a virus that makes them speak their minds, a presumable horror for sedate Midwesterners. What's more, a billionaire wants to buy many of the generations-old family farms and create a truck-driver-themed amusement park. The outspokenness of the townsfolk creates animosity, as Wobegonians are spouting political and politically incorrect statements all over town. Is this the end of the mostly friendly, idyllic Lake Wobegon?
As with all of his Lake Woebegon novels, Keillor makes himself a character, and what one finds lacking in the novel, for example, its lack of a cohesive timeline, is explained away in the ending chapters as the character "Gary Keillor" accidently drops his manuscript and shuffles the pages. Up until that point, I was wondering if this was a graceful end for the Lake Wobegon we all love and if Keillor, himself, has had enough of the novels, to the point of "Virus" being just a collection of non-related stories. The choice is either a gargantuan fault or a stroke of genius. Although spending some time remarking on his age and the fact that Lake Wobegon has irrevocably changed, in the end, it's not giving too much away to say that Keillor leaves us with the warm good humor we've always enjoyed from his Lake Wobegon stories.
As with all of his Lake Woebegon novels, Keillor makes himself a character, and what one finds lacking in the novel, for example, its lack of a cohesive timeline, is explained away in the ending chapters as the character "Gary Keillor" accidently drops his manuscript and shuffles the pages. Up until that point, I was wondering if this was a graceful end for the Lake Wobegon we all love and if Keillor, himself, has had enough of the novels, to the point of "Virus" being just a collection of non-related stories. The choice is either a gargantuan fault or a stroke of genius. Although spending some time remarking on his age and the fact that Lake Wobegon has irrevocably changed, in the end, it's not giving too much away to say that Keillor leaves us with the warm good humor we've always enjoyed from his Lake Wobegon stories.
November 10, 2020
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Once upon a time, a long time ago, my parents and I listened to Garrison Keillor on the radio every Saturday night from 5 – 7 pm. There was music that wasn’t pop enough for me (but now my adult soul loves the music that was featured on A Prairie Home Companion), comedy sketches, and finally, around 6:30 every Saturday, News From Lake Wobegon. A place “where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average.” When we first moved into our current house, I even had a doormat that said that.
My parents didn’t often buy me books, maybe once a year a book or two paperbacks from the Scholastic flyer, so when my dad brought home the hardcover and brand new Lake Wobegon Days for me, I was without words. I devoured it and any other Lake Wobegon book that came along over the years. Even though I’m from Wisconsin, not Minnesota, I recognized the same sort of midwestern humor that I experienced with my family and friends, both in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
In Lake Wobegon Virus, Something is very wrong in Lake Wobegon. People are speaking their minds. A lot; some would say people are losing their minds. That sweet, quiet midwestern charm is gone. “The little town that time forgot, suddenly becoming the little town that misfortune fell in love with, where all the women are horrified, the men are bewildered, and the children are amused at the distress of their elders.” In short, they are losing their social inhibitions and in Lake Wobegon, that will never do.
The reason people are going off on political rants and waxing rhapsodic is not known for a while. Then, Elena, the hometown epidemiologist, discovers that all the people who were acting strangely had consumed unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, which makes people actually say what they think. And in Lake Wobegon, that’s just scandalous. Pastor Liz, the Bunsens, the Krebsbachs, all the people I grew up reading and listening about, were rather out of sorts throughout the book. It was so funny.
“And so the town headed into March, the month that God created to show people who don’t drink what a hangover is like.”
From the Publisher: “Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a “Keep America Truckin’” Motorway and Amusement Park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year.” That can’t be good news for the quiet little town that time forgot, can it? Some in town think it’s time, some others are fiercely opposed.
Then, finally, the experts found the virus. The same virus might cause angry outbursts in some people and inappropriate affectations in others and irrational lecturers in someone else. And due to the peculiar properties, epidemiologists thought the virus was eradicated. Apparently Canadian turtles regurgitate their prey and save it for the winter, and that was the original cause of the virus.
Keillor’s prose is delightful, as usual. It was odd hearing beloved characters behave in a way that was so unlike themselves, but that was part of the humor. Keillor has a way of describing life in a small midwestern town with love and laughs. It was a nice trip down memory lane and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.
You don’t necessarily have to read any of the other Lake Wobegon books in order to appreciate Lake Wobegon Virus, but if you enjoy good old fashioned midwestern humor, I recommend it. And in this crazy pandemic-filled United States (especially right now in Wisconsin where I live), to read about an epidemic that’s so ridiculous and patently untrue was a balm. To get the full effect, I highly recommend the audio version of any Lake Wobegon book, read by Garrison Keillor himself, who has known and loved these characters for over 40 years.
Lake Wobegon Virus feels like a swan song for stories from the mythical town. With the wealthy outsider buying up land to build an amusement park and motorway, I can’t see how there would be a Lake Wobegon #12. But I've got many happy memories of the time I've spent there.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, my parents and I listened to Garrison Keillor on the radio every Saturday night from 5 – 7 pm. There was music that wasn’t pop enough for me (but now my adult soul loves the music that was featured on A Prairie Home Companion), comedy sketches, and finally, around 6:30 every Saturday, News From Lake Wobegon. A place “where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average.” When we first moved into our current house, I even had a doormat that said that.
My parents didn’t often buy me books, maybe once a year a book or two paperbacks from the Scholastic flyer, so when my dad brought home the hardcover and brand new Lake Wobegon Days for me, I was without words. I devoured it and any other Lake Wobegon book that came along over the years. Even though I’m from Wisconsin, not Minnesota, I recognized the same sort of midwestern humor that I experienced with my family and friends, both in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
In Lake Wobegon Virus, Something is very wrong in Lake Wobegon. People are speaking their minds. A lot; some would say people are losing their minds. That sweet, quiet midwestern charm is gone. “The little town that time forgot, suddenly becoming the little town that misfortune fell in love with, where all the women are horrified, the men are bewildered, and the children are amused at the distress of their elders.” In short, they are losing their social inhibitions and in Lake Wobegon, that will never do.
The reason people are going off on political rants and waxing rhapsodic is not known for a while. Then, Elena, the hometown epidemiologist, discovers that all the people who were acting strangely had consumed unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, which makes people actually say what they think. And in Lake Wobegon, that’s just scandalous. Pastor Liz, the Bunsens, the Krebsbachs, all the people I grew up reading and listening about, were rather out of sorts throughout the book. It was so funny.
“And so the town headed into March, the month that God created to show people who don’t drink what a hangover is like.”
From the Publisher: “Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a “Keep America Truckin’” Motorway and Amusement Park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year.” That can’t be good news for the quiet little town that time forgot, can it? Some in town think it’s time, some others are fiercely opposed.
Then, finally, the experts found the virus. The same virus might cause angry outbursts in some people and inappropriate affectations in others and irrational lecturers in someone else. And due to the peculiar properties, epidemiologists thought the virus was eradicated. Apparently Canadian turtles regurgitate their prey and save it for the winter, and that was the original cause of the virus.
Keillor’s prose is delightful, as usual. It was odd hearing beloved characters behave in a way that was so unlike themselves, but that was part of the humor. Keillor has a way of describing life in a small midwestern town with love and laughs. It was a nice trip down memory lane and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.
You don’t necessarily have to read any of the other Lake Wobegon books in order to appreciate Lake Wobegon Virus, but if you enjoy good old fashioned midwestern humor, I recommend it. And in this crazy pandemic-filled United States (especially right now in Wisconsin where I live), to read about an epidemic that’s so ridiculous and patently untrue was a balm. To get the full effect, I highly recommend the audio version of any Lake Wobegon book, read by Garrison Keillor himself, who has known and loved these characters for over 40 years.
Lake Wobegon Virus feels like a swan song for stories from the mythical town. With the wealthy outsider buying up land to build an amusement park and motorway, I can’t see how there would be a Lake Wobegon #12. But I've got many happy memories of the time I've spent there.
December 21, 2021
I read the first quarter of this newest Garrison Keillor book — well, actually, listened to him narrate it — on a car trip en route to Eastern Kentucky and back. So much that I had forgotten! I had forgotten how laugh-out-loud funny Keillor is. I had forgotten how memorable Lake Wobegon’s inhabitants are. I had forgotten how many car trips were made enjoyable by previous Lake Wobegon recordings.
What I learned is that no place — not even Lake Wobegon, Minn., Keillor’s fictional hometown — is immune from change. I also learned that Midwesterners have it right: less said, soonest mended. That, whatever they say, the Midwest runs on small-town socialism; you pay a little extra at Bunsen Motors because you value Clarence and Clint Bunsen, even though you could get a better deal at the Ford dealership over in the next town. And lastly, that insisting on “freedumb” and having your own way at all costs is as bad as the coronavirus and as devastating to society. It’s no accident that Minnesota Nice has made the state prosperous and a draw for young families. Welcome back, Garrison Keillor.
Yet The Lake Wobegon Virus differs from both previous Lake Wobegon books and the radio segments. This is a sadder but wiser Lake Wobegon. The next generation is no longer interested in men’s lodges, like the Sons of Canute, nor ice fishing nor learning Norwegian nor dairy farming. Increasingly, the young leave their small hometowns for the bright lights of Minneapolis and New York and Los Angeles. And like the laughs, mulling over the sacrifices and compromises we’ve all had to make (or will make) makes this book indispensable. Five Prairie Home stars.
What I learned is that no place — not even Lake Wobegon, Minn., Keillor’s fictional hometown — is immune from change. I also learned that Midwesterners have it right: less said, soonest mended. That, whatever they say, the Midwest runs on small-town socialism; you pay a little extra at Bunsen Motors because you value Clarence and Clint Bunsen, even though you could get a better deal at the Ford dealership over in the next town. And lastly, that insisting on “freedumb” and having your own way at all costs is as bad as the coronavirus and as devastating to society. It’s no accident that Minnesota Nice has made the state prosperous and a draw for young families. Welcome back, Garrison Keillor.
Yet The Lake Wobegon Virus differs from both previous Lake Wobegon books and the radio segments. This is a sadder but wiser Lake Wobegon. The next generation is no longer interested in men’s lodges, like the Sons of Canute, nor ice fishing nor learning Norwegian nor dairy farming. Increasingly, the young leave their small hometowns for the bright lights of Minneapolis and New York and Los Angeles. And like the laughs, mulling over the sacrifices and compromises we’ve all had to make (or will make) makes this book indispensable. Five Prairie Home stars.
March 4, 2023
This was one of the most heartbreaking books I have ever read. Garrison Keillor is old. Lake Wobegon is no longer "little town that time forgot." Time caught up with Lake Wobegon, rushed through like a speeding freight train and left us wondering what the hell happened. Everything changed, but nothing changed. Maybe thanks to a virus spread by unpasteurized cheese, but maybe just because we can't hold on to things forever. People die. Babies grow up. Your toddler is now 40 years old with her own life and she doesn't want to waltz around the kitchen with Daddy every Saturday night to "A Prairie Home Companion." Move on. The Torvaldsons and the Ingqvists did.
October 24, 2020
Great For Keillor Fans
If you have been a Garrison Keillor fan since Prairie Home Companion and feel bad that he had to quit the show “prematurely,” you will love this book. It is full of folksy wisdom and flatulence humor and unexpected associations. But it has some painful moments, and if you don’t appreciate Keillor’s depth, it will just make you more tired of him. I loved it.
If you have been a Garrison Keillor fan since Prairie Home Companion and feel bad that he had to quit the show “prematurely,” you will love this book. It is full of folksy wisdom and flatulence humor and unexpected associations. But it has some painful moments, and if you don’t appreciate Keillor’s depth, it will just make you more tired of him. I loved it.
March 4, 2023
Five stars not because it's great literature but because it was a reminder of all that I loved about Saturday nights with my late husband. We discovered PHC soon after we were married and it was part of our Saturday routine until it went off the air. This book seems sweeter and GK more humble.
October 3, 2020
Many of Mr. Keillor's previous books are either stories taken either straight from his radio show, or adaptations of them. Over the years he has grown increasingly more literary. The familiar people and places of Lake Wobegon are still there, but the story has a serious point. When I heard about this book, I thought Mr. Keillor was going to use this as a metaphor for the pandemic--and I suppose if you want, you can read it that way. He uses the story to set up various set pieces that have a little humor underneath, but are more correctly read as Mr. Keillor's life lessons and philosophies. I had made a note to myself to note the disjointed nature of the book--the plot at times doesn't move linearly. But in the last chapter, it is explained why (in the universe of this book) things are somewhat jumbled. This isn't Mr. Keillor's best book, but even Mr. Keillor's less-than-best is a joy and a comfort in these troubled times. Mr. Keillor seems almost as if he's saying goodbye--he's sharing lessons and regrets that he has accumulated over the course of his life. If you have been a faithful listener to A Prairie Home Companion, and have read Mr. Keillor's other books, I think you will like this one, too. If you haven't read any of his work, I would suggest first reading Lake Wobegon Days or We Are Still Married.
September 30, 2020
The first half of the book is very funny, but then falls apart as Garrison ruminates on his life as a writer. It was good to read him again.
December 26, 2020
This book didn't work for me on SO many levels. What a disappointment after so many masterpieces from Keillor.
February 28, 2021
I have missed the Lake Wobegon gang.
February 17, 2022
I'm a little shocked that I'm giving a 5-star rating to a book by Garrison Keillor. Let me explain. Keillor has been writing for some 40-45 years: novels, poetry, limericks, etc., all while doing a weekly much-loved show "The Prairie Home Companion." Nearing the end of his career, NPR unceremoniously cancelled the show and sent him into oblivion. He refused to lie down and die. Good for him. Instead, he has gone back on the road, doing shows in smaller venues (which he seems to love), he has continued his long-running "Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac" which appears every day, celebrating the nation's writers, especially poets. He has continued/improved his weekly essays on line, often hilarious, sometimes sad. AND - get this - in the last two years he has written his own memoir of his life (which in my opinion should be held up as the quintessential example of a well-written, honest memoir), a hysterical book about old age - and now, this new novel about Lake Wobegon, a "place" which he dreamed up some 40 years ago and has populated with all the Bunsens and Krebsbach's and other crazy uncles that you could ever imagine. And in this newest novel (is it the LAST Lake Wobegon novel?), he has done a writer's trick that I never imagined: He has put HIMSELF into the very make-believe town that he created to interact with all his favorite characters, to apologize to them for making fun of them, to state clearly his love of them. It is a tour de force that has me thrilled. Can you imagine if Faulkner had decided to write a novel putting his own story into the middle of the town he dreamed up in his works?
If this encomium does not make you want to read this novel (I beg you to read it in concert with his true memoir - he was writing them at the same time), then just read it to laugh out loud at the results of the denizens of Lake Wobegon eating some of the "gone bad" Norwegian cheese which results in serious cases of the pandemic virus - outbursts of truth-telling. Let's HOPE this is not the end of Keillor's story-telling. His is a voice that has been undervalued for far too long.
If this encomium does not make you want to read this novel (I beg you to read it in concert with his true memoir - he was writing them at the same time), then just read it to laugh out loud at the results of the denizens of Lake Wobegon eating some of the "gone bad" Norwegian cheese which results in serious cases of the pandemic virus - outbursts of truth-telling. Let's HOPE this is not the end of Keillor's story-telling. His is a voice that has been undervalued for far too long.
September 26, 2020
As a big time Keillor fan, I was fortunate to score an autographed copy, and am glad of it. This is a nice mix of his previous Wobegon books along with some current-day references and observations. Carried along on a wave of Toleruds, Bunsens and Norwegian bachelor farmers, you are on familiar ground, enjoying the shenanigans at the Sidetrack and the Chatterbox. But we also have our intrepid narrator inserted into the scene, and his integration is so complete that at one point I was thinking that this is his memoir. That is, until I laughed at myself and realized how well a real author can join a fictional town. That seems like the mark of some well-written stuff. Five stars.
October 1, 2020
Garrison Keillor has got to be one of the best writers this country has. His prose flows effortlessly, relating small-town life, getting all the details right, and it reads like someone talking to you.
In this book, the famous writer, Garrison Keillor, returns to the hometown he left many years ago, to help push for the beatification of a local nun, gets sidetracked into writing a novel about the people in the town, and observes the Lake Wobegon Virus, which causes people to tell the truth, which changes the lives and relationships of those who tell it.
A delightful book, giving us another slice of small-town life in semi-agrarian America.
In this book, the famous writer, Garrison Keillor, returns to the hometown he left many years ago, to help push for the beatification of a local nun, gets sidetracked into writing a novel about the people in the town, and observes the Lake Wobegon Virus, which causes people to tell the truth, which changes the lives and relationships of those who tell it.
A delightful book, giving us another slice of small-town life in semi-agrarian America.
December 17, 2020
So much of this book is total malarkey, just plain ridiculousness from Mr. Keillor. And I do get such a kick out of it.
So much of this book is total old man from the Midwest philosophy from Mr. Keillor. And I do get such a blessing from it.
There's only one person in the world that can understand what Mr. Keillor means to me. I thank her for that, one of the many gifts she's given me.
So much of this book is total old man from the Midwest philosophy from Mr. Keillor. And I do get such a blessing from it.
There's only one person in the world that can understand what Mr. Keillor means to me. I thank her for that, one of the many gifts she's given me.
July 21, 2021
*4.5 stars Such a lovely return to Lake Wobegon and the brilliant cast of characters that are so familiar. Laugh-out-loud funny with razor-sharp skewering of small-town life and of the bizarre American political landscape and the global pandemic. Keillor is an exceptional satirist and a keen observer of the human condition.
September 7, 2020
Garrison had given us another gem. A great read in a very off year
October 19, 2020
Just what I needed right now! Old familiar characters, cheeky humor, and Keillor’s relaxing voice. (I listened on Audible)
December 18, 2020
This is fantastic! I really needed a good laugh (don’t we all, these days?) and this one delivered it, in spades. What a fun, enjoyable read.
January 19, 2021
I never tire of the news from Lake Wobegon!
February 28, 2021
I really enjoy Garrison Keillor's books but I couldn't get into this one
August 10, 2022
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I have been a Garrison Keillor fan for years, and the characters and situations in Lake Wobegon have been wryly amusing. He started with a great premise: a virus that is spread through eating cheese and results in making people say what's on their minds without holding back. It was, of course, Lake Wobegon's answer to the COVID pandemic. It resulted in some funny situations, but a lot of the novel was somewhat dull and repetitive.
Actually, Keillor said it himself when he had his narrator talk about writing the book. "This happens to me often. I put my nose to the grindstone and rewrite and rewrite and look at it a week later and its sloppy, verbose, wordy, long winded, tedious, monotonous, redundant. And also repetitive."
Actually, Keillor said it himself when he had his narrator talk about writing the book. "This happens to me often. I put my nose to the grindstone and rewrite and rewrite and look at it a week later and its sloppy, verbose, wordy, long winded, tedious, monotonous, redundant. And also repetitive."
June 28, 2025
Strange and rambling. I usually enjoy his books, but not this one.
July 28, 2021
The bad cheese story is hilarious.
no-thanks
March 2, 2023I enjoy his old short stories but this book started with too much questionable content and not enough kind humor to make it worth continuing
August 18, 2022
I’ve read and enjoyed Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon books from the beginning, starting with the brilliant Lake Wobegon Days, which knocked me sideways in the mid-Eighties. Unsurprisingly, over the course of a long career and many books, some have made more of an impact than others. The Lake Wobegon Virus, published in 2020, falls into the second division. It’s great to be back in Keillor’s world, of course, and to meet familiar characters, many of whom seem like old friends, and there are some great authorial riffs on Trumpism, fake news and reactions to public health emergencies; but the book as a whole has a baggy, rambling feel. This is explained away by a number of meta- or even at one point, meta-meta-fictional, devices, but that doesn’t quite justify the overall looseness of the structure. It won’t stop me reading any further Lake Wobegon books that Garrison Keillor puts my way, as any time spent in the town where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average” is time well-spent.
April 17, 2021
Back in the 80s and 90s, we listened to Keillor on the radio every Saturday night almost religiously (it was on the air during our drive home from Saturday night church service). I read all his books, until in midlife he discovered an interest in sex and his books lost their innocence. After 2000, we more or less lost track of PHC on the radio. We saw him do a live show here in SC, then when we caught up with PHC again circa 2015 we discovered that GK had contracted a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, which was probably not a bother to the NPR/Birkenstock crowd but was a turnoff to those of us who preferred our humor without a side order of lefty politics. Then of course, GK was "me tooed" and disappeared from view.
I thought of him the other day and checked online, discovering that he'd written a couple of new books. This one sounded like it might be more like old times, and it was. It's not a LONG book, but it takes us back to Lake Wobegon and ties up a lot of loose ends. Some old favorites have died, traditions have been forgotten (including the statue of the Unknown Norwegian), and places have changed or been destroyed completely.
GK enters the plot as himself, doing research for the beatification of a local saint. He discovers that the town is under the influence of a malign force, which causes the normally staid Norwegians to burst out in all manner of strange behaviors. Could it be the result of eating stinky cheese from one of the local bachelor farmers? Another plotline involves a developer who is trying to buy up farm property to build a theme park, with varied results.
Keillor is one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud, and he has a knack for inserting a killer line when least expected, or putting a character in a situation that leaves you shaking your head in embarrassment.
All along the meandering plot, he takes jabs at just about everyone, but especially conservatives (both political and religious). It was all more or less in good fun, but then about 3/4 through the story, his hatred of Trump (who was still president when GK wrote the book) spills out in a short but pungent passage. Then he waits until the last paragraph to put in another Trump-zinger, utterly unnecessary except to seal his credentials with the "anointed." That last jab spoiled what was a truly beautiful ending to the book, where the simple act of eating sweet corn with his fellow Wobegonians helps restore his faith in God, humanity, and just about everything else.
I would rate this among my favorite Lake Wobegon books - not a classic, but a much-welcome short reminder of life in a small town. He has burned quite a few bridges in this book, so I wonder if we'll ever take another visit back to the place where the women are strong...
I thought of him the other day and checked online, discovering that he'd written a couple of new books. This one sounded like it might be more like old times, and it was. It's not a LONG book, but it takes us back to Lake Wobegon and ties up a lot of loose ends. Some old favorites have died, traditions have been forgotten (including the statue of the Unknown Norwegian), and places have changed or been destroyed completely.
GK enters the plot as himself, doing research for the beatification of a local saint. He discovers that the town is under the influence of a malign force, which causes the normally staid Norwegians to burst out in all manner of strange behaviors. Could it be the result of eating stinky cheese from one of the local bachelor farmers? Another plotline involves a developer who is trying to buy up farm property to build a theme park, with varied results.
Keillor is one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud, and he has a knack for inserting a killer line when least expected, or putting a character in a situation that leaves you shaking your head in embarrassment.
All along the meandering plot, he takes jabs at just about everyone, but especially conservatives (both political and religious). It was all more or less in good fun, but then about 3/4 through the story, his hatred of Trump (who was still president when GK wrote the book) spills out in a short but pungent passage. Then he waits until the last paragraph to put in another Trump-zinger, utterly unnecessary except to seal his credentials with the "anointed." That last jab spoiled what was a truly beautiful ending to the book, where the simple act of eating sweet corn with his fellow Wobegonians helps restore his faith in God, humanity, and just about everything else.
I would rate this among my favorite Lake Wobegon books - not a classic, but a much-welcome short reminder of life in a small town. He has burned quite a few bridges in this book, so I wonder if we'll ever take another visit back to the place where the women are strong...
October 7, 2020
All the familiar town characters in another delightful tale.
April 10, 2023
It's welcome political wish-fulfillment. What if neighbors were only being torn apart by a virus that infects their brains and makes them say terrible things to each other? That would be nice. I had the sense here that Keillor was packing up Lake Wobegon and putting it away, but if that was ever his intention, he snapped out of it. Don't worry, the little town is okay at the end.
September 26, 2020
Like other reviewers have written, there is some repetition regarding the characters from his radio show, but most of them are seen in an "updated" light. A fun book to read right now and I always love the cleverness of Mr. Keillor in coming up with great dialogue for his characters. I especially like the last chapter and the ending. It doesn't matter if you have been a fan for many years or are new to his writing, it is a good read.
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