Lake Wobegon Days (1985)

I know that Garrison Keillor is supposed to be some sort of living national treasure, but I just don't get his sense of humor. It's a little too dry and subtle for me. I've finished chapter 2 and I'm giving up. I rarely give up on books. But, to be perfectly fair, I did get A Thousand Splendid Suns for my birthday and I can't wait to get started on it. So I'm probably giving up on this one a little sooner than I normally would. ( )

Wry nostaglic view of Midwestern life. Brings back both nostalgia and cynicism to me in a pleasant combination. I keep reading it in the author's distinctive 'radio' voice. ( )

A friend of mine saw I was reading this book and expressed surprise; she didn't think this would be something I'd like. "So you think a big city gal like me can't appreciate small town charm?" "Yup," she answered. I'd love to prove her wrong, because I'm perverse that way and hate to admit she knows me that well--but... well. I gather it helps if you've listened to Garrison Keilor narrating The Prairie Home Companion on radio--I have not.

More than a few reviewers, even the complementary ones, have called this book "rambling"--and is it ever. It has no real narrative focus from what I can tell from the 50 or so pages I could make myself read. It seems more loosely connected stories and history of fictional, Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, U.S.A, a small town not far from the twin cities. In the opening chapter, "Home" it shifts without warning from a super-omniscient to first person and back, from present to past tense and back. There seems to be a narrator, because we hear about "when grandmother died" and "in 1958 when six of us boys" and how he had "turned 16" but it just didn't gel for me. I soon lost patience with the folksy voice and boy did I hate the frequent footnotes--by the time you got through them you've completely lost the thread of the main narrative. And though I tried this because it was listed on "The Ultimate Reading List," I didn't find this funny. I not only didn't laugh out loud, I didn't crack a smile.

I could see this was literate and lyrical and got an idea why some might be charmed, but I was irritated and bored out of my mind. Humor is such a personal thing. Just not for me. ( )

I came to the work of Garrison Keiller through my good friend and literary guru Bruce Gillespie in Australia, who raved over "A Prairie Home Companion" having heard syndicated radio broadcasts of it over there. I'm so pleased to have the opportunity to read Keillor's work - even if his voice is better known in the UK as the uncredited voiceover artist for a series of tv adverts from Honda... ( )

Keillor is better on the air or on audiobook, but this collection of essay is still unmistakably in the spirit and feel of Lake Wobegon, and in many places you can hear Keillor's voice narrating it. He may not be quite as warm and funny on the page as on the air, but even on paper, he's still warmer and funnier than anyone has a right to be. ( )