Product Description

A collection of humorous stories which focus on the fictional American Midwestern town of Lake Wobegon. From the author of WOBEGON BOY, LEAVING HOME and WE ARE STILL MARRIED.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137435 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
An affectionately humorous tribute to the small sleepy Minnesotan town of Lake Wobegon, notable for the statue to the Unknown Norwegian, the duck-hunting Sons of Canute, the sleepwalking Lundbergs, the unbelievable cuisine of the Chatterbox Cafe and much more. (Kirkus UK)

Keillor (Happy To Be There, 1982) leads here from his strength - humor based on a true grip on the real - in this epic of Lake Wobegon, the imaginary small Minnesota town celebrated in Keillor's weekly monologues on "Prairie Home Companion," his show on Public Radio. Keillor's fans will grab it, but word should get out to people who never heard of him: like Mark Twain, Keillor is a highly sophisticated teller of tales (his stories have appeared in The New Yorker) who gets to the essence of everyday America. There are some belly laughs in "Wobegon," many chuckles - and always the pleasure of recognition. The book casually mixes autobiographical stretches with stories about the inhabitants of the town that can't be found on the Minnesota map, along with its history and mores. Tales - anywhere from a paragraph to several pages each - pour out head over heels, outrageous, earthy, warm, sly, always funny even when they're sad. Mostly he avoids sentimentality, but when he doesn't, it's forgivable - he's earned it. His language is American as it is spoken, buffed to a shine by his years on radio. He's very good about childhood (his own burdened with an outsized imagination in the 1950s) and school and the gap between God-fearing parents with limited educations and the children they sent off to college. He's a magician at evoking summer, winter, fall and spring: seasons that become chapter headings and background for more stories. And he's terrific at catching the rivalry between the town's Norwegian and German settlers and between Lutherans and Catholics. Lake Wobegon, which now boasts a statue of the Unknown Norwegian, should make room for another monument: To Keillor, who had the concern and craft to bring it alive. (Kirkus Reviews)

From the Back Cover
Garrison Keillor is the consummate storyteller, gifted with the rare ability - both in print and in performance - to hold an audience spellbound with his tales of ordinary people whose lives contain extraordinary moments of humor, tenderness, and grace. This recording of Keillor reading his own novel, Lake Wobegon Days, is a carefully edited abridgement of the book and includes a few segments taken from live performances recorded during a fundraising tour for public radio stations in 1985.

About the Author
Garrison Keillor is America's favorite storyteller. For more than 35 years as the host of A Prairie Home Companion, he has captivated millions of public radio listeners with his weekly "News from Lake Wobegon" monologues. Keillor is also the author of several books and a frequent contributor to national publications including Time, The New Yorker, and National Geographic, in addition to writing his own syndicated column. He has been awarded a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Garrison Keillor is America's favorite storyteller. For more than 35 years as the host of A Prairie Home Companion, he has captivated millions of public radio listeners with his weekly "News from Lake Wobegon" monologues. Keillor is also the author of several books and a frequent contributor to national publications including Time, The New Yorker, and National Geographic, in addition to writing his own syndicated column. He has been awarded a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Customer Reviews

Soulful
If you've ever gone for a late afternoon walk in a small town anywhere in America and have looked up and had your breath taken away by the wonder of a full moon hanging there in the quiet light like a ghostly, faded postage stamp, if you've ever shopped in a store that has a hand painted sign above its door, where they make their own bread and slice their own meat, or if you've ever felt that the quiet, shady moment you're inhabiting could almost explode with possibilities, then you might want to check out Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days.

This is a truly brilliant book that celebrates the quirks and idiosyncrasies of small town American. Part town history, part family remembrance, Lake Wobegon is imbued with a warm, sly humor that picks at the silliness and the earnestness that are woven so tightly together in small town American life.

Although I found this book immensely entertaining, and times quite moving, I should mention it took me about three months to read. Keillor's immensely appealing voice, story-telling ability and sense of humor kept me at all times very interested, but there isn't really a plot to speak of. I had to keep other books going on the side to give me my plot fix. This was the only aspect of the book that I thought might put off readers otherwise disposed to read the book and enjoy it. But don't let this deter you. Believe me, the book is definitely worth whatever time you take to read it.

Charming, small-town storytelling
I hope to one day live in Lake Wobegon. It seems to be just the sort of backwards, yokel, land-that-time-forgot sort of place that I would feel right at home in.

Keillor's journey through Lake Wobegon is warm, nostalgic, funny, and poignant. The characters are well-crafted -- sometimes lovable, sometimes zany, sometimes despicable, always believable and real.

Don't appraoch this book looking for a deep, moving plot. Approach it as a tour through a quaint town -- a look at its history, pride, culture, and even those bits that are swept under the rug. Read it, and it'll grow on you.

A very accurate, droll look at small town life.
For anyone raised in a small Midwestern town, as I was, this book is fascinating. It is dryly humorous, and never truly abrasive, as it wends its way through anecdotes of small town life and personal foibles. If you're looking for Doestoyevskyan character studies, as one reviewer seemingly was, go elsewhere. But if you want te meet people, and institutions, that you loved, or scorned, or simply observed in passing, this is your sort of book. You'll remember these folks and their stories a long time after you have forgotten more in-depth characters.

I have often said there are two books anyone wanting to know about life in a small town should read; Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis, and this book. Main Street is negative in chief, whereas this book is wistful, gently amusing, and equally accurate, if not more so. It is a very underrated work, and I recommend it most thoroughly.