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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
This is a book that is better listened to than read.
Keillor does a magnificent job building up a mythology around a Midwestern town. He pokes fun at (but also relishes in) the minutiae of small town living, having an opinion and a story about every citizen.
How he reckons with history and how it can bind us is a unique avenue he explores within the novel; our family name can be a blessing, or, more often in Keillor’s world, a curse. Further, his focus on religion as a repressive force but also a spiritual rock in hard times was the most interesting balance struck within the repository of Wobegon legend.
How he reckons with history and how it can bind us is a unique avenue he explores within the novel; our family name can be a blessing, or, more often in Keillor’s world, a curse. Further, his focus on religion as a repressive force but also a spiritual rock in hard times was the most interesting balance struck within the repository of Wobegon legend.
While disjointed and occasionally bogged down by near-exhausting accounts of history, the majority of this novel is filled with entertaining vignettes and characters that make it a valuable read. Even so, I would not recommend this as a newcomer's first Lake Wobegon novel.
This wasn't at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be more like Mitford but turned out to be dry and too hard to read.
This book has no overarching plot, nor does it really have main characters (though some do recur now and again). However, it is not quite right to call it a collection of short stories, for its anecdotes are less distinct than that—instead they flow into each other with the easy seamlessness of a camera panning around a town square. So it's not the most exciting, yet I still enjoyed it thoroughly, for it has plenty of the subtle humor, wry wisdom, and endless curiosity you'd expect from someone like Keillor—a true storyteller. Wobegon is about all kinds of things: Norwegian immigrants, obscure branches of Christianity, quirky traditions, prize tomatoes, and more.
This is definitely a specific type of novel that doesn't do much for me personally. The "quirky small town" genre isn't really for me. However Keillor's prose is wonderful and for people who enjoy this type of book, Lake Wobegon Days will be great for them.
Made it to page 81 and then abandoned. Can't. Take. Another. Sentence.
Perhaps if I had read this book 30 years ago, or if I knew anything about small town America I may have enjoyed it more. It is well written, though not particularly well proof read in the version I read. The format wasn't brilliant, but then book publishing has moved on.
Keillor plumbs the shallows and depths of small-town life. One moment he pokes fun at the fatuous nature of Lake Wobegon's people, and the next he finds great truths in their simple life. The book reminded me of growing up in my hometown - a place I still love, yet loved to leave.