Pontoon

A Novel of Lake Wobegon

By: Garrison Keillor

Narrated by: Garrison Keillor

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Garrison Keillor's latest book is about the wedding of a girl named Dede Ingebretson, who comes home from California with a guy named Brent. Dede has made a fortune in veterinary aromatherapy; Brent bears a strong resemblance to a man wanted for extortion who's pictured on a poster in the town's post office. Then there's the memorial service for Dede's aunt Evelyn, who led a footloose and adventurous life after the death of her husband 17 years previously. Add a surprise boyfriend and a band of newly arrived Mormon missionaries, and the gently rendered chaos is complete.

©2007 Garrison Keillor (P)2007 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Narration by the Author or Authors, 2008

"There's plenty of fun to be had with the well-timed deadpans and homespun wit." (Publishers Weekly)

"there are no answers, just stories"

Garrison Keillor's Pontoon (2007) is a novel whose chapters read like a linked set of short stories focusing primarily on the death of 82-year old, life-embracing Evelyn Peterson and its effect on her surviving family and friends and secondarily on the return to Lake Woebegone of "that tramp" Debbie Detmer for her quasi-wedding "commitment" ceremony. Keillor tells his tale via the memories, letters, back-stories, and current concerns, etc. of a variety of characters, including Evelyn, her lover Raoul, her daughter Barbara (the protagonist of the novel), Barbara's university sophomore son Kyle, Debbie, and Debbie's father.

Lake Woebegone is a largely Lutheran and muchly Norwegian Minnesota small town, and Keillor depicts both its negative and positive sides: it's "a culture of fussy women and silent angry men and horrified children," but "It's peaceful here. . . you can be just who you are." Keillor enjoys lists (varieties of booze being dumped gurgling down a sink drain, garage sale items spread out on card tables, and so on). He loves people, especially quirky ones, humorously, ruthlessly, and sympathetically exposing their foibles, fears, aspirations, delusions, disasters, and memories. His riffs on his fictional characters make them feel real. He makes the idiosyncratic natural and the typical interesting. He expresses much seasoned wisdom on families, marriage, religion, and life.

Keillor's tone, established by the first line of the novel ("Evelyn was an insomniac, so when they say she died in her sleep you have to question that"), is wry. And his humor can sting, as when Barbara contemplates Branson, Missouri, "a geezer resort, where the face-lifted stars of yesteryear go on singing their hits, like demented robots, eyes glazed, a sort of mortuary of pop music." But usually his targets deserve a little zinging, like Barbara's old classmate Marcy, "one of those mean women who developed hugging tendencies late in life, as if that made up for everything." Keillor's humor may attain an oddly affecting numinous counterpoint, as in his description of a statue in a grotto: "A dog lay at the end of his chain, his chin on the ground, pawing at the grass in front of a bathtub half-buried vertically in the ground, the half above ground forming a little grotto for a statue of the Blessed Virgin, arms outstretched, pity in her blank eyes. He had pawed a bare spot at her feet. A dog's homage." And he is a master of the savory, apt line, as when he mentions a radio baseball announcer's voice sounding "like a string of taffy, stretching" on a day marked by "A heavy air of Sunday boredom. Benign, indifferent, dozy."

Perhaps the climax, involving an aging pontoon boat, a pair of giant fiberglass pedal-powered duck decoys, a hot air balloon, a speed boat, a homemade parasail, a bowling ball on a chain, a naked young man, a malodorous dog with a wet, cold nose, and 24 tipsy agnostic Danish Lutheran pastors, is a stretch too far and a touch too contrived, and perhaps Keillor indulges in a wee bit too much eccentric minor character history (as when he has a parachuting Elvis impersonator recount his life story, beginning with killing his best friend in a youthful hunting accident and climaxing with being grabbed by the first President Bush's bodyguards), but overall his style and vision are pleasurable to imbibe, and he is capable of intensely moving revelation.

Some words about the audiobook read by Keillor. His reading is idiosyncratic, savory, appealing. He pauses where pauses wouldn't ordinarily be: "her old suede [pause] jacket" and "For he shall feed his flock [pause] like a shepherd." Or, less often, he speeds through places where pauses ordinarily would be: "Barbara is somewhat tightly wound, not the person you'd choose for the job of finding dead people. [no pause] She shrieked, she clutched at her mother's hand, shrank back from the body, knocked a lamp off the bedside table, yelped, ran out of the room into the kitchen where she tried to collect herself, and took a deep breath and thought 'homicide' and looked around for signs of violence." He drawls downward the last syllables of the last words in phrases, not unlike a deeper-voiced, bucolic Bukowski: "a hubcap for an ASHtraaaaay." Keillor can purr along in his own rhythm (sometimes independent of his own commas and periods) because he is the Writer reading his Work and he knows what he's doing and it works. Short piano pieces aptly and pleasingly close each chapter.

I enjoyed this, the first book by Keillor I have read, and recommend it to people who like humorous and moving tales of eccentric, flawed, and sympathetic denizens of American small towns.

Another solid Keillor offering

Would you consider the audio edition of Pontoon to be better than the print version?

I have never read Pontoon's print version.

What did you like best about this story?

Keillor's classic combination of wit, wisdom and truths about human nature.

What does Garrison Keillor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice. I love it! Also, I feel as if hearing an author read his or her work allows the listener a better understanding of the author's intended style and tone.

Any additional comments?

I am a loyal G. Keillor fan and Pontoon was satisfying in all the ways I expect his books to be.

Pontoon is Keillor at his best

Would you consider the audio edition of Pontoon to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the print version

What other book might you compare Pontoon to and why?

Can't think of one. Keillor's style is pretty unique.

Have you listened to any of Garrison Keillor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Who was the most memorable character of Pontoon and why?

Barbara--a very complex character who ties the book together.

Any additional comments?

The ending was hilarious.

Pleasant. Easy to listen to

I enjoyed this story. I enjoyed the relaxed narration. Very funny at one point. However, His. narration, story, and humour is similar to, but not nearly as good as Stewart Maclean. I enjoyed it because it was reminiscent of Stewart Maclean and the Vinyl Cafe.

Another endearing story from wobegon

Where does Pontoon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the top ten

Who was your favorite character and why?

Evelyn. I like how she didnt let her age stop her from persuing her true self.

Have you listened to any of Garrison Keillor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. They are all good performances because the author is the performer and that brings the characters to life in the way that they are intended

If you could take any character from Pontoon out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Evelyn. Interesting conversation

News from Lake Wobegon... kinda sorta.

I have been listening to The Prairie Home Companion and Garrison Keillor's News from Lake Wobegon for years. I love the stories of the innocence and simplicity of that fictional town he speaks of. I've gotten to know and love the fictional residents of that fictional town as well.

All of those stories were very light hearted, gossip-like peeks, humorous if you will, into to the lives of these people. I learned of the "Pontoon" incident from those stories.

This book was the depressing side of all that pleasantness. It was dry and at times seemed to drag on, it was a walk through a funeral parlor when you'd rather be outside in the sunshine. The bright spot of the book was the occasional curse word to spice it up and the actual "Pontoon Incident" Chapter.

It wasn't bad, but has made me hesitant to buy another Lake Wobegon book.

Offbeat and Entertaining

Believe it or not, this is my first Lake Wobegon . . . the voice of Garrison Keillor is a sing song melody that is soothing, steadfast, and funny. The characters of the small town are brought to life in ways I wouldn't think possible . . . and they grow on you . . . and you are reminded not to take yourself or your problems too seriously.

Thoroughly enjoyable

I tried reading one of Garrison Keillor's early novels and it didn't hold my interest. Hearing him read this one was lovely; no surprise that I find his work stronger in audio, since he is first and foremost a storyteller. It is like listening to a very long, in-depth News From Lake Wobegon, and it held my interest all the way through. It has everything his monologues do; humor, gentle satire, familiar small-town characters and former townspeople who got out, but it's all developed to a much greater degree, and it works. I'll listen to another one sometime!

Pontoon Review

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'm not sure if I would recommend this book. The story is a typical Lake Wobegon tale of Keillor. However, this one is less family-friendly and more

Would you be willing to try another book from Garrison Keillor? Why or why not?

Possibly. The only objection is mentioned above.

Which character – as performed by Garrison Keillor – was your favorite?

Barbara.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Not sure.

Any additional comments?

No

Extended Version of the News From Lake Woebegon

Performed by the author, this audio book is very much an extended version of the News from Lake Woebegon. A subtle mix of humor, sadness, and the absurd, it is wonderful listening.