Liberty

I have been a great fan of Garrison Keillor for over 20 years. Listening to Prairie Home Companion on relay to Australia has been part of our family Sunday evening tradition all that time. Some of the episodes in this tale were familiar from the "News From Lake Wobegone", but it was really great to have them connected in a continuous narrative. Garrison Keillor reads his tale really well. But I think that a huge part of the success of "News From Lake Wobegone" is the brilliant rapport between Garrison and his audience. The absense of this spark is the difference between four and five stars in my opinion.
I do wonder if listeners unfamilar with the folk of Lake Wobegone might miss some of the background knowledge that gives an instant picture of pesonalities when a name is first mentioned.
The quality of the reading and recording are first rate. If you are familiar with Lake Wobegone I think that you would really enjoy this audiobook, especially on a long drive to the Back of Beyond.

If you're not a PHC fan, no promises. However, if you love the News from Lake Wobegon, you'll eat this up.

I love tales from lake woebegone, but this was terrible. I finished it because I had paid for it, but it was not the small town America that I was hoping to read about. It was about infidelity and destruction of the family. Terrible.

I was into this story pretty well for a couple of chapters, but eventually faded out. This is my third attempt at reading Keillor's fiction, with identical reactions. It's as though his self -imposed "family-appropriate" style with essays is utterly forsaken in his fiction, and the resutlt is that the otherwise delightful story is sacrificed for the freedom of being just a little bit "naughty" with his language and characters. I can handle rough language, sex and the meandering throughts of senility-bound men as well as most readers,, but if I'm to sacrifice this much time to a novel, I feel there must be a reasonable point or artfulness to the content. It strikes me that Keillor has not yet managed to devise a reliable style of writing fiction where he can inhabit both the worlds of great story-telling and edgy content. When he does, I will be an eager reader.

There is no one better to read Garrison Keillor than Garrison Keillor. This is a great book for a road trip or for stay at home entertainment. I've been a fan of A Prairie Home Companion for decades and listening to an extended adult tale about my favorite Minnesota town was a delight. This is a story I will certainly revisit.

I have been a fan of Keillor for some time. Anyone who has a chance to see his radio show in person, should do so. I have enjoyed his books and have met him once to my delight. This is not one of his better books, but it is very entertaining nonetheless. The characters are familiar to readers who know him and his insights into human thought and behavior are stimulating as always. Anyone who has not heard of or read after Keillor would, perhaps, better start with another of his volumes. Also, if you are listening to this book in the car with others or around children, there are some mildly graphic segments which you may want to avoid. Otherwise, Keillor fans enjoy. The book is a grood driving across the country listen and, of course, Mr. Keillor's reading is wonderful.

I had a hard time sticking with this book. It was all just a bunch of meaningless tidbits that didn't culminate into much. I didn't care about the characters or the story.