Lake Wobegon Summer 1956

I am not what you would call a reader. I have a very long commute and my mother first got me hooked on audiobooks 10 years ago with Star Wars and then Stephen King. I have ventured away from that type of genre, but action adventure is my favorite. This book was a reach for me, but I ended up loving it. I never listened to any of his other stuff. I must admit, when his odd voice first started and he went into too many metaphors about everyday things, I questioned what I was in for. However, his voice grew on me quickly and his characters even quicker. This book actually had me laughing out loud as this early junior high aged "jesuit witness" battles the guilt of wanting to learn about sex and the guilty thoughts of his grandfather looking down on him from heaven shaking his head and saying things like what would your mother think about you looking at your own cousin like that. We've all been there and he brought that all back to me in such a fun way. Great fun and heart!

In his usual and customary droll Garrison Keillor leads us through a curious web of life for a teenager in Lake Wobegon. The "frog", Gary, at 15 is a wannabe writer who gets to write the sports column for the local baseball team while fantasizing his sexuality in stories written on an Underwood typewriter given him by his Uncle Sugar.

Life can can be difficult in this small town of 1200 where everyone knows each other and the local gossip travels faster than the telephone. This is Gary's pivotal teen year as he becomes involved with his cousin Kate and watches the world come down around him.

I found the story fascinating and have replayed it several times. A word of caution to readers with tender ears. The book in several places includes sexual content that could be disturbing to the "innocent minded". Please remember that this is written through eyes of a teenager. His thoughts are just like those of pubescent boys throughout the planet.

I usually buy the unabridged audio books narrated by the author. I find that it creates the mood the author intended; and as I travel I have the audio books for listening pleasure. I hope you enjoy "Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 as much as I did.

Not at all what I expected. Couldn't finish the book even though I have been a "Lake Wobegon" listener for many years.

Seems to be preoccupied, as a teenager would be, with the excessive sexual urges and innuendos the descriptiveness of which takes away from the plot. I have enjoyed Garrison's work on both the radio and in books, but would turn on the parental controls for this one. Many of the backgrounds are common to his work and a walk down memory lane for the targeted age group.