Pontoon

A Novel of Lake Wobegon

De: Garrison Keillor

Narrado por: Garrison Keillor

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

Reseñas de la Crítica

• 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)

It's Lake Wobegon

If you like Gerrison Keillor you will like this story. He goes into much more detail of his characters than on his weekly raido program. I could listen to him tell stories all day long.

A fun listen!

Listening to Garrison Keillor is always a treat. The story is a bit goofy--essentially an elongated version of "The news from Lake Wobegon." However, his story telling never gets old!

mr. keillor could be this generations mark twain

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

i would recommend this book. its a very good tale of life and death and how to live on your own terms.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Pontoon?

full of funny and moving moments, i lol at the ladies talking at thier dinners,and was very moved by her lovers reaction to the indentions on her bed where she had lain.

Which scene was your favorite?

the bowling balls travels.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

you could not make this into a film

There's nobody like Garrison Keillor!!!

There's just nobody like Garrison Keillor! This book has everything we love about Lake Wobegon--a feisty old lady with a secret life who wants her ashes to be buried in a bowling ball; a goofy bride who made a fortune in aromatherapy for pets; a disgruntled daughter with a drinking problem; warring siblings and visiting Danish clergy. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty! When the ridiculously lavish wedding is called off, but not all the participants are informed, and it collides with the internment of the old lady in the bowling ball, everything runs amok. The collision of a naked hang glider, an Elvis impersonator, a couple of giant mechanical ducks, and the horrified citizens of Lake Wobegon is as hilarious as only Garrison Keillor can make it. I listened to the Audible version which Keillor narrated in his unmistakable style and embellished with piano interludes.

Unusual but had to Finish

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

Different style of book for me.

Would you recommend Pontoon to your friends? Why or why not?

No, I think it was difficult to relate to.

What three words best describe Garrison Keillor’s voice?

Slow and indifferent

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

It took several chapters to get involved in the story. I did find I wanted to hear how the story ended but I wouldn't say it was so good I couldn't put it down. the narrator definitely took their time telling the story.

Offbeat Entertainment

I had to rewind and listen again a few times to follow the whacko story but it ends up amusing even if you don't catch every thread. Typical Keillor, but not his best. I enjoyed the northern midwest absurdity of it all. A few great laughs are always good for the soul.

"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.