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Critic's Corner
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Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 Reviewed by: Patricia Ann Jones In these first, lazy, hazy days of fall, Keillor returns to Lake Wobegon, "where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all of the children are above average." A recent television interview with Keillor revealed that "Lake Wobegon Summer 1956" is a sandwich of autobiographical incidents placed between two slices of fiction. He admitted that, Gary, the protagonist of his latest novel, bears a remarkable resemblance to himself at the age of 14 years-a "tree-toad" with bulging eyes, who aspires to become a writer for the New Yorker magazine, and who has impure fantasies about girls. "Lake Wobegon Summer 1956," takes us back to a time that reminds us growing up is never easy, regardless of the year or societal rules. While most of the men in Wobegon are handsome, alas, poor Gary, the self-described "tree-toad," and nerd of the first waters is not. For the endearingly geeky Gary, who has been raised among a tiny evangelical group of Sanctified Brethren, also known as the "Chosen Remnant of Saints Gathered to the Lord's Name and Faithful to the Literal Meaning of His word," things are even more difficult. Readers of previous Keillor works will recall that Lake Wobegon is a town of about 1200, populated mostly by German-Catholics and Norwegian-Lutherans, both of whom the Sanctified Brethren are "supposed to keep clear of." "Saturday night, June 1956, now the sun going down at 7:50 P.M. and the sprinkler swishing in the front yard of our big green house on Green Street, big drops whapping the begonias and lilacs in front of the screened porch where Daddy and I lie reading. A beautiful lawn, new-mown, extends to our borders with the Stenstroms and Andersons." The drone of the words lulls you into a false sense of security. Keillor paints such a sweet, comfortable scene in the opening passages you can almost hear his melodic voice coming through the radio as he broadcasts his familiar "Prairie Home Companion" show. What you don't see at once is that while the "Doo Dads" are singing "My Girl" on the radio, Gary is studying pictures of naked women in his forbidden copy of "High School Orgies." Of course the magazine is hidden between the pages of "Foxx's Book of Martyrs." And, he's doing this while aware that Grandpa is looking down from the window of heaven and wondering how a Sanctified Brethren boy could turn out so badly. Keillor's skillful drawing of his characters like Aunt Eva, who stills lives with her mother on the family farm and has weepy spells, and Aunt Doe, the family martyr, offers wonderful insights into the 50's decade. Gary's Daddy can't bear to be around anyone crying, or anyone displaying any emotion for that matter. Daddy is grumpy 100 percent of the time. Now Mother, who tends to headaches and long naps, is usually bright and optimistic, she is the peacemaker in the family and heaven knows one is needed. The "Big sister," is a bullying, born-again, I'm better- than- you- are type, who constantly seeks out Gary's faults and tattles gleefully to get him into trouble. Between Sister, and a tyrannical English teacher, poor Gary has little chance to expand his growing investigation into the perils of becoming a man. If it weren't for the Doo Dads and the Guppy family, Gary might have remained an ignorant Tree-Toad forever. Oh yes, he did get one major break. Uncle Sugar brought over an Underwood typewriter for Gary. Imagine that, a real honest-to-God, typewriter just for him. Well, the stories fly out of that old punch as hard as you can machine and more trouble ensues than Gary can talk himself out of. Talk about taking one back to the "good-old-days," every writer old enough to remember those shiny black Underwoods will love this part of the book. I confess, I have one out in my garage. Poor thing, used but not forgotten. Cousin Kate is Gary's main fantasy regarding girls. She is also a member of the Brethrens, but you'd never know it by her actions. Her affair with Roger Guppy sets the town on its ear, and dismays smitten Gary whose erotic daydreams of Kate are dealt a severe blow. It's the Guppy family, and cousin Kate, who show us teens of yesterday aren't that far removed from teens of today. Other players in this waltz through memory lane are, Aunt Flo. Flo knows all the best gossip around Lake Wobegon and expounds at length to all who will listen. Then you have the "Doo Dads," the first rock'n roll group in the midwest-1954! Gary loves the group. His father fears they'll lead the youth of Wobegon straight to perdition. The local baseball team, the Whippets are a hoot. Gary is asked to fill in for the regular sportswriter for a season and does a really whiz-bang job inserting words most Wobegonians have never before read. The Whippets come out of a long slump and win several games in a row. Then-something takes Roger Guppy's mind off the game, he's the pitcher, and the team goes down in a melee with the winning team. In an epiphany of sorts, Gary comes to look upon his grouchy father in a new light. "Daddy opens to me like a book. All his grumbling and grouching, his crotchets and glooms and snits and stews, are mere camouflage for a sensitive heart, and I, a writer, am afforded this slight insight, and it is my sacred duty to look upon the heart, as God does, and to reveal it." Even the Sister becomes clearer to Gary. "--the swift avenging sword of this sanctified sourpuss--" is another revelation. These revelations lead Gary to say, "I am the unseen guest, the silent listener, my ballpoint runneth over." These poor folks just do not understand, "there is a writer in the house." The Cleveland Plain Dealer offered the comment that "Keillor is at his funny best. With his trademark gift for treading 'a line delicate as a cobweb between satire and sentiment.'" Indeed he does just that in "Lake Wobegon Summer of 1956." It is funny, it is sentimental, and the satire sparkles like a Roman candle on the Fourth of July. (Jones is a published writer & literary critic) Copyright October 4, 2001 Patricia Ann Jones, All Rights Reserved To discuss this review with the author, Patricia A. Jones, visit her in our message boards. To order this book from Amazon.com, click here: Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 More Features |
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