Customer Reviews

Liberty: A Novel of Lake Wobegon (Lake Wobegon Novels)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was hoping for more here. I have Pontoon, which I'll read in the expectation that it should be better than Liberty. What struck me in Liberty was the feeling that there just wasn't anything very original and creative: I didn't encounter anything that I hadn't seen before, and so it was a bit like watching a TV sitcom with a canned laughtrack. Keillor is certainly capable of much better stuff than this.

The story centers around Clint Bunsen, who is in charge of the Lake Wobegon Fourth of July Celebration and Parade for the last time. Bunsen has turned 60, his marriage, the town, and his work no longer interest him very much. He's involved with a woman half his age and is contemplating running for Congress--certainly a change of pace. There are plenty of groups of people who want to take part in the festivities, and Bunsen has attracted no end of ire by trying to prune some of them out of the picture. He has also just received DNA test results which show that he is primarily of Hispanic rather than Scandinavian ethnicity, which comes as a shock. So--lots and lots of crises, all piling up at the same time.

There are ways to make a small town whimsically endearing. The best novel that comes to mind in this regard is T.R. Pearson's wonderful A Short History of a Small Place, about Neely, North Carolina. Neely, like Lake Wobegon, has its eccentric people, and those who go beyond eccentric to peculiar. So I find myself thinking "what is it exactly that makes Neely endearing and Lake Wobegon in Liberty not very endearing?" It may be that in Pearson's Neely, you and the townspeople care about the eccentrics--they are like family, a round-heeled cousin or an alcoholic uncle, but still family. In Lake Wobegon in Liberty, it's more a collection of odd individuals, and less community. So Liberty is fun, but it lacks the power of A Short History. If you've never read Pearson's great trilogy Short History, The Last of How It Was, and Off for the Sweet Hereafter, you're missing some magnificent storytelling indeed. If you want a more northern small-town setting, Klosterman's Downtown Owl, just out, is well worth reading. I'll read Pontoon, and I'm hopeful about that.

Garrison Keillor puts the spotlight on Clint Bunsen in this latest Lake Wobegon novel. Clint feels unappreciated for his leadership as chairman of Lake Wobegon's July Fourth celebration. He has rubbed quite a few townsfolk the wrong way and Clint is having a rough time of it.

His brother Clarence wants Clint to buy out Clarence's share of Bunsen Motors, a business that isn't exactly thriving. Clint is bored with his wife and his life. He is turning 60 and he feels like he has missed out on his chance for happiness until he meets a lovely young woman on the internet....

Fans of A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION will enjoy this book. In contrast to PONTOON, the previous installment in the series, LIBERTY is much darker with a lot less laughs. Keillor's distinctive voice is there but where PONTOON was a romp, LIBERTY is more of a tromp. Clint's depressive persona drags the humor down. If you want to laugh check out PONTOON. If you want to indulge Clint's angst, check out LIBERTY.

Wait, two books about Lake Wobegon...in the same year?, impossible, but still true. After PONTOON's somber assessment of where the sidewalks end in Lake Wobegon, Kellior follows up with a rousing, often funny and troubled return to Lake Wobegon with LIBERTY; a satire on small town life, big dreams, empty symbols and the effort put in by one man to turn his town upside down once a year.

To be honest, if this had not been an election year I don't think we would have seen this book as fast as we did, but, with politics in the air the timing couldn't be better. As for the topic, though, it's hot, but not broad, and not one that will reach out and grab new readers, but just us old hands and long time fans of his fictional town. The pivot on which this novel turns is like all Kellior's works, growing older, seeing change not only coming, but arrive on your doorsteps, bags in hand and looking to move in. From cars that are more cyborg than spark plugs and oil, to the internet's effects on the BOOM generation, Kellior takes a tent pole name from Wobegon, Clint Bunsen, and throws him head first into a "change of life". He's getting older, everyone is getting younger and his marriage and his life are falling apart. And on top of that he's losing ground on the one thing in his life that really matters... the fourth of July. The parade and the idea that a celebration should be just that and not merely socialable or political.

Bunsen is all American (even after he learns that his heritage may not be as pure as he once thought early on in the book) and Kellior funnels his own views and fears of the crisis times in America with some spot on observations on the current state of our fears and terrors about both our country and ourselves. For some this is going to smack of being preachy and creaky, but, pushing past the finger wagging, you will find some tender ideas, sweet moments and some hardcore and bitter truths.

In fact, in the last third of the book there is a shocking (truly, no lie, nearly dropped the book, had to read the line twice just to make sure and yes, it's true, OMG!) moment when Clint makes a very serious threat against another character that crosses that bright line between fiction and reality and will send a cold shiver through you - Lake Wobegon, it seems, is truly no longer an avenue of fond memories, but a living and breathing street, present time, present place. On top of that Kellior continues with his LAKE WOBEGON: AFTER DARK style of writing, dipping into the minds and sex lives of his town in, sometimes, graphic style.

But change, as Kellior likes to point out time and again in LIBERTY, is neither good nor evil, and like liberty itself, it needs each and every one of us to take point and stand watch, to forever remain on guard and not take oursevles so seriously that we lose everything that we've worked so hard for over a moment of crisis. That idea works just as well, at home, sitting on the porch, as it does walking around the world at large and, at last, in Lake Wobegon, change is good... but never free.

For fans, LIBERTY is another hit in the LAKE WOBEGON series, for those just passing through, you'll enjoy the fuss but miss the party. So, stop, sit for a spell and take your time. We made plenty.

I wasn't going to buy this book after reading reviews here, but I happened across it used for under a dollar so did!

I'm so disappointed with it. I usually love Keillor's writing as I'm a product of the same kind of background he is. Small town Midwest. His descriptions of the common folk and their language are so good that I usually laugh out loud as I read.

This book isn't up to his usual standards. Was writing all the sexual stuff necessary? It doesn't have any place in the story really. I can't imagine what he'll come up in the next book if there is one!

I was looking forward to Liberty and had always liked Bunson, but I didn't enjoy this book. Keillor seems to have a strange take on adultery. Maybe it isn't a subject that lends itself to lightness and laughter. Kind of an odd book.

I have been a fan of Mr Keillor for a very long time, and have had the pleasure of attending several of his live sessions of "A Prairie Home Companion" in St Paul. But I was not quite prepared for this book. While the great story-telling skill is here, the characters are all familiar, and amusing epsiodes and descriptions abound, the core of the story is Clint Bunson's disappointments with his life. He is unhappy, and his unhappiness colors everything else in the book.

I was not prepared for this darker than usual tone.

Comedy and generous-heartedness are missing from this sexual fantasy of GK's. As a longtime fan, I've come to accept that the females in all his stories are one-dimensional, but this one just goes too far that direction to be fun.

Clint Bunsen has his hands full, he's turning 60, a mutiny on his Fourth of July committee is leading him to distraction, a DNA test has found him to be of Spanish descent, and he's considering leaving his wife...well you get the picture. There's so much going on in Clint's frenzied life it doesn't even seem this could be taking place in Lake Wobegone. LIBERTY gives us all the traditional Keillor humor and insight, but this time it seems a bit frantic. Probably, because protagonist is such a mess. His confusion about who he is and what he wants from life seems to be a bit contrived. All this seems to hit at the same time and Clint (and the reader) is given very little time to consider the outcomes before he makes decisions, making him more a victim of circumstances rather than take control of his own destiny. Not as satisfying as some of the other Keillor books I've read, but it still has its moments; particularly in the infighting about what should or should not be allowed in the parade.

Finished Garrison Keillor's Liberty. If you like Lake Wobegon Days and its many sequels, or if you're a fan of Keillor's radio show A Prairie Home Companion, you'll probably like Liberty. It's a story that centers around Lake Wobegon's humorous attempts to put together a major Fourth of July celebration. The story revolves around the chair, Clint Bunsen, who's also going through some aging issues.

It's funny and very readable, which is par for the course for Keillor. Liberty is a little different from other offerings, in my opinion, due to the way he handles the issues of aging, regret, and what our lives mean. It almost has an elegiac feeling at times.

One drawback to the book: Keillor tends to repeat himself; perhaps it's due to his skills as an oral storyteller.

Liberty is a good read if you like Keillor, or just like humorous stories about small-town America.

My husband and I love listening to Garrison Keillor. Liberty is different and I have not heard all of it. So far it is ok but not up to his last story, Pontoon.