Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon (Lake Wobegon Novels)
by Garrison Keillor
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Book Summary Information
Author: Garrison KeillorEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-26
ISBN: 0143114107
Number of pages: 248
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon (Lake Wobegon Novels)
Book Review: Go Evelyn!
Summary: 5 Stars
`There's a lot of human nature in everyone.' So says Evelyn Peterson, Pontoon's 82-year-old heroine - larger than life, recently deceased - and to prove her point Garrison Keillor packs a world of color and character into this excellent novel.
Having read or listened to dozens of Keillor's Lake Wobegon pieces over the years, I can say that this is as good as any or better. You always feel that even in his novels he is writing for speech, which is a great strength and makes for an easy rhythm that trips the reader along from page to page - once aboard, it's a physical effort to step off. In terms of style and tone, Keillor has perfect pitch. He can change tense and point of view three times in a sentence and it still flows like honey; it's as if he sits down at the keyboard and whole paragraphs come out fully formed. It helps that the novel has such a memorable opening sentence - `Evelyn was an insomniac, so when they say she died in her sleep, you have to question that.' - but from then on, one sentence leads to another and suddenly you're on page two hundred and forty-eight.
As usual, his characters are just that. Often introduced as caricatures, the dialogue is so real and the layers so skilfully built upon by action and back story that they become entirely believable - we recognise those we don't like and empathise with those we do. Beginning with Evelyn Peterson's death, the main narrative takes place over just a few days. Having led an exotic double life since the rekindling of a sixty-year-old romance, the last thing Evelyn wanted was a sober Lutheran funeral and she has requested that her ashes be dropped into Lake Wobegon in a bowling ball (she and Raoul had enjoyed bowling together). The ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, coincidentally the day of two other events: Debbie Detmer's equally unorthodox `celebration of commitment' to her partner Brent, at the other end of the lake, and a champagne barbeque on board the pontoon boat The Agnes D for twenty-four Danish Lutherans on a two-week tour of the United States.
As the clash of these competing events, or what's left of them, draws near and the narrative builds to a climax which manages to be both poignant and funny, we are taken from pathos through drama to comedy, high farce and back to pathos.
Pontoon is a beautifully crafted and highly enjoyable read.
Summary of Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon (Lake Wobegon Novels)
Garrison Keillor makes his long- awaited return to Lake Wobegon with this New York Times bestsellerThe first new Lake Wobegon novel in seven years is a cause for celebration. And Pontoon is nothing less than a spectacular return to form?replete with a bowling ball-urn, a hot-air balloon, giant duck decoys, a flying Elvis, and, most importantly, Wally?s pontoon boat. As the wedding of the decade approaches (accompanied by wheels of imported cheese and giant shrimp shish kebabs), the good-loving people of Lake Wobegon do what they do best: drive each other slightly crazy.
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