The Monsters of Templeton

The Monsters of Templeton
by Lauren Groff

The Monsters of Templeton
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Book Summary Information

Author: Lauren Groff
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-05
ISBN: 1401322255
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Voice

Book Reviews of The Monsters of Templeton

Book Review: A Dazzling Debut Novel
Summary: 5 Stars

I usually only review books I actively disliked, being more stirred to action by disappointment than approval. However in this case, I was stirred by admiration, appreciation, and a bit of jealousy. Young authoress Lauren Groff (where has she been hiding?) has written an incredibly original and captivating debut novel in which she has captured not just one voice (that of the 28-year-old heroine Wilhelmina) but of several ancestors (or possible ancestors) ranging from a mute native american girl to a half-black slave boy to a 19th-century mountain man to a naive society girl. The town of Templeton is yet another character in this unpredictable novel - pulsing with a sordid history, ghosts, and an underwater monster. In less competent hands, this hodgepodge of elements would come across as uneven, but Groff has spun it into a wondrous tale unlike any other.
This is the type of book in which one can truly say "I couldn't put it down", even when on vacation in the Bahamas. This book is a true gem, for those looking for something beyond the overrated paste bead necklace books about vampires and werewolves.

Summary of The Monsters of Templeton

"The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass."

So begins The Monsters of Templeton, a novel spanning two centuries: part a contemporary story of a girl's search for her father, part historical novel, and part ghost story, this spellbinding novel is at its core a tale of how one town holds the secrets of a family.

In the wake of a wildly disastrous affair with her married archaeology professor, Willie Upton arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York, where her hippie-turned-born-again-Baptist mom, Vi, still lives. Willie expects to be able to hide in the place that has been home to her family for generations, but the monster's death changes the fabric of the quiet, picture-perfect town her ancestors founded. Even further, Willie learns that the story her mother had always told her about her father has all been a lie: he wasn't the random man from a free-love commune that Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely. Someone from this very town.

As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, she discovers that the secrets of her family run deep. Through letters, editorials, and journal entries, the dead rise up to tell their sides of the story as dark mysteries come to light, past and present blur, old stories are finally put to rest, and the shocking truth about more than one monster is revealed.


Amazon Best of the Month, February 2008: On the very morning Willie Upton slinks home to Templeton, New York (after a calamitous affair with her archeology professor), the 50-foot-long body of a monster floats from the depths of the town's lake. This unsettling coincidence sets the stage for one of the most original debut novels since The Time Traveler's Wife. With a clue to the mysterious identity of her father in hand, Willie turns her research skills to unearthing the secrets of the town in letters and pictures (which, "reproduced" in the book along with increasingly complete family trees, lend an air of historical authenticity). Lauren Groff's endearingly feisty characters imbue the story with enough intrigue to keep readers up long past bedtime, and reading groups will find much to discuss in its themes of "monsters," both in our towns and our families. --Mari Malcolm

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