The Monsters of Templeton
by Lauren Groff
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lauren GroffEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-02-05
ISBN: 1401322255
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Voice
Book Reviews of The Monsters of Templeton
Book Review: Bumping Into The Monsters of Templeton
Summary: 4 Stars
This book begins with the surprising discovery of a hitherto suspected but undocumented creature, previously only reported by less than convincing sources. And now it bumped us squarely into realization of its existence, after it had died. When reading the rest of this book we should not forget this beginning because it tells us that the monster truly was there; it lived, and the question remains to be answered, Will it live again?
If you want to read this book only as a masterfully crafted soap opera, you will be entertained, but Lauren Groff has crafted a piece of art that blends many different genres. There is a taste of horror, but it will not pound you relentlessly. There is sex, but it fits as a meaningful part of a personality searching for itself. There is mysticism and spirituality, but it does not hit you with a heavy hand, and it entertains rather than instructs. There are mysteries that keep you wanting to turn the next page, to begin the next chapter. Even the writing style changes, depending on the character portrayed, enough that the book takes on a feeling almost like that of a compendium of poetry.
Willie Upton returns to her home to escape and reestablish some stability in her life, and she is confronted by her mother with the surprising discovery that who she thought might have been her father was not. It was like bumping into a dead lake monster washed up on the shore.
While scientists had only so much time to discover the meaning of this lake monster before its tissues decayed beyond a substrate suitable for study, Willie launched into a search for the secrets of her own family history, before the documents would be lost forever. We only have so much time for such discovery.
Some reviewers have criticized Willie's less than mature character, but protagonists do not always need to be noble. Like all of our own lives, not one of the characters in this history of Templeton is without some serious flaw. This is to be enjoyed. These are the monsters within them, within us. If you find it difficult to love these people with all of their foibles, and that may be the major theme of this book, then at least laugh at the situations in which they are embroiled.
This story is told with a sense of humor and wit, more than a little irreverence, and I enjoyed it completely. I give it four stars instead of five because, well, I haven't given any book five stars yet.
Summary of The Monsters of Templeton
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"The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, thefifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass." So beginsThe Monsters of Templeton, a novel spanning two centuries: part acontemporary story of a girl's search for her father, part historical novel, andpart ghost story, this spellbinding novel is at its core a tale of how one townholds the secrets of a family. In the wake of a wildly disastrousaffair with her married archaeology professor, Willie Upton arrives on thedoorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York, where herhippie-turned-born-again-Baptist mom, Vi, still lives. Willie expects to be ableto hide in the place that has been home to her family for generations, but themonster's death changes the fabric of the quiet, picture-perfect town herancestors founded. Even further, Willie learns that the story her mother hadalways told her about her father has all been a lie: he wasn't the random manfrom a free-love commune that Vi had led her to imagine, but someone elseentirely. Someone from this very town. As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging forthe truth about her lineage, she discovers that the secrets of her family rundeep. Through letters, editorials, and journal entries, the dead rise up to telltheir 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 onemonster is revealed.
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