Ji FU reviewed Wobegon Boy by Garrison Keillor
Keillor's first full lenght novel travels about how you'd expect
4 stars
This 1997 release is Keillor's first full-length novel. Earlier books were collections of "New from Lake Wobegon" stories previously told on public radio. I liked Wobegon Boy and following John Tollefson who leaves Lake Wobegon to take a job managing a new public radio station in upstate New York in order to avoid getting married to a high school sweetheart and regular bedmate.
Plenty of dry humor. He is so scared to bring his gf to Lake Wobegon, but the happy ending couldn't have occurred if he never did.
I liked how Keillor used the imagery of Tollefson's history in rural Midwest to introduce new ideas to upstate New York, like a restaurant built all around serving fresh sweetcorn. Never mind that such a thing good never actually survive as anything more than a hobby for a rich man IRL.
The story about Tollefson having to deal …
This 1997 release is Keillor's first full-length novel. Earlier books were collections of "New from Lake Wobegon" stories previously told on public radio. I liked Wobegon Boy and following John Tollefson who leaves Lake Wobegon to take a job managing a new public radio station in upstate New York in order to avoid getting married to a high school sweetheart and regular bedmate.
Plenty of dry humor. He is so scared to bring his gf to Lake Wobegon, but the happy ending couldn't have occurred if he never did.
I liked how Keillor used the imagery of Tollefson's history in rural Midwest to introduce new ideas to upstate New York, like a restaurant built all around serving fresh sweetcorn. Never mind that such a thing good never actually survive as anything more than a hobby for a rich man IRL.
The story about Tollefson having to deal with sexual harassment charges in public radio and the college owned station wanting to change from primarily classical music to all talk seems like an unsightly foreshadowing of Keillor's own life when he was called out in the #MeToo movement and his final advice to the public on the matter is to never be friends with any women you work with.
The 2006 Audio book was of high quality with Keillor reading the work himself, as a radio actor would be one to do.