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

Evelyn Peterson lived a very full and straight-forward life during her 82
years on this earth, and when her daughter, Barbara, found her after her
death, it was a bit of a shock, but not a real surprise, given her age. But
when Barbara finds a letter from her mother hidden in the nightstand in an

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envelope marked, simply, "Arrangements," she is astounded. Evelyn wishes to
be cremated immediately, her ashes placed inside the green bowling ball
stored in the hall closet (that was given to her by someone named Raoul) and
then dropped into Lake Woebegon, no prayers, no preacher, no hymns, thank
you very much. For one of the more dependable Lutheran women in town, this
seems to be an outrageous request. As Barbara comes to grips with this and
begins to go through her mother's things, she discovers letters hidden away
here and there, written to her but never mailed, that reveal that her mother
had led a secret life, with a racy boyfriend named Raoul. The town is
shocked and Evelyn's sister Florence is scandalized, but Barbara becomes
determined to do things the way her mother wanted, and in the process,
decides to shake up her own life a bit in the process.

This book will be a delight for any fan of Keillor's Lake Woebegon stories.
It's as rich and detailed, humorous and character driven as his most
complicated stories of this fictional place. It's a book that almost
demands to be read aloud, in that rich baritone voice that has floated
across the airwaves, lo, these many years. It's also a book that I will
read again. It gets a very strong 5.

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laugh out loud funny, especially if you're a lutheran. Keillor does the reading on the cd and this is my second listening and I still laughed. wonderful

Hmmm. I think Keillor's schtick is getting old. Either that or he's writing too much and the quality control suffers. Maybe he has bills to pay. Whatever, this was a most disappointing book. Keillor's schtick, for those who don't know, is to chronicle the doings of people in a dull hick town in

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Minnesota, wringing comedy from their very ordinary lives with sharp observation and dry wit. Remove the laughs, as in this book, and what you have is a litany of rather depressing life stories, each one a born loser. After about three of these, and only half a laugh in the lot, I got the feeling that this was not one of Mr. Keillor's best. Worse was yet to come, because, as was apparent almost from the start, he had in store for us a Grand Finale of unlikely farce. There are two problems with this; 1) farce is rarely very funny, and this one was no exception, and 2) unlikely farce sits very badly in Lake Wobegon, a town where nothing exciting or unusual ever happens. That's the whole Wobegon joke, and if you undermine that whole Wobegonian ethos for the sake of some cheap gags, what's left?

Verdict: two Norwegian bachelor farmers out of ten.

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Certainly the best book I've read by Keillor. Baudier, funnier. He does tend to stick to some ideas a tad too long like the pastors on the pontoon boat seems to have been repeated at least once or twice in other media by Keillor. Love his stories and his story-telling in general. Very entertaining

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and as a Lutheran, always something I can identify with.

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I listened to this book (Keillor read) instead of reading. I highly advise others to do so also, since a lot of his humor and inflections don't transfer well to the printed page. I was a little taken back at some of the graphic sex and language through the story, but understood the need for a lot

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of it.
The story begins with Evelyn's death. Her daughter finds her and there starts the unraveling of Evelyn's life and secrets along with those of her family. The novel also has a small side story following Debbie and her family, but the real story revolves around Evelyn and her daughter Barbara.
Keillor's sense of humor is quite different, but if you have listened to and enjoyed Prairie Home Companion, then I am sure you will enjoy this book.

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Another pretty good Garrison Keillor novel about the good folk of Lake Wobegon. Keillor seems to have arrived at a favorite formula: Delve a bit into the lives and hidden dreams of some of the Lake Wobegon denizens, maybe have one of them act on a long-buried dream and dredge up all manner of old

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submerged hurts and pettinesses, wind up with a major town activity gone slapsticky awry (in this case, a burial at Lake Wobegon of cremation ashes stowed inside a bowling ball from aloft by a parasailer. I think three or four of Keillor's books have followed this pattern. But never mind, it's a nice pattern that I enjoy now and again.

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Not very good or interesting. I liked the radio show as well until I read this book and now I can't bear to listen to it anymore. Keiler seems to be obsessed with sex in this book, which kind of destroys the world of Lake Wobigon he paints in the stories on his radio show. A couple of funny jokes

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or a little innuendo would be fine, but I couldn't even read more than half of this book before getting disgusted with it.

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My favorite of Garrison Keillor's books that I have read so far. Pontoon quietly and thoughtfully builds up to a farcical climax that was inevitable from the moment the cover blurb stated "This is the story about the Lutheran ministers on the pontoon boat." It's impressive how well it manages both.

Over the years, I have only listened to Prairie Home Companion with half an ear, and I assumed it was a gentle bit of sweet down-home humor. If this book is any indication, I've been missing a lot of wickedly funny stuff, although I'm guessing that the radio show can't be quite as bawdy as this

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book sometimes is. In this book, a middle-aged alcoholic woman discovers that her late mother Evelyn led a racy secret life with a lover named Raoul. Even more shocking in Lake Wobegon, she was no longer an observant Lutheran, and her last wishes were for unusual funeral involving a bowling ball. Throw in pet aromatherapist from (of course) California, an Elvis impersonator, a hot air balloon and a couple of huge fiberglass ducks, and you have a laugh-out-loud entertainment with just a touch of redeeming social value.

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I am already a big Garrison Keillor fan, so I've been looking forward to reading this book. My high expectations were not disappointed - this was wonderful. Not necessarily high literature, as a previous reviewer has noted, but still charming and witty. I could hear Keillor's voice in my head,

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reading aloud to me. This would be a fantastic book to listen to on a road trip. Preferably heading northwest.

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I enjoyed this book. It was the best of the Prairie Home Companion - the stories of the people in Lake Woebegone. It makes me want to listen to his other books.

Like the radio program better.

I started this book as we drove home from a post-retirement trip to Louisiana knowing that we would be going through Minnesota at some point. Little did I realize how appropriate my choice of reading material was. Shortly after we headed west from Minneapolis I saw a sign for Lake Wobegon Trail and

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I realized that we were driving right through the area that Keillor writes about.

I've heard Keillor a few times and so I could imagine his voice as I read this book. His counterpart in Canada, Stuart McLean, has the same sort of style. Both of them are probably better listened to than read but once you have heard them enough times you can transplant their laconic delivery to the written page.

The book starts with the death of Evelyn in Lake Wobegon which occurred just as she had wished, suddenly in her bed after an evening of good food and laughs with good friends. Her death affects many other people in Lake Wobegon but perhaps no-one as much as her daughter Barbara who discovered her body. Barbara has been drinking too much and letting her house go but with the death of her mother she has an epiphany. She learns her mother had a lover that she would go away on trips with but she never let anyone know. The lover, Raoul, was her boyfriend in 1941 but then he was called away to service and she married someone else. They reconnected when they were in their 60s and had a wonderful time together. Barbara decides that she will learn from this to enjoy her life but do it openly.

The end of the book is given over to Evelyn's memorial service which is as outlandish as you can imagine and then some. It takes place on the lake and involves pontoon boats, parasails, hot air balloons, odiferous dogs etc. It's worth reading the book just to get to that chapter.

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Pontoon begins with the death of an elderly woman living in Lake Wobegon. It ends with the woman's memorial service, and in between the reader catches a glimpse of various happenings in the town, many of them centering around her daughter & her coping mechanisms following her mother's death.

I think

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the jury is still out regarding my feelings for Garrison Keillor's writing. This is my second read of his, both having been on audio. While for the most part I enjoy the way he can expand on seemingly normal little snapshots of people's lives, his voice can also at times drone on and on & almost put the reader to sleep. The details are nice, but sometimes I think he tends to go too far off track & then I find my mind wandering. But then just when that begins to happen, he will say something so funny, in such a deadpan voice, that I laugh out loud. Lots of references to the Lutherans in this one, which I can relate to, being one myself. Overall, I tend to enjoy his writing, but I think maybe short stories as opposed to novels might be the way to go -- for me, at least.

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An older woman passes away in the town which becomes the vehicle for Keillor to explore death, lost opportunities, love and marriage. Some humorous insights along the way.

Not as good as Keillor's Lake Woebegone radio shows