Rating: 
Summary: Not Keillor's best, but a humorous diversion.
Review: Readers who try to judge this book with a partisan mindset will miss the point of the book entirely, and so would do well to not buy it. Others will find it a hoot, because what Keillor is satirizing is not so much one individual (as colorful as he may be) as the American political process, which has become the world's best example of performance art.For my money, this book was worth it just for Jimmy Valente's reference to the current Supreme Court Justice as "Bill ('The Robe') Rehnquist."
Rating: 
Summary: Best? No. But Better than Most
Review: Sad how politically biased most reviews of this book are, ignoring the quality of a wonderful modern tall-tale. An equal-opportunity offender (much more so than Ventura), Keillor takes swipes more at those who take this too seriously than at those on the "populist right." An energetic broad-stroked fib in the voice of a human cartoon, Keillor's book proves him unafraid to take on political extremists (regardless of wing) and simultaneously unable to avoid comment on one of the easiest political targets of recent memory.
Rating:
Summary: Funny as Hell
Review: Thank heaven Garrison Keillor has given us something to laugh about. We'll need it while we're being "governed" by a man with the IQ of a salad bar. Funny book. Great commentary on politics. I'm wondering if the person from Texas who commented earlier is just more accustomed to having idiots in office than we are.
Rating: 
Summary: A comic book without decent artwork
Review: The book reads like the author spent veritably days writing it. The cover states it is a political satire; that classification is a stretch. Perhaps it would be best classified as the first book to cash in on Minnesota's strange election. I wish I would have saved my money. If Mr. Keillor was trying to be insightful or clever, he failed.
Rating:
Summary: Blinded by hatred
Review: The work is a compendium of every left-wing bias, crotchet, and shibboleth imaginable. From the phony dedication to the final sentence, it is an attack on Ventura and on right-oriented populism generally, but it is also -- even primarily -- a tribute to the intelligence, humanity, and wit of the "ghost," Keillor. In his author's note, Keillor states formulaically that the book "should not be construed in any way as an autobiography of an actual governor of Minnesota, God bless him" -- but we are not to take that seriously. And he doesn't really mean, "God bless him," either. What he means is closer to, "Damn him to hell."
Rating:
Summary: Eh, it was okay.
Review: There really isn't a lot that can be said about this book. I read this for a bookring on bookcrossing. This is a satire of wresting, war, and politics. The mayor of Minnesota Jimmy Valente (a Jesse Ventura rip-off) tells his story of how he went from a scrawny adopted kid to a heart throb war veteran to a wrestling legend to a governor. It was a light, quick read that didn't take a lot of thinking. It was amusing, not laugh out loud funny, but it kept my interest. As a wrestling fan, I found it enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Enormous Let Down
Review: This is by far the worst thing I have read by Garrison Keillor, and if you are new to him, I would recommend that you try _The_Book_of_Guys_ or _Wobegon_Boy_ or listening to his radio program before you waste your time on this and end up with a serious distaste for him. Only in a few places does this read like a satire of "The Guv". An enormous section of it reads like a Mad Magazine take on Vietnam movies, with a "Platoon of Stereotypes" and a VC who mixes up his R's and L's. Such schtick might be cute for a few pages, but it takes up much of the book. In general, the book is filled with breathless, over-the-top nonsense which became tiring very quickly. Perhaps Keillor was trying to be too clever, by writing stories as Jimmy Valente might tell them , but the end effect is grating. I've seen some folks take swipes at this because of Keillor's politics. Whatever. There isn't much in here. The satire can be boiled down into three or four good pages. And sometimes it sounds too much like Garrison Keillor and not enough like Jesse (such as a comparision between the New Deal and carbonara sauce)and the effect is ruined. Finally, Ventura's own book is much, much funnier than this one. I'm still out on whether or not he's a good governor, but he's definitely got a sense of humor about himself and a flair for showmanship.
Rating:
Summary: Enormous Let Down
Review: This is by far the worst thing I have read by Garrison Keillor, and if you are new to him, I would recommend that you try _The_Book_of_Guys_ or _Wobegon_Boy_ or listening to his radio program before you waste your time on this and end up with a serious distaste for him. Only in a few places does this read like a satire of "The Guv". An enormous section of it reads like a Mad Magazine take on Vietnam movies, with a "Platoon of Stereotypes" and a VC who mixes up his R's and L's. Such schtick might be cute for a few pages, but it takes up much of the book. In general, the book is filled with breathless, over-the-top nonsense which became tiring very quickly. Perhaps Keillor was trying to be too clever, by writing stories as Jimmy Valente might tell them , but the end effect is grating. I've seen some folks take swipes at this because of Keillor's politics. Whatever. There isn't much in here. The satire can be boiled down into three or four good pages. And sometimes it sounds too much like Garrison Keillor and not enough like Jesse (such as a comparision between the New Deal and carbonara sauce)and the effect is ruined. Finally, Ventura's own book is much, much funnier than this one. I'm still out on whether or not he's a good governor, but he's definitely got a sense of humor about himself and a flair for showmanship.
Rating: 
Summary: very funny satire from Keillor
Review: This is not Lake Wobegon but it is very funny. If you just clipped out the insults that Jimmy says and put them into a book it would be worth the price paid. It is hard to put the book down so it is a good thing that it is not extremely long.
Rating:
Summary: Overall witty, funny but very slow in some spots.
Review: This is nowhere close to the quality of "Lake Wobegon Days" but worth a read, nevertheless. While it is very witty and clever in many places, at other times it really drags and often becomes so silly as to be unbelievable even as the fantasized life of Jimmy "Big Boy" Valente. I think Mr. Keillor rushed this one to the publisher when it could have used some polish and revision.
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