Book of Guys CD: Stories

Rating:
Summary: Great storytelling (as expected), but not his best...
Review: Garrison Keillor is an excellent storyteller. I have loved my visits to Lake Wobegon, both through his books and his radio broadcast.

"The Book of Guys" is the kind of funny, well-crafted storytelling you would expect from Keillor. However, he is not at his best here.

These short stories tend to explore some areas that Keillor does not seem to be as comfortable in. They seem, at times, to be an exercise in which G.K. stretched his own limitations, experimenting with different types of characters and situations.

It's a very good book -- very funny, and very well-written. But if you haven't read Keiller before, I would recommend "Lake Wobegon Days" first.

Yet, even Keillor at his absolute worst (and "Book of Guys" is certainly not this!) would probably be worth reading. The man is simply a great storyteller!

Rating:
Summary: more laughs from the master storyteller
Review: Garrison Keillor tells tales so well that he can even make male chauvinism laugh-out-loud hilarious. (I suppose that Comedy Central's "The Man Show" can do that, too, for the Neanderthal set). With titles such as "Buddy the Leper" and "Don Juan in Hell," the listener gets a strange mix of characters from all sides of the frustrated male experience in "The Book of Guys." Combined with Keillor's trademark voice and meditative delivery (a national favorite), you get an audio book guaranteed to please everyone, whether or not you hail from Lake Wobegon. A great recording for any guy, or married woman trying to better understand her husband's mind.

Rating:
Summary: Two hours of my life that I will never get back...
Review: I had never read any of Keillor's books, but if this one was represenative, I'll avoid him completely. The stories were boring and pointless.

Rating:
Summary: BY A GUY -- ABOUT GUYS -- FOR GUYS
Review: The best way to describe THE BOOK OF GUYS would be to say that it is written about guys, by a guy, and for the entertainment of guys. It really is a guy book. Let's take a look at some of the guys:

There are a couple of stories about guy gods: Zeus trapped in the body of an overweight Lutheran minister, and Dionysus undergoing middle age crisis.

Don Giovanni is now a piano playing guy in a seedy lounge in Fargo.

We meet the first President Bush out for an afternoon's fishing with Willie Horton. Just a couple of guys passing the time.

One of my favorite guys is Omoo the Wolf Boy as he raises a litter of human babies and makes them bi-lingual by teaching them Wolfspeak and Humanspeak.

We mustn't forget Earl Grey, the American guy who invented the tea that bears his name, but who can never get over the trauma of being a middle child.

A few others to think about: "Casey at the Bat" told from the standpoint of the other team, Dustburg, "Buddy the Leper," "Roy Bradley, Boy Broadcaster," and we wouldn't want to miss "Herb Johnson, the God of Canton.

I would be remiss if I left out the opening address to "The Federation of Associations Convention." Here, Keillor talks about the annual mid-winter campfire of the "Sons of Bernie" in which several grown guys stand in waist deep snow in 20 degree below zero weather swapping manly guy tales.

This is a sampling of the treats awaiting the reader of THE BOOK OF GUYS.