Rating: 
Summary: Re: Love Me
Review: Reading this novel reminds me of eating dark chocolate-deliciously sexy with slightly bitter undertones.Carl Hiaasen is correct in his NY Times review when he says this is a Norwegian novel because of the self-effacing, socially responsible depiction of the wife Iris, a woman toally unimpressed with wordly fame, but also, I think, because the trajectory of the plot is reminiscent of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, the young artist who abandons faithful Solveig to wander the earth in search of adventure and returns, after many years of dissipation, a broken man to her forgiving arms. As Iris represents Solveig,Tony Crossandotti(cross the t's and dot the i's), the Mafioso who has taken over the New Yorker, could be a stand in for Ibsen's Troll King.
Although the novel is hysterically funny, especially when he makes fun of some famous literary figures such as William Shawn and John Updike,and sex guru,Dr.Ruth, the undercurrent is the melancholy theme of impotence and loss of creative power.This novel is definitely among his best.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best, but pretty good
Review: Some people (like my wife) have no appreciation of Garrison Keillor. I, on the other hand, have been known to temporarily absent myself from a family barbecue and go out to the car so I can turn on NPR and catch the latest News from Lake Woebegon. He is without doubt the most hypnotic storyteller in America today. But if your only exposure to his stuff is Prairie Home Companion, if you've never read his novels, then you don't know that Keillor also has a salty side. My personal favorite is still WLT: A Radio Romance, but this latest offering ranks high on the list. Larry Wyler of St. Paul (Keillor's hometown and his Everytown) has an English degree and the ambition of being published in The New Yorker and living the Good Life. Iris, the love of his life even when they're semi-separated for years, is a no-nonsense do-gooder who doesn't approve of conspicuous consumption. Larry tries hard to come up with the Great Midwestern Novel, but his writing is just too self-conscious and mannered. Finally, spurred by How to Write Your Novel in Thirty Days (we've all read books like that), he cranks out an action-adventure potboiler, sells it within weeks for a big advance, and hits the best seller lists. His ship has come in. He's in demand on radio and television. People line up for his autograph. His publisher advances him a quarter-million for his next book. And all Larry can think about is escaping St. Paul and moving to New York for an office at 25 West 43rd Street, the Mecca of all serious American writers. Of course, his move is spurred also by Iris's discovery of his two almost casual infidelities. And Iris has no interest in New York, so off he goes. He becomes sailing buddies with Bill Shawn, Salinger drops by to chat (in between appearances on TV game shows), Updike tells him about the pistol in his desk drawer, Kael takes him to the movies (and brings her own popcorn). And Larry can't write another damn thing. Blocked like an ailing colon. In desperation, and because he needs the income, he takes on a twice-weekly advice column, "Ask Mr. Blue," for the Minneapolis newspaper, which he delivers by email while remaining in his tiny New York apartment. But that's the only bright spot in his life now. His second novel is a pretentious bomb, immediately remaindered (Barnes & Noble removes the security tags so as not to discourage shoplifters), the only good thing he writes gets left on a train, and he's drinking and gaining weight. But things will brighten up eventually -- sort of. To me, the strongest part of the book is the resilient relationship between Larry and Iris, their crowd of odd friends, and the behind-the-scenes look at the New Yorker staff (to look at them, you'd never know they were all Sicilian and that the publisher was a Mafioso). The letters Mr. Blue receives and Larry's replies -- his only writing that seems to come easy -- go a bit over the top, I think, though they also serve as markers in his own life. And I would have left off the Epilogue entirely; it's way too much of a downer and threatens to spoil the essentially hopeful thrust of the rest of the book. Still, Keillor is mostly successful, as he mostly always is, and I shall be looking forward to his next.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been better
Review: The prologue of Love Me basically tells you what happens in the book. Larry Wyler, a struggling writer from St. Paul, Minnesota, will finally write a successful novel, accept a job working for the New Yorker, and leave his wife Iris behind as he goes to NYC for what he thinks will be a more fulfilling life. Then, after a stinker of a second novel, he will begin writing an advice column for a paper in Minnesota before renouncing his pointless life in NYC once and for all and throwing himself at his wife's feet.You expect that this plot overview, given to you in the very first pages, will be fleshed out; you expect that you will get to know the characters better and get a better feel of their world, both external and emotional. You don't though, and that's what is so disappointing. The characters are not well-developed, and when describing Larry's conflicts - his struggle with failure and aging and extramarital temptations - Keillor often resorts to clich?s. His style of writing also prevents you from getting a clear picture of things. When describing a new locale, for example, he'll just throw details at you in long sentences broken by dozens of commas. You don't get a tangible feel of his characters' world. What made me finish the book was the advice columns and the various parodies of bad poetry. Keillor is great at parody and creates some of the weirdest, funniest complaints and requests for advice that people send to newspapers. It's hilarious. The novel also has some great moments of humor when dealing with the inner workings of the New Yorker and the big name writers that populate its offices and halls. I was also rewarded for sticking to the novel's end by some of the sentiments in its final pages, namely the love and humility felt by Larry as he tries to woo his way back into his wife's heart. So the book is not without its good points, it's just that Keillor is capable of doing better.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: The prologue of Love Me basically tells you what happens in the book. Larry Wyler, a struggling writer from St. Paul, Minnesota, will finally write a successful novel, accept a job working for the New Yorker, and leave his wife Iris behind as he goes to NYC for what he thinks will be a more fulfilling life. Then, after a stinker of a second novel, he will begin writing an advice column for a paper in Minnesota before renouncing his pointless life in NYC once and for all and throwing himself at his wife's feet. You expect that this plot overview, given to you in the very first pages, will be fleshed out; you expect that you will get to know the characters better and get a better feel of their world, both external and emotional. You don't though, and that's what is so disappointing. The characters are not well-developed, and when describing Larry's conflicts - his struggle with failure and aging and extramarital temptations - Keillor often resorts to clichés. His style of writing also prevents you from getting a clear picture of things. When describing a new locale, for example, he'll just throw details at you in long sentences broken by dozens of commas. You don't get a tangible feel of his characters' world. What made me finish the book was the advice columns and the various parodies of bad poetry. Keillor is great at parody and creates some of the weirdest, funniest complaints and requests for advice that people send to newspapers. It's hilarious. The novel also has some great moments of humor when dealing with the inner workings of the New Yorker and the big name writers that populate its offices and halls. I was also rewarded for sticking to the novel's end by some of the sentiments in its final pages, namely the love and humility felt by Larry as he tries to woo his way back into his wife's heart. So the book is not without its good points, it's just that Keillor is capable of doing better.
Rating:
Summary: No, this one just falls short of satisfying...
Review: There are a few big laughs, the best coming at the expense of us liberals, in fact, but overall, "Love Me" is NOT a funny novel. It is instead quite sad. The hero is not likeable, the in-jokes about New Yorker magazine history (which I understood, yet didn't like) are too frequent and too strained, there is too much adultery and drunkeness and self-pity. I am a fan of GK, but I don't quite understand what audience this one was aimed at, or what point it was supposed to have. Hero Larry Wyler gets lucky with a first novel, and leaves a pretty good wife behind in St. Paul while he tries to sustain the big time in Manhattan. He fails as a New Yorker writer, fails with novel number two, and fails with the ladies he cheats with. The book offers an uncomfortable mixture of realism and fantasy (The New Yorker run by Mafia, famous authors hanging out all day at the offices, a killing at the end which comes off as stupid rather than scary or comic or tragic.) I began this with high hopes, but it took me three weeks to finish, because as each chapter ended, I began to care less about how the lead character resolved his situation. Exactly the opposite reaction to what GK intended, I'm sure. I stuck it out, but frankly, like some movie previews, all the best stuff was packed in the first seven minutes, so-to-speak. I think a novel based on the best adventures of comic detective Guy Noir from "Prairie Home Companion" would have rewarded GK's time and labor in much greater measure. I LIKE Guy Noir, but I ended up with no respect for Larry Wyler of "Love Me." A tragic twist at the end was a surprise, but it didn't help. Better luck next time, GK.
Rating: 
Summary: Love Me
Review: This book is a waste of time. Garrison Keillor should stick to his Lake Woebegon stories.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Blue and Other Oddities.
Review: This is classic Garrison Keillor at his irreverent best. When he was in Knoxville, he haranged the Presbysterians. Just so he will know, we're not all that demonination -- I am Methodist! Oh dear, what would he have to say about that?
For some reason, I have the feeling he bases the character of Larry Wyler on himself as he makes fun of his arrogance and self-sufficiency as he leaves home to take on the big Apple, New York City. The wife Iris is obviously Mary Guntzel to whom he praises her memory as a friend of the helpless. We need more MGs in today's world.
Some of this novel is hilarious and so much like his public radio program 'A Prairie Home Companion' with all the drama and strangeness he finds in the towns where he is appearing. In a way it is funny; though, even though I like him for his humor, I think I might take offense if he came to Pulaski and made fun of the KKK. A school teacher from Minneapolis, MN, wrote a memoir which upset her father's family. She doesn't know the reality about the KKK (or that it was founded in Pulaski, TN, to protect both the blacks and white from carpetbeggars), although this book shows that some of her father's relatives had been involved in the Klan. She had the police, even public and church officials active in this corrupt organization, as she did not do her research into its roots.
One note of interest: the Klan proliferated in Mississippi from Louisiana, after John Kennedy became U. S. President in late 1963. It is revealed that her cousin, Preacher Killen, a local sawmill operator, had participated in the murder of the three civil rights workers; he was released in 1967 by a deadlocked state jury. She did not talk with him. Some locals called the white boys involved trash. Now, that's something Keillor would say -- in a joking way, of course. Those Northerners just know know about the lower class people in the South.
I think the winters are rough in Minnesota so he has to come up with something besides alcohol to keep himself warm. His attempts to be an advice columnist has much to be desired, but so do most of the legitimate ones. I did like Ann Landers and her sister, Abby.
Everything in Lake Wobegon is small and drab, I'm sure, after being in large towns like Knoxville, cities like Nashville, and even L.A. Now, he has fourteen books published, past the unlucky number. I think it would be hard to love a man who makes fun of just about everything and everybody, especially Democrats -- and I do tend to vote for them! What would he have to say about Al Gore and the way the election was taken away from him? If he is Republican, he would of course deny it!
Rating:
Summary: Please, Mr. Blue, help a poor sinner!
Review: This is classic Garrison Keillor at his irreverent best. When he was in Knoxville, he haranged the Presbysterians. Just so he will know, we're not all that demonination -- I am Methodist! Oh dear, what would he have to say about that? For some reason, I have the feeling he bases the character of Larry Wyler on himself as he makes fun of his arrogance and self-sufficiency as he leaves home to take on the big Apple, New York City. The wife Iris is obviously Mary Guntzel to whom he praises her memory as a friend of the helpless. We need more MGs in today's world. Some of this novel is hilarious and so much like his public radio program 'A Prairie Home Companion' with all the drama and strangeness he finds in the towns where he is appearing. In a way it is funny; though, even though I like him for his humor, I think I might take offense if he came to Pulaski and made fun of the KKK. I think the winters are rough in Minnesota so he has to come up with something besides alcohol to keep himself warm. His attempts to be an advice columnist has much to be desired, but so do most of the legitimate ones. I did like Ann Landers and her sister, Abby. Everything in Lake Wobegon is small and drab, I'm sure, after being in large towns like Knoxville, cities like Nashville, and even L.A. Now, he has fourteen books published, past the unlucky number. I think it would be hard to love a man who makes fun of just about everything and everybody, especially Democrats -- and I do tend to vote for them! What would he have to say about Al Gore and the way the election was taken away from him? If he is Republican, he would of course deny it!
Rating: 
Summary: Stick to Lake Woebegone
Review: This was like "Lake Wobegone meets New York City." It just did not work for me. The characters were pretty one-dimensional and the scenes at the New Yorker just plain silly in a tedious way. (Normally for me, silly is a big plus.) The best parts of the book were the letters to Mr. Blue. I was disappointed.
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