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Title details for Pontoon by Garrison Keillor - Available

Pontoon

by Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Audiobook
1 of 3 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 3 copies available
It's Lake Wobegon as you've imagined it: a tightly knit community that sometimes draws you home and sometimes gives you wings to fly away.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    September 11, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781598875270
      • File size: 240740 KB
      • Duration: 08:21:32

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Life, love, death, hope, and a hysterical scene involving a bowling ball and a parasail. It's all in this wonderful new Lake Wobegon novel, written and read by Garrison Keillor. The plot largely revolves around four characters: Debbie Detmer, who, after many years in California, has returned home to hold her "commitment ceremony"; Evelyn Peterson, an unexpected woman, whose death makes all kinds of things happen; and Evelyn's daughter and grandson, who learn to cope with the past and future. Various townsfolk also appear in much the way they do in Keillor's monologues on "A Prairie Home Companion." The results are moving, tear-jerking, and very, very funny. And the narration--well, it is the best it could possibly be. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, AudioFile Best Audiobook of 2007 (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 20, 2007
      K eillor's delightful latest addition to the Lake Wobegon series, set in the fictional Minnesota town known to legions of A Prairie Home Companion
      radio show fans, opens with a typically laconic musing: “Evelyn was an insomniac, so when they say she died in her sleep, you have to question that.” The author's storytelling skills come to the fore as he describes Evelyn Peterson, a sprightly 82-year-old whose secret life of romance and adventure is revealed after her death. Her daughter, Barbara, a please-everyone type with a fondness for chocolate liqueur, finds Evelyn dead in bed, and things snowball from there. Debbie Detmer, who made her fortune as an animal therapist for the rich and famous, is planning a grand commitment ceremony (on a pontoon boat in Lake Wobegon) to celebrate her relationship with a private jet time-share salesman. Meanwhile, Barbara plans to carry out her mother's wishes for a cremation ceremony involving a bowling ball filled with her ashes, and then there's the group of Danish Lutheran ministers stopping by Lake Wobegon on their tour of the U.S. Keillor's longtime fans may find some of the material familiar (he notes he's told this story “several hundred times... with many variations”), but there's plenty of fun to be had with the well-timed deadpans and homespun wit.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 24, 2007
      In the wake of Evelyn's death, the residents of Lake Wobegon ride higher waves of absurdity and simplicity than ever before. Her last words reveal a whole other life few knew about and cast a wide net of influence on the community, not the least of which includes her daughter and grandson. In his idiosyncratic manner, Keillor brings to life the town of Lake Wobegon with spiraling arcs of tales, vignettes and sketches of its residents that pull together into a reflective commentary on the journey from crib to crypt. Keillor has decades of radio experience and a velvety voice and cadence that instantly charms listeners. His deep voice is tempered by a soft and deliberate delivery that can often be melodious and sinewy. Though his female characters only vaguely distinguish themselves from one another, it does not distract from the narration as a whole. One surprising distraction of this audiobook's production: throughout, as Keillor finishes with a page, he audibly flips to the next. Simultaneous release with the Viking hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 20).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.