Lake Wobegon Summer 1956
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Narrated by:
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Garrison Keillor
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By:
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Garrison Keillor
About this listen
In his latest novel, Garrison Keillor describes the making of a writer who comes of age in classic Wobegon style. It's just what his fans have been waiting for: trademark wit, brilliant humor, great storytelling, and an extended stay in "the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve".
©2001 Garrison Keillor (P)2001 HighBridge CompanyListeners also enjoyed...
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WOW! Just WOW.
- By chamilton on 07-09-16
By: Richard Fifield
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Lit
- A Memoir
- By: Mary Karr
- Narrated by: Mary Karr
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.
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Finally! One for the "Win" column
- By Kim on 03-22-10
By: Mary Karr
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Georgia Bottoms
- A Novel
- By: Mark Childress
- Narrated by: Debra Monk
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A best-selling author of books for adults and children, Mark Childress pens his most outrageous work yet with Georgia Bottoms. The titular heroine is the epitome of the church-going Southern belle, except for one teeny-tiny aspect of her life. Georgia’s family inheritance has long since evaporated, and to maintain her genteel lifestyle, Miss Bottoms has taken six affluent lovers—the fly in the ointment being that one is a married preacher who’s about to reveal their infidelity to the whole congregation.
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Fun Listen
- By Sue on 04-08-11
By: Mark Childress
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A Girl Named Zippy
- Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of 300 people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period - people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
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Beautifully written, beautifully read.
- By shopgirl on 03-06-08
By: Haven Kimmel
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Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
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MORRISON AT HER MOST COMPLEX
- By Kennedi Hill on 11-07-19
By: Toni Morrison
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Mermaids
- By: Patty Dann
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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So begins this extraordinary first novel about one wild year in the life of 14-year-old Charlotte Flax, when she and her sister Kate move with Mrs. Flax into a sleepy 1960's Massachusetts town. Mrs. Flax is a woman who wears polka-dot dresses and serves hors d'oeuvres for dinner every night, and Kate is a child who basically wants to be a fish. And then there's Charlotte, who in Patty Dann's hands, is transformed into a young woman of infinite whim and variety.
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Finally!
- By Daryl on 05-07-13
By: Patty Dann
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The White Boy Shuffle
- A Novel
- By: Paul Beatty
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Beatty's hilarious and scathing debut novel, The White Boy Shuffle, is about Gunnar Kaufman, an awkward, black surfer bum who is moved by his mother from Santa Monica to urban West Los Angeles. There, he begins to undergo a startling transformation from neighborhood outcast to basketball superstar, and eventually to reluctant messiah of a "divided, downtrodden people".
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So beautiful
- By mp on 06-15-18
By: Paul Beatty
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Homesick for Another World
- Stories
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan, Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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There's something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh's stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities.
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Funny, Dynamic Writing
- By Sofia Macht on 06-13-18
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
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Gathering of Waters
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi - a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families. Tass Hilson and Emmett Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit
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Loved it!!
- By Naima on 07-26-16
What listeners say about Lake Wobegon Summer 1956
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Brandon in PA
- 08-14-24
Oddly Very Sexual and Meandering
My wife and I started listening on a road trip with our 17 yr old daughter. Had to change to a different book because of the odd sexual content care of a recurring naration of stories from a magazine called "High School Orgies".
My wife and I did end up listening to the rest of the book on our own, but even upon finishing the novel, we were left scratching our heads, wondering why it was so sexually explicit.
Not that we a prudes or anything, but the explicit sexuality didn't seem necessary nor did it seem to add to the story - a story which was very meandering and left us wondering what was the point of that. Don't get me wrong, we absolutely love Keilor's writing style, creativity, and narration, but this one left us saying to each other "what was that about?"
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- Larry
- 12-01-11
Not for everyone. Rated PG 14
Seems to be preoccupied, as a teenager would be, with the excessive sexual urges and innuendos the descriptiveness of which takes away from the plot. I have enjoyed Garrison's work on both the radio and in books, but would turn on the parental controls for this one. Many of the backgrounds are common to his work and a walk down memory lane for the targeted age group.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Becky Hofer
- 02-14-21
Superb
Garrison Keillor at his best. A delightful read, taking one nack several decades. Get lost in this one. It's delicious.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-24-21
THANK YOU GARRISON!, YOU HAVE ENLIGHTENED ME
I have always appreciated the author, sincerely imagining myself a gratefull fellow citizen of woebegon for years.
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Overall
- Michael
- 01-20-05
Very Nice Surprise for Me
I am not what you would call a reader. I have a very long commute and my mother first got me hooked on audiobooks 10 years ago with Star Wars and then Stephen King. I have ventured away from that type of genre, but action adventure is my favorite. This book was a reach for me, but I ended up loving it. I never listened to any of his other stuff. I must admit, when his odd voice first started and he went into too many metaphors about everyday things, I questioned what I was in for. However, his voice grew on me quickly and his characters even quicker. This book actually had me laughing out loud as this early junior high aged "jesuit witness" battles the guilt of wanting to learn about sex and the guilty thoughts of his grandfather looking down on him from heaven shaking his head and saying things like what would your mother think about you looking at your own cousin like that. We've all been there and he brought that all back to me in such a fun way. Great fun and heart!
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kent
- 08-02-08
Spinning a fine web of tales of the lake
In his usual and customary droll Garrison Keillor leads us through a curious web of life for a teenager in Lake Wobegon. The "frog", Gary, at 15 is a wannabe writer who gets to write the sports column for the local baseball team while fantasizing his sexuality in stories written on an Underwood typewriter given him by his Uncle Sugar.
Life can can be difficult in this small town of 1200 where everyone knows each other and the local gossip travels faster than the telephone. This is Gary's pivotal teen year as he becomes involved with his cousin Kate and watches the world come down around him.
I found the story fascinating and have replayed it several times. A word of caution to readers with tender ears. The book in several places includes sexual content that could be disturbing to the "innocent minded". Please remember that this is written through eyes of a teenager. His thoughts are just like those of pubescent boys throughout the planet.
I usually buy the unabridged audio books narrated by the author. I find that it creates the mood the author intended; and as I travel I have the audio books for listening pleasure. I hope you enjoy "Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 as much as I did.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-31-23
I appreciated the bodily function
Loved the types of fart. I thought they were real funny. A good one to listen.
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- Lil
- 05-07-24
More risque than usual
not the usual stories. didnt like this one as much. sone of the stories didnt fit the vibe he usualky writes on.
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Overall
- Keith Junk
- 06-08-08
Not what I expected
Not at all what I expected. Couldn't finish the book even though I have been a "Lake Wobegon" listener for many years.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-21-24
Content Disappointing
I have always enjoyed Garrison's wit and humor. There was some of that here, but the predominant perversion made it a major disappointment. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
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