Home on the Prairie

November 3, 2003
Those who love Keillor's long-running radio broadcast, A Prairie Home Companion
, will cherish this collection of stories harvested from shows aired between 1999 and 2003. The hushed intensity of Keillor's voice lulls listeners into a world where good people live good lives, and for a little while, we are allowed to live them too. Keillor gently coaxes his stories through fertile territory, meandering into a childhood memory and then veering back to a central theme. In one story, a bride at a Labor Day wedding rejects her Lutheran background only to be buoyed up later by these same values. In another, listeners drop in on a tomato growing contest at the county fair. Never have tomatoes seemed so tempting as they do when Keillor describes the row of plump offerings awaiting verdicts. These stories are like the tomatoes: lovingly tended, juicy and bursting with life. Snippets of old-fashioned music dance between each tale, evoking the songs Mrs. Ingqvist, the preacher's wife, might play in the parlor on a Sunday afternoon. With its welcoming atmosphere and the stories' warmly familiar opening and closing lines, this cozy collection reminds listeners that life in Lake Wobegon still goes on, even in these troubled times.

April 1, 2004
Keillor steps onto a stage and says, "It was a quiet week in Lake Wobegon," and the audience goes wild. They know that they are in the presence of one of the finest storytellers of our time and that soon they will be transported to a small Minnesota town that lives in the mind of Keillor. In these 16 stories, he makes us laugh at the antics of the residents and then brings us close to tears as we recognize our own neighbors, family, friends, and even ourselves. Keillor can talk about the courtship of a Lutheran boy and a Catholic girl, a naked man hanging on to a tow rope, an infestation of tent caterpillars, or any number of other topics and make us believe we were right there with him. The art of adult storytelling is a fading one; most people can name only Paul Harvey and Charles Osgood as examples. This is why it is vitally important for libraries to offer patrons the chance to close their eyes and let Keillor take them on a magical journey to a funny little town where nothing happens....and everything happens. All of us live in a "Lake Wobegon," but it takes a master storyteller to open our eyes to the magic all around us. Recommended for all libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Lompoc, CA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.