Sweet land of liberty

I fell in love with Garrison Keillor’s timeless, almost soporific prose, so perfectly matching his voice (or should that be the other way round?), through Radio 4.  If you know The Prairie Home Companion, you will already be a fan; if not, you really must try some (there's a link further down, a more serious thoughtful piece).  I immediately went out and read Lake Wobegon Days, and enjoyed it immensely – the self regarding, small minded but still wise voices of small town America; the humour, conscious by Keillor but all too often unintentional by his marvellous characters; the joy and the sympathy in every word.  A colleague in a small town north of Chicago alerted me to the existence of tapes of the radio broadcasts, and I was hooked.  The book was marvellous, but the voice was almost perfect ... here are the traditional start and ending of his broadcasts: 

It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon ...

... That’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

Sadly, although I have enjoyed much by Keillor since, the standard has not been maintained; he has all too often failed to “capture that first fine careless rapture”.  Liberty returns once more to Lake Wobegon, and to a favourite theme, the 4 July parade, and the infamous difficulties of the “living flag”, with most of the population wearing a red, white, or blue cap in order to recreate the star-spangled banner; sadly, the small population and the number of participants required means that there is almost no audience!  Over the years, the parade has got bigger and brasher, and last year was on national television, further inflaming the rivalry between the small town traditionalists and the make a splash patriots. The man at the centre of this is Clint Bunsen who chooses to have a mid-life crisis and an extra-marital affair over the months of the parade’s preparation.

Frankly, I enjoyed this, but I was still disappointed.  There are some great lines, and some marvellous scenes – Clint’s wife holding up his mistress with a gun at the height of the festivities is one, and the apparent act of cunnilingus by a Senator on a local beauty (on national television, again – and she’s actually Clint’s mistress) is sidesplitting  - and absolutely clean, family fun, too, by the way.  I feel the magic is a bit diluted; but for long time lovers of Lake Wobegon, there is still much to enjoy; but if you’re yet to be converted, get yourself a tape of the News From Lake Wobegon from Prairie Home Companion, or read Lake Wobegon Days.

Comments

[glo]

If my memory serves me well, you have already reviewed Lake Wobegon Days last year, but I won't go dig out in old posts now to prove it. The title of your post was 'Lake Wobegone Days' or something approaching. And you mentioned the same quotation about men, women and children, and other similarly mouth-watering quotations too.
Ever since, the southern suburb of Chicago has become more fashionable and trendy due to another famous Senator...