BOOK REVIEWS Courtesy of Beaverdale Books
‘The Monsters of Templeton’
By Lauren Groff
Hyperion
Pub Date: 11/4/2008
$14.95
368 pp
I had so much fun reading “The Monsters of Templeton.” This book, about small-town life, family ties and personal mistakes recounts the lives of fictional Templeton residents from the 1800s to present day. These hilarious and sometimes dark characters behave terribly; their lives are full of wonderfully entertaining scandals.
After her own scandalous actions, which include trying to maneuver a biplane to rundown a rival, Willie Upton returns to her hometown in shame and possibly pregnant. Looking for a diversion from her troubles, Willie begins digging into the history of her town to determine the identity of her birth father. Her search uncovers the crazy actions and secrets of her ancestors.
This book is a fascinating mix of the truth (real pictures and historically based characters); the fantastic (a lake monster named Glimmey and a woman who possesses telepathic fire-starting capabilities); and the literary (an infusion of characters borrowed from James Fenimore Cooper, including a few from “The Last of the Mohicans”).
This is a very different story that beautifully communicates the author’s love for her hometown: “One Winter when I was an adult and very far from my hometown, I’d awaken every night, heartsore, haunted by my dreams of my calm little lake. I missed my village the way I’d miss a person. This book came from that long, dark winter; I wanted to write a love story for Cooperstown.”
I’m sure you’ll relish these juicy, saucy and heartfelt stories about “The Monsters of Templeton.” CV — Review by Laura Flaugher
