LEAVING HOME

Heartily entertaining follow-up to Keillor's major Lake Wobegon success, comprising 36 interconnected Wobegon stories—including Keillor's farewell monologue from the final Prairie Home Companion radio broadcast. It has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon—well, not so quiet when you consider the lightning that struck the Tollerud farm Tuesday, or Wally's new pontoon boat that capsized with a crew of 24 Lutheran ministers on board, or Father Emil's announcement that he'd be leaving Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility. Leaving? Apparently so—and with his now-familiar and deeply effective blend of humor, nostalgia, and horse sense, Keillor takes another stroll through town, this time organizing the tour around characters who, for one reason or another, have left, are leaving, or think they're leaving Lake Wobegon. There are Exiles like Larry the Sad Boy and Eddie the Jealous Boy returning for Christmas dinner, guys that can't stay away, though more than a few locals wish they could; there's Dale gone off to join the Navy, and Darlene packing it in at the Chatterbox Cafe; and there's Father Emil, who, much as he talks about quitting, just can't seem to buck the Wobegon habit. If Lake Wobegon defined the essential and slightly sentimentalized American town, Leaving Home portrays it in a state of flux and recombination. But though divorce, military service, and big-city money hover near the periphery, Wobegon endures, anchored in the firm conviction that you don't have to be a big shot to have a good time, that, as far as happiness goes, it doesn't get much better than having a cool beer at Wally's Sidetrack Tap. Once again, Keillor has shown himself to be in superb command of his craft, dusting and polishing American lore and idiom up to a warm glow, and handling his characters with equal measures of humor and affection.