Wobegon mechanic and organizer of 4th of July parade has affair and contemplates leaving wife

I love GK's perspective on life in the US. ( )

I'm the protagonist in the novel, so I thought it was great. It's amazing how well Keillor continues to mine Lake Wobegon for all it's worth. It seemed so superficial in the beginning. It was just a setting for some radio monologues. It's proving to be as detailed and epic as Middle Earth - and much funnier. The book is, in fact, an expansion of a classic 4th of July "News from Lake Wobegon" where the Statue of Liberty in the parade wore nothing underneath her robe. Clint Busen's dilemma is a classic. Does he bit the bullet for the rest of his miserable wasted life? Or does he grasp the life preserver thrown to him by a younger woman and head west for a glorious final inning. This is typical Lake Wobegon in every way. Maybe the best yet. ( )

The story centres around Clint Bunsen, who is in charge of the Lake Wobegon Fourth of July Celebration and Parade for the last time.
His brother Clarence wants Clint to buy out Clarence's share of Bunsen Motors, a business that isn't exactly thriving. Clint is bored with his wife and his life. He is turning 60 and he feels like he has missed out on his chance for happiness.
There are plenty of groups of people who want to take part in the festivities, and Bunsen has attracted no end of ire by trying to prune some of them out of the picture. Then he meets a lovely young woman on the internet and races headlong into an affair. He has also just received DNA test results which show that he is primarily of Hispanic rather than Scandinavian ethnicity, which comes as a shock.
Like Keillor's other Lake Wobegon novels, Liberty is populated by a quirky supporting cast of grumpy farmers, very gloomy people of Norwegian/German descent, and crazy locals known for their wild and unpredictable behaviour, but these are so removed from the narration that they are eclipsed by Clint, who isn't a strong enough narrator to carry the novel. We hear briefly from Clint's long-suffering wife Irene, from a crazy gun-toting conspiracy theory bachelor, and from several politicians, but Clint is the main source of the observations regarding Lake Wobegon and its annual parade.
Clint is given very little time to consider the outcomes of all these crises before he makes decisions, making him more a victim of circumstances rather than taking control of his own destiny.
Keillor’s great story-telling skill is here, the characters are all familiar, amusing epsiodes and descriptions abound, and Clint’s midlife crisis was handled tenderly. But the core of the story is Clint Bunsen's disappointments with his life. He is unhappy, and his unhappiness colours everything else in the book.
This wasn't one of my favourite Lake Wobegon novels, but it's a nice read on a Sunday afternoon. ( )

After reading three depressing books in a row, I decided to cheer myself up with a Garrison Keillor book, so I picked up Liberty. The first chapter had me laughing--yea! I was listening to this as an audiobook, and then Garrison Keillor started reading me a sex scene. Ew!! Sorry, but I'm pretty sure no one but Mrs. Garrison Keillor wants to hear that. I'm sure she would have loved it. ( )