Books

Garrison Keillor is the originator, in 1974, of Prairie Home Companion, a resurrection of the old-time musical-comedy radio variety show. For his latest book, he goes back to the mythical locale he's most associated with: the moody, painfully subdued people of Lake Wobegon, Minn.

Liberty is an ironic novel about people who have unknowingly rejected real liberty in favor of lives of moral captivity. Clint Bunsen has had enough and is in crisis. He's a mordant Norwegian Lutheran auto mechanic who realizes, too late, that he took the wrong turn one day on his path to liberty. He's mired in the ennui of rhubarb pie and lutefisk.

At 60, he has crashed into the impenetrable wall of sexual and artistic regret. Most men are so dazed after the crash they can't think straight, but Clint can pinpoint the crux of his missed opportunity. It was in California, after the Navy, that he should have remained, entered art school, lived fully, for himself and for art. "The saddest words of pen or tongue: I meant to go when I was young."

Imagine one of Mr. Keillor's monologues, stretched to 247 pages. Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy down at the Chatterbox Cafe, the Sons of Knute, Pastor Ingqvist, seemingly every one of the mythical town's 2,182 citizens appears in the book. It's the literary equivalent of a Brueghel painting, a detailed picture of normally dour townspeople suddenly animated and engaged, if crankily, in some kind of community fun.

In this case, it's the annual Fourth of July celebration with a fireworks show sponsored by Homeland Security. CNN is coming, and Clint is in charge of deciding whether Cowpie Bingo, the Betsy Ross blanket toss, the Fabulous Frisbee Dogs of Fergus Falls, a cat juggler and the women of the Marching Handbell Choir will be included in the parade. And who, among such entrants as the Soybean Queen, Mr. Topps, the Human Gyro, Miss Pork, and Congresswoman Georgia Brickhouse's controversial "dead soldiers" exhibit, will be accepted for a parade float.

Clint's authority is challenged on every decision by cantankerous aspiring participants, but he doesn't care. He's preoccupied with the problems of his failing Ford dealership, his diligently melancholy wife, Irene, and their dopey slacker son. Also, spurred by his recent DNA results showing he's not who he thought he was, he's frantically dallying with lusty Miss Liberty, Angelica Pflame, who's half his age and giving him another chance at his youthful missed opportunity.

Irene gets her gun, and Clint's fate rolls along as absurdly as does the chaotic parade, propelled by the gas of oddball calamities and sub-ironic trivialities that lead, sometimes, to an understanding of the townfolks' incarcerated emotions.

And that's the news from Lake Wobegon.

NPR commentator Tom Dodge, www.tomdodge books.com, lives in Midlothian.

Garrison Keillor

(Viking, $25.95) Plan your life

Garrison Keillor will discuss and sign Liberty 7 p.m. Tuesday at Unity Church of Dallas, 6525 Forest Lane. $10 suggested donation. Tickets at 972-233-7106, ext. 4.

ARCHIVES: Search for more stories on this and other topics | Search Tips

SUBSCRIBE: Get The Dallas Morning News delivered to your home