The Monsters of Templeton

May 30, 2009 Jeanette "Astute Crabbist" rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: four-star-fiction, all-fiction, just-plain-bizarre

You wouldn't know it unless she told you, but this is Lauren Groff's wacky love letter to Cooperstown, NY, where she grew up. If you really want to enjoy this book, it's best to relax and just accept it all in a spirit of playfulness. It's a wild and goofy collage full of secrets and pretend secrets and mostly benign 'monsters' and ghosts.

Willie Upton returns home to Templeton after a doomed relationship goes awry. After she settles in, her mother Vivienne tells her that the story she's always ...more

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May 27, 2008 Jamie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I won't lie. I'm reluctant to give this book four stars...but, you see, I have to, because I DID get up early to read it and I did stay up until two a.m. on a weeknight. Heck, if I'm being honest, while I did not stay home specifically FOR finishing this book, it made what would have been a pretty crap day enjoyable.
But still, I'm hesitant to recommend it. I have this suspicion most of my friends wouldn't get through it. It was, at different points, many things: novice, tricky to follow, going, I won't lie. I'm reluctant to give this book four stars...but, you see, I have to, because I DID get up early to read it and I did stay up until two a.m. on a weeknight. Heck, if I'm being honest, while I did not stay home specifically FOR finishing this book, it made what would have been a pretty crap day enjoyable.
But still, I'm hesitant to recommend it. I have this suspicion most of my friends wouldn't get through it. It was, at different points, many things: novice, tricky to follow, going, plot-wise, in a million directions--Sometiems I had to flip back to remember who the hell was who, and, above all, it was kind of unbelievable...well, truly unbelievable. BUT, I didn't get it to be believable, I got it to be entertaining, and so it was...in the same way those Lifetime movies draw you in. It's not real life--there's an EDGE of real, and in a few years, this lady might really, really be something.
And, don't get me wrong: it's not that she employed the weird tactic of having a real monster in her book. I dug the monster, it was that she employed a lot of little faulty tactics to keep things chuggin': the pictures of family members on each chapter's cover page (which, I would flip back to look at, so it wasn't pointless, BUT, I did think, serveral times "why do I keep looking? These are just flea market photos this chick found at Alameda or something." So, the tactic worked and didn't. Hard to say, huh?
I also feel compelled to mention, I am and nearly always have been, a huge history dork. Like, for instance, history tests weren't so much annoying to study for, but fun, because I like periods, dresses, goings-ons, etc. So it's quite possible this book might just be trash to someone who's not so dorky about the civil war and/or community museums. Because...this was a little like walking through the Elizabeth Roszier gallery (which is, ahem, the local community gallery in my home town in Missouri.)
I also hated that Willie's name was something as unusual as Wilhilmina, and nobody said where here American, exhippie mom had yanked it from. There were also parts that read more like short stories I wrote when i was in middle school (but, I couldn't write a four hundred page novel that makes someone get up early in the morning, and she did, so maybe I ought to shut up).
Oh, boo. I'm such a black and white kind of gal, it's hard for me to say that this book was good and awful, but that's all I can do. It's quite an accomplishement, it is--it was a fun read, interesting, but I would be lying if I said I found the chracters and/or relationships feesible, or that I didn't spend a LOT of time with my brow furrowed thinking, "really? This many characters or THAT name seemed unworthy of some explaination?"
It was quite an well woven story though. It was, it was. I mean, it all checked out like a good episode of Matlock, but...it also was kind of like reading something self-published...a little pedantic, sort of overly ambitious for what I assume to be a first full length novel...A little Crash topics in Calamity Physics--good, but...not with out room for improvement.
**To borrow this authors tactic, I am leaving a side: By comparing to CTiCP I hope it is noted that this book is NOT as good as the latter. Just has some similarities and flights of whimsy. ...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Forrest rated it really liked it · review of another edition

About my relationship with The Monsters of Templeton . . . it's complicated.

Before we met, I had heard a wide range of opinions about the book. Now, my tastes lean toward the obscure. I don't tend to read the popular ones and I have a bit of prejudice toward them. "If it's that popular, it can't be that good," I will sometimes (mistakenly) reason. And this book, well, this book had gotten around. The town of Goodreads had been gossiping about this one for a while, with opinions ranging from "it ...more

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Nov 17, 2010 Oriana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Oriana by: karen

Shelves: read-2010

IDK if i would have ever picked this up, but Karen is a very persuasive bookdate.

And I'm so glad! This book is really lovely. Sensual, lush language; well-developed, totally relatable characters; a plot that is exciting and challenging, and on and on.

As always, the fact that I am a quick and uncareful reader prevented me from really following all the historical personages and twisty intrigue, and I probably missed a few "Aha!" moments, but that didn't stop me from loving being along for the ri ...more

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May 16, 2015 Nikoleta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magical-realist

Ένα βιβλίο που μου άρεσε πολύ. Ένα ενήλικο παραμύθι που η ιστορία του διανύει πολλές γενιές. Όταν η Βιλελμίνα γυρνάει στο πατρικό της κ μαθαίνει ότι ο πατέρας της, τον οποίο δεν γνωρίζει, κατάγεται από το ίδιο γενεαλογικό δέντρο με την μητέρα της (το μοναδικό στοιχείο που έχει για την ταυτότητα του)αρχίζει μια τρελή έρευνα για το παρελθον των προγονών της. Και εκεί είναι το ενδιαφέρον του βιβλίου. Κάθε κεφάλαιο αφόρα την ιστορία ενός διαφορετικού προγόνου κάθε φορά, αλλά οι ιστορίες τους δεν είν ...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Teresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I wanted to read this book because I've been to Cooperstown; and while knowing the town is not necessary, it certainly enhanced my enjoyment of the novel with my being able to visualize the streets, etc. in my head (especially since it's such a novel of 'place' -- another element that appeals to me). While this novel isn't 'great literature' (and why should it be!), I do think it's a 'literary novel'. But most of all, it was fun and inventive and smart, and I enjoyed the whole experience of it.

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Nov 11, 2013 Erica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-pregnancy, real-life-fiction, women-and-girls, love-and-romance, mystery, family-saga, witches-vampires-ghosts-werewolves, supernatural, audiobook, dead-friends-and-family, men-and-boys, murder, girlfriend-power, mothers-and-their-kids, daddies-and-daughters

Awww!
This book totally makes me squeal (in my mind, so as not to disturb those around me), "Awww!" Like the Portlandia dumpster diver. I can't find a Portlandia Aww meme and am too lazy to make my own, so just imagine it here and move along.

Here are the things that just tickled me pink (I'm already pink, though)(well, kind of an olive pink, so...pinive. I'm pinive)(no, not oink. Don't even)
-The mayor sports ornamental canes and too-short shorts! Bwahahaha! Such perfect small-town imagery, it cra Awww!
This book totally makes me squeal (in my mind, so as not to disturb those around me), "Awww!" Like the Portlandia dumpster diver. I can't find a Portlandia Aww meme and am too lazy to make my own, so just imagine it here and move along.

Here are the things that just tickled me pink (I'm already pink, though)(well, kind of an olive pink, so...pinive. I'm pinive)(no, not oink. Don't even)
-The mayor sports ornamental canes and too-short shorts! Bwahahaha! Such perfect small-town imagery, it cracked me up so much.
--Finding out your dad(s) isn't your dad! YES! YES! I know all about this! And the worry, the "Crap! I may have dated my brother because I didn't know we were related!" when you're in a small town and both parents live there! OMG! YES!
---Yay for Library Love even if the librarians start out as stereotypes. But that the author moved beyond the stereotypes to explore the other stereotype (that librarians are quirky and hard to figure out until you get to know them) = SO MUCH LOVE!
----Awww! Monsters with little dead people dolls! Adorable!

I really enjoyed listening to this. I liked the reader quite well, I liked the story, I liked the family history being untangled (I'm a sucker for those stories), I liked the setting and how it was based on James Fenimore Cooper's town and works, I liked the dead lake monster. I liked it all...except Willie.
It's not that I didn't like Willie, per se, but that I was bored by her, specifically. In my mind, she was more of a hub, the reason we got to hear all these other stories. She seemed younger than her 27 (28?) years; she was ridiculously self-involved which didn't seem to make sense to my mind. She's been out in the Alaskan tundra, digging up bodies. Well, a body. Maybe. I figured she'd be tougher, would have a more sophisticated worldview or something. I dunno. I didn't think she'd act like a first-time-around college student who just realized she'd been knocked up by a professor. Maybe everyone reacts to being knocked up by a professor in the same fashion, no matter her age or experiences? I dunno. All I know is that when Willie was talking, I was yawning.
And that led me to have half-tepid feelings at the end. The discovery of her father seemed anticlimactic to me. Actually, I didn't even care. I loved her family history and everything she dug up, but the actual revealing of the dad? I was uninterested.
At the same time, the other part of the ending, the monster, made me happy. It was autorenewal for the town, much like Willie was autorenewal for the townsfolk in a way. Ok, actually no. She wasn't that at all. But the monster = a rebirthiness and now the town can enter another era, a new Glimmy era? I'm sure the monster signifies something deeper, grander than what I'm picking up, but I don't care because I just loved the whole concept.
And the ghost. The ghost in the house. I liked how that was treated as just another aspect of life in this strange little place that never changes.
But not Willie. I did not like Willie.
I am now determined to go read the rest of Cooper's works, having previously only read The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans So I will be a better educated individual thanks to this story!

I was left with one lingering question, though: Aristables Mudge (I'm taking a wild guess at that spelling), the apothecary and then pharmacist. What is his story?? ...more

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May 31, 2009 L rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I had great fun with this book and I'm not really sure why. There is a bit of a mystery here . . . who really did impregnate Willie's mother? . . . but that's not the point.

There is also a real, traditional "sea" monster in the lake, though the role this creature plays in the novel is hard to pinpoint, more symbolic than factual, if you will. There are murder, mayhem, and scum-bags aplenty, as well. What's not to like?

But at heart this is mainstream fiction, a story about a mother and daughter, I had great fun with this book and I'm not really sure why. There is a bit of a mystery here . . . who really did impregnate Willie's mother? . . . but that's not the point.

There is also a real, traditional "sea" monster in the lake, though the role this creature plays in the novel is hard to pinpoint, more symbolic than factual, if you will. There are murder, mayhem, and scum-bags aplenty, as well. What's not to like?

But at heart this is mainstream fiction, a story about a mother and daughter, two best friends, family history, and small-town life. I mean, Mom was once a hippie who came home from San Fran, pregnant by heaven only knows whom (at least, officially). She's now a born-again Jesus-freak. Daughter comes home pregnant, knowing exactly by whom (and who's wife she tried to run down with a bush plane), while her best friend is suffering with, maybe dying of, lupus back in San Fran.

Could be totally sappy, right? Or so over the top you want to gag. But no. The book is warm and there is plenty of love. But it it saved by such interactions as:

(Mother to Willie & Willie's reflection): " 'I knew you were in there somewhere.' She gazed at me with tenderlovingkindness. There was the stink of burning martyr in the air."

and this one between Willie and Mom's Jesus-freak boyfriend/pastor: " I just said 'Huh,' for the sake of my tired mother . . . And that's all we could find to say to each other--the Bible-beater, the prodigal harlot daughter--until Vi returned with the platter in her hands."

How could you not like such writing? And that's all without getting into the ancestors! Then there is the lake monster. This is great stuff! The family trees were making me nuts until I realized I didn't have to follow them all that closely; they're a huge part of the point, but then again, they really aren't.

If there are huge points being made here, I don't really know what they are. No matter. This doesn't strike me as an "important" book, but it really is just a wonderful story in a low-key, laid-back sort of way.

...more

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Jul 15, 2016 Greg Zimmerman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Such an amazing writer, Groff. Such range, even if you're not totally enamored of the story itself (which was sometimes the case here).

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Apr 26, 2017 Jim Dooley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

While reading this, I was strongly reminded of Larry McMurtry's TERMS OF ENDEARMENT... not for the plot details, but the developing of strong character relationships that let me feel as if I knew these people. Combine that with a sense of a hometown being a place that raises a soft glow of wondrous times passed, and you have the overall feeling that this book evoked in me.

According to the teasers, this was writer Lauren Groff's debut novel. As such, that makes it all the more amazing. Tying the While reading this, I was strongly reminded of Larry McMurtry's TERMS OF ENDEARMENT... not for the plot details, but the developing of strong character relationships that let me feel as if I knew these people. Combine that with a sense of a hometown being a place that raises a soft glow of wondrous times passed, and you have the overall feeling that this book evoked in me.

According to the teasers, this was writer Lauren Groff's debut novel. As such, that makes it all the more amazing. Tying the tale into a pastiche of James Fenimore Cooper's village, Cooperstown, into Templeton (with a partially shared history), I had a feeling of being in the locale and watching people interact.

Coming Home stories often have an appeal for me. Returning to family, friends, and locations we've cherished runs the risk of finding them to be unalterably changed ... and, if so, what impact will that have on the central character? So, I was naturally drawn to Willie Upton's venture as she comes home to recover from a world that has disappointed her. As it happens, various revelations send her on another search, and I'll admit that I was interested throughout.

There were a couple of stumbling points for me. First of all, very early in the book, the body of a large lake beast washes ashore. This is an intriguing event and I have the feeling that it is supposed to be either symbolic or an allegory for something else. I fear that I was never savvy enough to connect the dots, even when the Epilogue seemingly seeks to tie it together.

The other is a point that just didn't make sense to me. Willie seeks information pertaining to her immediate family. Now, it is established that she has a strong penchant for research, but she goes digging back several generations for her answer. I don't want to get more specific at this point so as not to give away a major plot point. However, if she is searching for something a couple of decades in the past, why delve so far back?

Now, saying this, her historical wanderings uncover a very good story. So, if you are also perplexed, stay with it. It is not a dull excursion and you will be rewarded.

I was entertained throughout and I genuinely liked these characters. I also appreciated the Epilogue, although I still don't see the significance of it.

If you enjoy losing yourself in the lives of characters, I can recommend this one. ...more

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Apr 04, 2017 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Throughly satisfying read. Fantastically detailed vignettes of family history as our heroine learns about her ancestry.

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Mar 26, 2011 Juushika rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: status-borrowed, genre-fantasy

Pregnant by her professor, Willie Upton returns in disgrace to her childhood home, the quaint New England town of Templeton. Her mother greets her with strange news: Willie's father is not a random man from a free-love commune out West, but is instead another resident of the town. Willie digs into Templeton's history in search of her father, and discovers a tangled family tree, lake monsters, secrets, American history, and what's become of the town's residentsand her own familysince she's been g Pregnant by her professor, Willie Upton returns in disgrace to her childhood home, the quaint New England town of Templeton. Her mother greets her with strange news: Willie's father is not a random man from a free-love commune out West, but is instead another resident of the town. Willie digs into Templeton's history in search of her father, and discovers a tangled family tree, lake monsters, secrets, American history, and what's become of the town's residentsand her own familysince she's been gone. That's a lot to pack into a single book, and The Monsters of Templeton does so by being in equal measure fun colorful fluff and an intriguing and empathetic story. The former makes for an easy read which, to my surprise, works more often than notit can edge uncomfortably close to twee, but on the whole the vivid characters and irreverent tone are engaging and enjoyable, and the lightness renders the intricacies of history consumable. The latter is occasionally brilliantsome moments in Willie's development are delicate and emotional, there's an occasional intriguing historical figure, and above all the lake monster gives the story an unexpected tinge of unease and magic. For better or worse, however, the humor often overshadows and hampers the subtlety. It may give the book style and makes it accessible and fun, but a lot of depth is lost when a clever quip takes precedence over a quiet moment. The inclination towards humor also has a strange effect on some of the interpersonal relationships: while some provide the best and most complex moments in the book, someespecially and most unfortunately the relationship between Willie and her motherfeel stiff and theatrical.

Part of the charm of The Monsters of Templeton is this contradiction: it's fun without being throwaway, mature without taking itself seriously, and that's a promising and sometimes successful combination. But while the effect is readable at the time, upon completion I find myself missing the quieter parts of the book that were drowned out by the laughter. The book ends by lingering on the monster, who dies on the first page but remains a presence in the past and present of the book. This section is haunting, disquieting, and softly beautifuland then it ends, and so does the novel entire. I want to read more: more of that quiet, subtle, magical book that isn't; less of this book which is, which is fun and engaging but perhaps a little frantic and shallow, and not, ultimately, quite to my taste. The Monsters of Templeton is an enjoyable read, and I recommend it. But I think I would have loved that other book much more. ...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Brandy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008reads, family-drama, speculative-fiction, adult

Wilhelmina (Willie) Upton has just slunk home in disgrace. Her promising life is on the skids, her graduate career just about ruined, and her beloved town of Templeton isn't faring so well, either. Willie has no sooner arrived in town when the lake monster's body drifts to the surface, a paleontological wonder from the deep, and everything begins to unravel. Vi, Willie's former-hippie-turned-Baptist mom, confesses that Willie's father was not one of the San Francisco free-love hippies with whom ...more

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Oct 17, 2015 Lisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adultfiction-womenwriters

Simply wonderful story chock-full of genealogical fun as a young woman searches her hometown's rich history to discover the mystery of who her father is -- among the town's citizens.

I loved all the wonky characters, the digging through the past and reading the stories left behind by ancestors and local folks. It made me wonder about today -- will our children's children's children's children need to access facebook and twitter feeds to find out what happened in their families' backgrounds throug ...more

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Aug 29, 2008 Laren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This was an unusual book (at least for my reading habits). An archeological student has an affair with her professor, gets pregnant, tries to kill the professor's wife with a car, and then returns home to Templeton to hide on the same day that the legendary monster from the lake washes up on shore, deceased. Her mother then tells her that her birth father is actually someone in Templeton, not an unknown person in a commune far away as she had always thought. So she embarks on the project of rese ...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Jade Lopert rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

Reading a lot of reviews, I was afraid I was going to hate this book. It seems to be a popular opinion. And I have to say that I don't understand why. Sometimes you read a book that is meant to be poetry as prose and this was one of them. It didn't come off as overly pretentious like some books that attempt to do the same thing tend to. The fantastical is woven in with the average and everyday in a way that makes you not question it's believability. The stories of the generations are woven in fl ...more

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Apr 02, 2008 Miriam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is an ambitious book--multiple POV's, time periods covered, fake books and letters and all sorts of other things like a Loch Ness-esque monster. It took me a while to get used to it, as you know, I'm currently very sensitive to POV shifts and they generally make me angry. But here they worked (mostly because they didn't happen within chapters). The characters were flawed and deep. I also am generally annoyed by the "who is my father" quest kind of stories...but again, didn't bother me as mu ...more

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Jul 07, 2009 Kathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a great book! I liked how Groff weaved Willie Upton's own drama with the drama of her ancestors.

Best of all I liked the overall message: the importance and power of your ancestors and knowing where you come from and knowing your history as you move into your future. Word.

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Apr 23, 2016 Joshua Buhs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, historical-fiction

Flashes of brilliance, though the novel quite congeals.

The Monsters of Templeton takes an old, familiar theme and tries to rework it. Willie Upton, her mother's only daughter, returns from the San Francisco Bay Area to her hometown of Templeton, NY, disgraced. She had escaped this bucolic but little town--explicitly modeled on Lauren Groff's own home of Cooperstown, NY--but now comes back, pregnant by her graduate school professor. The pregnancy is one of only several over-used tropes. (Can a wo Flashes of brilliance, though the novel quite congeals.

The Monsters of Templeton takes an old, familiar theme and tries to rework it. Willie Upton, her mother's only daughter, returns from the San Francisco Bay Area to her hometown of Templeton, NY, disgraced. She had escaped this bucolic but little town--explicitly modeled on Lauren Groff's own home of Cooperstown, NY--but now comes back, pregnant by her graduate school professor. The pregnancy is one of only several over-used tropes. (Can a woman go to college in modern fiction without being raped or knocked up by a married professor? Seemingly not.) Once home, she meets and finds delightful the fat-boy-who-became-skinny. She falls for the good-looking-guy-she-was-too-good-for-in-high-school-but-whom-she-now-realizes-is-interesting. Her mother has changed and drops a bombshell on her: her father long-unknown father is a man in town.

And so Willie is off, tracking through Templeton's history, because her mom mentioned that this mysterious man has rumored blood connections to the town's founder, Marmaduke Templeton--a connection that Willie and her mother also have, though down a different line, making them genteelly popular even if they are poor. The core of the story here is between Willie--short for Wilhelmina, but obviously invoking will, as in willpower--and her mother, Vivienne--the name itself connoting liveliness, and its shorthand Vi the test of wills between the two women--as they attempt to renegotiate their relationship in light of Will's growing up and repeating her mother's mistakes: Vi had gotten unexpectedly pregnant when she was young and had seemingly escaped the town's gravitational pull. The story then had been that Will's father could have been any of a number of commune members whom Vi slept with in California. But now Vi is a born-again Christian, setting Will's teeth on edge with the hypocrisy that seemed to have developed slowly, over the course of a life.

I am reminded, thinking over this central conflict, of Katherine Dieckmann's review of Jennifer Egan's "Look at Me." Egan's book is also about a woman returned home, disgraced in her own way, and questioning her identity. She had been a model, but gotten in a serious accident that left her with a reconstructed and unrecognizable face. Dieckmann wrote," Just as Charlotte's new face is held together with 80 titanium screws, a set of fragile pieces forever threatening to become dismantled, Egan's book is a tenuous assembly that manages to compel despite its occasionally confounding construction."

The motives at the core of the book are obscure, and feel forced. Why doesn't Vi just tell Will who her father is? And when she does finally offer, why doesn't Will just accept? Beyond that, if there are indeed rumors, why doesn't Will look at the rumors rather than track through history to find definitive proof someone had a kid out of wedlock--after all, rumors need not be based in truth? These questions are of a piece with others that muddy motivations and make the book feel bolted together. It's 2008 but no one uses email, it seems. At one point, Will's friend finds a clue--and them mails it, rather than spill the beans on the phone. Will is constantly waiting for word from the professor who got her in the family way--and he too sends a letter (then, later, calls). People just don't act like this, except to keep a story moving. Will's friend has a terrible disease, and Will should be there to help her, but instead sets an arbitrary date of staying in Templeton before going to help.

All this is an excuse for Will to go through the town's history, and for Groff to write in various voices from the past. Ther eis another obvious Egan reference, "A Visit from the Goon Squad." That book came out two years after Groff, so it wasn't an influence. But it did better what she was trying to accomplish, take a slew of different stories and knit them together into a unified book, tied together by the recurrence of themes and characters. The subtle lines connecting the stories in "Goon Squad" served to tie the book together into something more than its parts. The parts of Groff's books are centrifugal, pulling it apart. It is hard for the reader to care that much about the various lives invoked from hundreds of years in the past, and certainly the relatively picayune matters that set them apart. Just as in "Fates and Furies," Groff had to work double-hard to make infidelity seem a mortal sin, she has to, here, reach into the past when it was a mortal sin to give it the weight the story demands of it.

And then there is the monster itself, a sea serpent-y creature dragged out of the town's lake at the beginning of the book, causing a stir in the town before disappearing during a long stretch of the summer covered by the novel's course, then returning at the end. It serves to link some of the various stories--there are off-handed references to it here and there, giving the town a consistency over time: and this is never more true than the end of the book, when the creature's biology is described, and it is revealed to be a self-fertilizing mammal that has lived for hundreds of years It is thus the same animal over the span of all the years, and likely the last of its kind (though just perhaps there is one more young one.) The book almost ends the same way as Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca--also about the coming home of a young woman--with the look of the town from the road, but Groff has two other endings in mind, the last the town's history told from the perspective of the creature in its underwater lair, tending to those dead that have drifted into the lake and its singing of the goodness of life.

It would be easy to connect the sea monster to Lovecraft, but the book has none of that feel, and the creature none of Cthullhu's sinister feel (though the residents do avoid the lake in the weeks after its initial discovery). It's probably better to look for a different model from the literature of the place--upper New York and New England. Particularly, there are ways in which it is a softer model of Moby Dick, another creature of the water--a monster--that embodies the very notion of the state. But rather than Hobbes's Leviathan, this mammal is warmer, just as the town of Templeton is softer. There is racism in its history; slaves get a chance to tell their stories here, as do Native Americans--Chingachgook, the Mohican from the books of James Fenimore Cooper, a resident of Cooperstown and here played by Jacob Franklin Temple. But those things are safely in the past, even if the actions of the town's founders still reverberate 200 years later; even if corrupt bargains were made to preserve the town (against the kind of dead New York towns chronicled by Richard Russo). This is a Whitmanesque world--explicitly so, with frequent references--in which all the bad is made good by being part of the whole.

None of which is especially satisfying as a novel. The rough edges that Groff anatomizes in Fates and Furies are here softened. The story, rather than actually containing multitudes, feels forced and cut. Groff has an impressive range of voices, but these sections feel created for the chance, rather than integral. The fate of her pregnancy also seems chosen to finesse the moral dilemma in which Groff has placed her character, allowing her to not to have to choose. (Spoiler: It turns out to be a hysterical pregnancy.)

It is interesting to have read this book so soon after Fates and Furies, though, to see Groff continue to worry over some of the same themes, to see influences that are harder to notice in the later book. There's the mother in both books who came late to religion, a betrayal to her children, the conversion less about belief than about a building a wall to keep out the riff-raff, only the select few with the right key. There's the absent father. There's the concerns over infidelity, and the way having children is tied to the identity of women. There's the love of Greek myths, made explicit toward the end and implicit in the creation of a Greek chorus of runners, who appear here and there throughout the novel, and give it the penultimate ending, their reflections on the town not quite as encompassing as the one offered by the sea monster.

The influence of John Irving--another writer from the same region--is more visible here, in the way that Groff constructs the town's history, in the concerns with infidelity and abortion, the rhythm of the language. There's the autobiographical elements stretched into awkward, new shapes, so that thinking through the novel's relationship to the world beyond its covers becomes like walking through a room full of mirrors. The influence of Stephen King is here, too, particularly Bag of Bones, with its backstory about the racist origins of a town. Will is pushed toward a key piece of evidence by a ghost that possesses her--the ghost of an ill-treated slave, like the one that haunts Bag of Bones. And that evidence is written by a barely literate slave boy.

If Goodreads allowed 1/2 stars in its ratings, I think i would give the book 3.5 stars. For all the razzle-dazzle, the book never comes together, and long stretches of it feel either forced or like the reader is having to eat their spinach. But she does move through voices so easily; she does have such a fertile imagination; and the book has such promise. It deserves the rounding up. ...more

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Jun 06, 2017 Jennifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: first-books, 2017-books

this book was chosen as my in-person book club's read for june, 2017, and i am so glad to have finally read it as this novel has been sitting on my shelf since its release. i have read groff's novel Arcadia - which i loved - so was glad for the push to move monsters up my TBR list.

this is groff's first book, and there are some wobbles within. i struggled a bit with the bit of dabbling she does with magical realism, and i also wondered about the friendship between willie and her best friend clari ...more

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Oct 10, 2015 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club-book

Really rushed to finish before book club and read the bulk of this in about two days. Think I could have enjoyed it a little more if I'd not rushed so much.

One of the most interesting parts of this book was the varying perspective and the bits of history that we learned via the alternating points of view. On one hand, these were frustrating because I didn't always buy the 'voice(s)' of the character(s), such as when there was an accent or dialect involved. Additionally, Willie pretty much uses t Really rushed to finish before book club and read the bulk of this in about two days. Think I could have enjoyed it a little more if I'd not rushed so much.

One of the most interesting parts of this book was the varying perspective and the bits of history that we learned via the alternating points of view. On one hand, these were frustrating because I didn't always buy the 'voice(s)' of the character(s), such as when there was an accent or dialect involved. Additionally, Willie pretty much uses these snippets to make her deductions on the ancestors involved (view spoiler)
I enjoyed the story line overall, and I think that the historical excerpts were actually important for moving the story along. I did not have flagging interest, but the plot meandered into somewhat silly subplots that were distracting, and I could see a number of sections where some readers may have needed to slog through.

(view spoiler)
I think that the lake monster (Glimmey? Did not like that name.) was a cool thread to have running through the multiple historical stories and was a parallel to the human 'monsters' that did bad things and were bad people. However, I really didn't like how the townspeople kept feeling peculiar things when they saw/touched the monster, as if it had some weird power over them? I also think that the monster was supposed to be a symbol of something and I didn't really understand what the symbol was.

Willie was a realistic character that I did not connect to at all, though I really wanted to. I think she was struggling through real situations that were very intense, but I can't recall a single thing about her 'self'. Others described her as great, beautiful, and brilliant, but we didn't see examples of these, and I don't recall her demonstrating much of a personality other than cynicism and sarcasm.

My book club discussion was pathetic on this book (we spent most of our time listening to one member's obnoxious stories about her three boyfriends, health problems, and her cat).

Edits: (after reading other reviews)
- Templeton had a strong presence of PLACE to me, and was a key part to pretty much every person and point of view. However, I never understood why I should care about this town. I think it was supposed to be about a bigger theme, like how it is Willie coming home and that this is the place where she can be herself because her ancestry/history is here. But most of the people throughout the novel don't seem to like being in Templeton and so many characters talk of getting out. And the place is full of secrets. I as a reader did not like the place, though I think it was a strong setting.
- I really LOVED the family trees and the constantly-updating family trees. It was very helpful.
(view spoiler) ...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Jodi Lamm rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Once upon a time, there was a girl who worked in a public library. She loved her job, and with every book she put back on the shelves, she felt as though she had been briefly introduced to a new person. Occasionally, a book would catch her eye, and she would greet it every time she passed it, until she finally got around to reading it. One such book was The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.

The Monsters of Templeton was so sophisticated, polite, and reliable that the girl always ended up rea Once upon a time, there was a girl who worked in a public library. She loved her job, and with every book she put back on the shelves, she felt as though she had been briefly introduced to a new person. Occasionally, a book would catch her eye, and she would greet it every time she passed it, until she finally got around to reading it. One such book was The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.

The Monsters of Templeton was so sophisticated, polite, and reliable that the girl always ended up reading more demanding books first—those that threatened absence, obscurity, or even that the girl might forget about them if she didn’t read them immediately. But The Monsters of Templeton was always there, quietly waiting in the exact same spot on the shelves.

One sad day, the girl moved away from her favorite library. She missed all those wonderful books—there were so many she had meant to read—but she knew the unlikelihood of running into any of her old favorites when she saw the public library in her new city. It was tiny, with only one short aisle for fiction. Just one? She had to check many times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. But as she sorrowfully assessed her inadequate new browsing grounds, she ran into an old friend: The Monsters of Templeton. Oh small, wonderful, itty-bitty world! She checked the book out along with two others and took them home to read.

First, she tried a science fiction story that was interesting but ultimately felt like a video game. Next, she tried a period piece that reminded her why doctors once suspected her of having ADD. Then, finally, she picked up the book with the charming black and white cover.

The Monsters of Templeton seemed, at first, very straightforward. It was every bit as polite and smooth-talking as she suspected it would be. It was so smooth, in fact, that strangely gruesome descriptions and uncouth jokes would slip by without the girl having really noticed them. She would just chuckle or blush and keep turning the pages as she sipped her Jamaican hot chocolate.

Then the book began to spin other tales with other voices in other periods of time, and the girl would lean in, rapt, though these tales had only the barest connection to each other. The book was slow-moving but so full of mystery that, even though this was not the kind of story the girl would usually read, she just couldn’t stop.

When the book finally revealed its mystery in a predictable but satisfying way, it leaned back and puffed on its pipe, which the girl was sure it was smoking.

“Thanks so much for that story,” said the girl.

“But wait,” said the book, before the girl could close it. “There’s one more thing.”

So the girl settled back in her rocking chair, as the book told her one last story in one last voice. And that last story will haunt nightmares inside the girl’s nightmares until the day she dies. Because it was that… freaking… weird. It was adorable kittens disemboweling baby mice. It was teddy-bear suicide. It was fields of pretty daisies murdering bunny rabbits with poisonous aphids. It was beautiful, saccharine horror.

And the girl said, “Holy shit,” as the book took another puff off its pipe and grinned like a madman in a musical. ...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Allison rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: leisure, entertaining, literature-about-literature, eerie-nonsense, tall-tales, epic-fantasy, fondly-recommended

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Forgive me in advance for seeing the faults of a book first today; the fact that I’ve been able to finish two books in one day may very well attest to the kind of attitude I’m presently sporting, so allow me to disclaim. As I think one should be looking at this unfortunate bit of pessimism through the lens of optimism: think of my willingness to cite the book’s shortcomings first and foremost as a cheerful wish to get the nasty facts out of the way.

And they are as such: the book suffers from a l Forgive me in advance for seeing the faults of a book first today; the fact that I’ve been able to finish two books in one day may very well attest to the kind of attitude I’m presently sporting, so allow me to disclaim. As I think one should be looking at this unfortunate bit of pessimism through the lens of optimism: think of my willingness to cite the book’s shortcomings first and foremost as a cheerful wish to get the nasty facts out of the way.

And they are as such: the book suffers from a lack of a sympathetic narrator, which may be personal taste. There is a pregnancy scare gone awry. There is also something of a trite love-trapezoid (???) the likes of which, although hardly the type of fodder to make the writers on Gossip Girl blush, is still awkward to read. There’s a heavy whiff of Self-Centered White Girl Problems that occasionally wafts up from the present day narratives – but, it must be said, all books have their flaws.

Although our heroine (?) Willie and her exploits may occasionally be trying, The Monsters of Templeton is fascinating for the pseudo-history that Groff has crafted for Cooperstown, New York’s doppelgänger burg, Templeton. There are ghosts of Fenimore Cooper and his clan in this novel, crafted with loving care by Groff and dubbed the Temples. Willie’s conceits are made winning by these shadow-histories, of the promises that big nerds like yours truly hold in their hearts when they go into archives to find out the juicy and scandalous underbellies of “respectable” folklore. Our grandparent’s grandparents were hardly saints, after all; they just had really good white-washers. This, in of itself, makes these people more human – and, I think, more fascinating in the face of learning about our ancestors.

There are a great deal of magical things in this book, albeit not so much in the traditional sense; as I said, there is the transformation of dusty history and forgotten early American literature into salacious sassiness, but there are also ghosts and sea “monsters,” the likes of which are so wholesome and to-the-point that you take their presence for granted. In a world that is so real otherwise, why shouldn’t we have monsters trolled up from the lake and sympathetic spirits? The matter-of-factness, if nothing else, makes the so-called namesake of the book all the more charming.

Except, let’s be honest: the monster in The Monsters of Templeton isn’t the faux-Nessie. It’s the ancestors that built the place, strong and looming, and the lesson that your founding forefathers aren’t necessarily saints is a good one to know. After all, revisionist history didn’t sprout up overnight; The Monsters of Templeton’s message concerning that is, perhaps, its best.

(As an aside: I want to re-read this when I’ve read some Fenimore Cooper. Although I appreciated this novel as is, I think I would have adored it with knowledge of his canon as precedent.) ...more

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Sep 28, 2016 Heather Alderman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Heather by: Kelly Mccoy

I liked this story. There was an awful lot going on, but the author handled it well. I could have done without a couple of the storylines as the others would of held up well on their own, but I still liked it. Thanks for the recommendation Kelly!

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Sep 02, 2012 Doreen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The more I want to quote from a book, the higher I'll eventually rate it. The Monsters Of Templeton was one of those books that I thought so incredibly wise and kind in its treatment of its characters that it seems a shame not to recommend it to a wider audience (not, really, that it needs my help on that account. Stephen King recommends the book, which was no positive for me, but might convince others.) On its face a loving tribute to James Fenimore Cooper and the town he was such an intrinsic The more I want to quote from a book, the higher I'll eventually rate it. The Monsters Of Templeton was one of those books that I thought so incredibly wise and kind in its treatment of its characters that it seems a shame not to recommend it to a wider audience (not, really, that it needs my help on that account. Stephen King recommends the book, which was no positive for me, but might convince others.) On its face a loving tribute to James Fenimore Cooper and the town he was such an intrinsic part of, the novel itself parses the importance of family history to the individual, without requiring that the reader be familiar with Cooper's oeuvre. I was particularly a fan of the section from Sarah Upton's journal: it was as gorgeous and heart-breaking as if it had been lifted from a real journal, and not just crafted for the purposes of fiction.

Anyway, read the book, it's lovely, and here are the quotes I particularly liked that I didn't mention in the status updates below:

"When I was small and easily wounded, books were my carapace. If I were recalled to my hurts in the middle of a book, they somehow mattered less. My corporeal life was slight; the dazzling one in my head was what really mattered. Returning to books was coming home."

" "[A]ll I'm saying is that worrying about it isn't going to fix anything. The only thing we can do is keep on with our own small thing and try hard to be good and to make life better, and know that if it all ends tomorrow that we were at least happy." "

"[S]ometimes the words of Publilius Syrus come to me: Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur; we choose to love; we do not choose to cease loving."

And finally, a case for buying books from the thrift store: you can find the loveliest things left inside. Next to the plate depicting Glimmey, there is a bookmark left by the previous owner, an admission ticket to Le Palais des Papes in Avignon. This find was, of course, nowhere near as creepily apropos as the yearbook picture of a young boy (with a forested background) that I found in the copy I'd bought of McCarthy's The Road, or even as enlightening as the newspaper clipping about Philip Larkin I found in the poet's collected works, but it was still a nice, absent-minded touch. ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Carly Thompson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction, arrt, 2012

I really enjoyed this novel. I read this for a genre study on historical fiction and am somewhat puzzled that this title has included on the list; it is definitely a family saga that spans multiple time periods but the main focus is on the here and now in the story of Willie Upton as she returns home to Templeton, NY (based on Cooperstown,NY) after a disastrous love affair and attempts to discover the identity of her father. Willie begins researching her family history, starting with the generat I really enjoyed this novel. I read this for a genre study on historical fiction and am somewhat puzzled that this title has included on the list; it is definitely a family saga that spans multiple time periods but the main focus is on the here and now in the story of Willie Upton as she returns home to Templeton, NY (based on Cooperstown,NY) after a disastrous love affair and attempts to discover the identity of her father. Willie begins researching her family history, starting with the generations closest to her and eventually reaching the family paterfamilias, Marmaduke Temple, the founder of the small town of Temple. Alternating with Willie's quest to discover the truth are chapters told from the point of view of several of her ancestors (usually short and giving the reader a glimpse into each character's life). Combine this with some magical realism elements--a great monster who lived in the town's lake is discovered, there is a ghost in the family house--and an interesting, beautifully rendered relationship between Willie and her mother Vi (a former hippie turned born again Baptist), thwarted romance (Willie has an affair with her PhD supervisor and a flirtation with a childhood friend when she returns to Templeton) to produce a novel that can't be easily categorized.

The strong contemporary female characters (Willie, Vi, and Willie's best friend Clarissa) were my favorite part of this rich story. Atmosphere is very important and Groff shows how the town of Templeton grew and changes over the years. I felt characterizing this story as a family saga isn't quite accurate since most of the Temple family members are described only briefly and only Marmaduke plays a reoccurring role as his actions impact his immediate family and future generations.

The photos of the Temple family members that precede the chapters were wonderful and I wonder were the author found them. I also liked the family trees, which kept being revised as Willie learned more about her family, and the map of the town which was on the end papers. I would recommend this novel for readers who enjoy quirky characters and novels with a strong sense of place. ...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Shivanee Ramlochan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel-niche-full-reviews, read-in-2010

Excerpted from the full review:

"Have you ever bought a book, or picked one from a library shelf, based on the recommendation of another writer, on its jacket? Such was the case with my acquisition of The Monsters of Templeton. The curious thing is this: the writerly acclamation that drew me in was proffered by a master of contemporary fiction, whose work I’ve not yet read. Here’s what he had to say.

“Lauren Groff’s debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton, is everything a reader might have expected ...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Melinda Worfolk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery, 2013, speculative-fiction, magic-realism

I really liked this one! It was a little hard to get into, but I enjoyed it once I got into it. The author does a pretty good job (though not perfect, hence the 4 stars rather than 5) of mixing in "primary sources" like letters by the narrator's dead relatives and long-deceased townspeople.

It's mostly about a young woman trying to figure out her identity--both in terms of her sense of self and her very convoluted family tree. It's also a novel with a strong sense of place; in the Author's Note, ...more

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Dec 16, 2009 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, own-on-my-tbr-shelf, read-in-2013

As I am sitting here to write this review, I'm finding this book to be a really difficult book to explain. I really liked it quite a bit but I'm not entirely sure that I can capture in words the why. I found the story and the characters to be engrossing. The story kind of meandered all over the place but I never found that difficult or off putting. The weaving of the past and the present was actually really well done. I enjoyed trying to pull all of the pieces together as I read. It's not a diff ...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The author set out to write a book about Cooperstown, which, if you have never been there, really is as the author describes it "an odd little mix of big city and podunk, with its old mansions and opera house"...and the hospital with its tendrils that reaches all over into NY....

There are a lot of towns like this in NY, spread throughout the FingerLakes and Leatherstocking region, but there is something even stranger and more remote about Cooperstown, that has a history of baseball forced upon i ...more

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