Scooter Chronicles

While in Michigan visiting my family, I finished reading “The Monsters of Templeton” by Lauren Groff

From Mari Malcom’s review on Amazon.Com, listed as the book description, here is what caught my eye:

On the very morning Willie Upton slinks home to Templeton, New York (after a calamitous affair with her archeology professor), the 50-foot-long body of a monster floats from the depths of the town’s lake. This unsettling coincidence sets the stage for one of the most original debut novels since “The Time Traveler’s Wife”.

This turned out to be a bit misleading. Why? Because the dummy I am didn’t read the entire write-up. Here is what was left of it.

With a clue to the mysterious identity of her father in hand, Willie turns her research skills to unearthing the secrets of the town in letters and pictures (which, “reproduced” in the book along with increasingly complete family trees, lend an air of historical authenticity). Lauren Groff’s endearingly feisty characters imbue the story with enough intrigue to keep readers up long past bedtime, and reading groups will find much to discuss in its themes of “monsters,” both in our towns and our families.

Because of this, I expected more with the actual monster that shows up in the lake. What it was turned out to be a metaphor, in a way, I guess, OK, I’m not sure if that is really what it was, but it was some literary trick, and it was good, but because I didn’t read the whole thing, I got myself into thinking along the wrong lines. But that doesn’t mean the book was bad.

What I found interesting was the way things changed from chapter to chapter. There are a lot of characters, and some only see the light of day once in a while. Some only for a chapter. There were a few times where the character that is one of Willy’s decedents takes the lead on the narrative for one chapter. One of the chapters is two of them writing letters to each other. Then there are the “Running Buds” who’s chapters seem a bit stream of consciousness. There were a few different styles being used, along with different prose due to who had the narrative. It had the opportunity to become confusing and make a mess, but kept it together.

Lauren Groff

The town of Templeton had a lot of character, too. Though it might have been more from a real town. From what I read, and what becomes obvious to the reader, Templeton is a fictional version of Cooperstown, New York. Yes, THAT Cooperstown where the greats of baseball are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Groff, I felt, did a good job in describing the city and making it a big part of the story. It was almost as if the city was a character, too.

Some of the things that Willy finds out went over my head. I say that because they seemed contrived or forced, but then again I could be missing several points that make it better then I thought it was. But it made for a good story. The relationships of the characters in the “today” of the story was compelling enough, and the back stories of her relatives were as well. But some of the intrigue of the mystery behind who her father was didn’t rub off on me.

An interesting read though, and one that I enjoyed on some levels.