Book Summary and Reviews of Pontoon by Garrison Keillor

Pontoon by Garrison Keillor

Pontoon

A Novel of Lake Wobegon

by Garrison Keillor

  • Published:
  • Sep 2007, 256 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Evelyn was a Sanctified Brethren woman of good standing, a devoted mother, a serious quilter. Only after she dies in her sleep, as she always wished she would, do we find out that she has been living a secret life. For years she has been in love with Raoul, a Las Vegas man who took her dancing and showed her the joys of life outside Lake Wobegon. Evelyn’s stunned daughter Barbara finds she’s inspired by her mother’s secret commitment to pleasure. She decides to finally stop drinking and thumb her nose at the Wobegon establishment by carrying out Evelyn’s final wish—to be cremated and have her ashes scattered over Lake Wobegon from a pontoon boat.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

None Available.

This information about Pontoon was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Garrison Keillor Author Biography

Garrison Keillor was born Gary Edward Keillor on August 7, 1942, in Anoka, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He was one of six children in the family.

Keillor graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in English in 1966. There he began his broadcasting career on the student-operated radio station, named Radio K. In 1969 he began writing for The New Yorker. On July 6, 1974 he started "A Prarie Home Companion" in a St. Paul college theatre before an audience of twelve people. In 1987, he moved to New York where, in 1989, he started "The American Radio Company", which after four seasons returned to the name "A Prarie Home Companion" in 1993, and is again based in Minnesota. From 1996-2001 Keillor authored an advice column, titled "Mr. Blue", on Salon.com. He ...

... Full Biography
Link to Garrison Keillor's Website

Other books by Garrison Keillor at BookBrowse

5 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Pontoon, try these:

  • Holding Up the Universe jacket

    Holding Up the Universe

    by Jennifer Niven

    Published 2018

    About this book

    From the author of the New York Times bestseller All the Bright Places comes a heart-wrenching story about what it means to see someone - and love someone - for who they truly are.

  • The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants jacket

    The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants

    by Ann Brashares

    Published 2003

    About this book

    A fresh, lively look at the friendship of four teenagers facing the possibility of growing apart. Poignant, funny, and real, this story will remind you of all the best parts of being best friends.

  • What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows jacket

    What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows

    by Nora Raleigh Baskin

    Published 2002

    About this book

    A humorous and resonant novel about a girl growing up without a mother, of preteen friendships and the necessity of coming to terms with a loss before being able to move on with one's life. Ages 10+

We have 5 read-alikes for Pontoon, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Literary Fiction

Browse all Literary Fiction books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
Who Said...

A million monkeys...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.