The Monsters of Templeton | 
 enlarge | Author: Lauren Groff
Publisher: Voice
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 6470
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 1401322255
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781401322250
ASIN: 1401322255
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Amazon Best of the Month, February 2008: 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. 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. --Mari Malcolm
Product Description
"The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, thefifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass." So beginsThe Monsters of Templeton, a novel spanning two centuries: part acontemporary story of a girl's search for her father, part historical novel, andpart ghost story, this spellbinding novel is at its core a tale of how one townholds the secrets of a family. In the wake of a wildly disastrousaffair with her married archaeology professor, Willie Upton arrives on thedoorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York, where herhippie-turned-born-again-Baptist mom, Vi, still lives. Willie expects to be ableto hide in the place that has been home to her family for generations, but themonster's death changes the fabric of the quiet, picture-perfect town herancestors founded. Even further, Willie learns that the story her mother hadalways told her about her father has all been a lie: he wasn't the random manfrom a free-love commune that Vi had led her to imagine, but someone elseentirely. Someone from this very town. As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging forthe truth about her lineage, she discovers that the secrets of her family rundeep. Through letters, editorials, and journal entries, the dead rise up to telltheir sides of the story as dark mysteries come to light, past and present blur,old stories are finally put to rest, and the shocking truth about more than onemonster is revealed.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...
Bumping Into The Monsters of Templeton July 19, 2008
Thomas B. Curtis (Renton, WA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book begins with the surprising discovery of a hitherto suspected but undocumented creature, previously only reported by less than convincing sources. And now it bumped us squarely into realization of its existence, after it had died. When reading the rest of this book we should not forget this beginning because it tells us that the monster truly was there; it lived, and the question remains to be answered, Will it live again?
If you want to read this book only as a masterfully crafted soap opera, you will be entertained, but Lauren Groff has crafted a piece of art that blends many different genres. There is a taste of horror, but it will not pound you relentlessly. There is sex, but it fits as a meaningful part of a personality searching for itself. There is mysticism and spirituality, but it does not hit you with a heavy hand, and it entertains rather than instructs. There are mysteries that keep you wanting to turn the next page, to begin the next chapter. Even the writing style changes, depending on the character portrayed, enough that the book takes on a feeling almost like that of a compendium of poetry.
Willie Upton returns to her home to escape and reestablish some stability in her life, and she is confronted by her mother with the surprising discovery that who she thought might have been her father was not. It was like bumping into a dead lake monster washed up on the shore.
While scientists had only so much time to discover the meaning of this lake monster before its tissues decayed beyond a substrate suitable for study, Willie launched into a search for the secrets of her own family history, before the documents would be lost forever. We only have so much time for such discovery.
Some reviewers have criticized Willie's less than mature character, but protagonists do not always need to be noble. Like all of our own lives, not one of the characters in this history of Templeton is without some serious flaw. This is to be enjoyed. These are the monsters within them, within us. If you find it difficult to love these people with all of their foibles, and that may be the major theme of this book, then at least laugh at the situations in which they are embroiled.
This story is told with a sense of humor and wit, more than a little irreverence, and I enjoyed it completely. I give it four stars instead of five because, well, I haven't given any book five stars yet.
 This book brought me home. July 11, 2008
Christine Laden (Memphis, TN)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am one of the few people in the world who can actually claim Cooperstown as home. Ms. Groff's words painted amazing pictures in my mind and allowed me to step back into a strange version of Cooperstown's (Templeton's) past. I'm sure some of the historians of the town are up in arms over some of the liberties taken with the town's history, but they must remember this is a work of fiction based loosely on facts. Ms. Groff's imagination and humor were very refreshing. For those people looking for a gory ghost story, please look elsewhere. This haunting tale involves ghosts and monsters, but is more a tale of inner reflection and growth. I applaud Ms. Groff's first novel and can't wait for her next book.
Great book...beyond its title July 9, 2008
Ron Nelson (Batavia, IL)
I really picked up this book because of Stephen King's good review. He has never let me down when it comes to trying a new writer. The title and cover don't do the story justice. It's just one of those well written novels that carries the reader into the past in it's pages. I'll look this writer in the future.
This book's got everything in it! July 5, 2008
Shawn Mcginley (Rising Sun, MD)
The pretty cover of this book is what spellbinded me first- a huge, twisty tree, almost like a wood cutting. I was excited by the insides too, however- the content matter was right up my alley! Willie Upton returns to her hometown of Templeton after a affair with her married professor. A huge, froglike monster has been found dead in the lake, and the town is in an uproar. Willie's mother, a former hippie turned Baptist, finally breaks the news to her- that Willie's father is in fact a templeton man, not a random hippie like Willie assumed. Willie prides herself on being related to Marmaduke Temple, the founder of the town, through two ways- through his legitmate son, ancestor of her grandfather, and through his son with a slave, ancestor of her grandmother. Willie soon leaps into old town history to figure out more about her family tree- and the identity of her father, who is also related to Temple somehow. This book was made even better by the including of old photographs that helped give the many old relatives faces, as well as family trees as Willie slowly learns all her ancestors. I love family trees, so the book was great! Some parts with Willie though were slightly boring.
In the end, I just really enjoyed it... June 29, 2008
BookLover
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this book. I looked forward to the free time I had that I could spend reading it. I was sad when it was over. No, it was not technically perfect in every way, but honestly, when push comes to shove, I rate a book on how much I enjoy it.
From another author I might have found the plot, characters, and some of the events in the book too unbelievable, or over the top. Despite the fine line that The Monsters of Templeton walks between up close reality and 'out there' fantasy (monsters in lakes, ghosts cohabitating with residents who don't raise a single eyebrow,) somehow it works. The various plot lines were interesting and colorful and, again, don't asked me how or why, just worked in this book when they could have easily been a mess.
As some people have noted, the main character Willie is a bit of a snob. I think it was somewhere towards the end of the book, when we're listening to Willie's internal monologue about how disgusting the little-old-lady librarian's cheap, store-bought brownies are, that I wanted to shout at the pages "Oh get over yourself Willie!" Still, she does have her good points as well, and, like all of us, is a mix of positive and negative, not some perfect lilly-white heroine.
One point that both rankled and amused me was the fact that Judge Templeton kept fathering red-headed, apparently caucasian, illegitimate children with absolutely no regard to plausible or even possible genetics. Fantasy book or not, I'm sorry, if he fathered a child with a former slave who was actually from Africa, and a Native American girl, then no, the resulting children would not look like tan Irishmen, blazing red hair and all.
Overall I recommend this book based on the fact that I loved reading it. I don't know how it works, or why it works, but it works!
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