The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff

Here, finally, is my first official book review for this fledgling experiment. Those with any interest in reading older book reviews can check out this page, which contains my favorite blogs from my defunct myspace page.

Part historical fiction, part magical realism, The Monsters of Templeton treads lightly on the lives it describes. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Monsters manages to mesh together so many disparate-seeming aspects of the American novel, I'm afraid I can't even begin to do it justice here.

This is a distinctly American novel. I feel I can say that without reservation. It describes the history of a small town in New York of small importance. Those interested in the historical basis should know the town (Templeton) is based on the town in which Groff grew up, Cooperstown. And like Groff's hometown, Templeton is also the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Groff opens the novel with a note to the reader explaining how her yearning for her hometown caused her to write this particular book. That hooked me from the start, as someone who daily misses her hometown. I don't even know how to write a story that isn't set in New Orleans.

But instead of writing just any historical novel, Groff populates hers with a cast of characters real, imagined, and literary. James Fenimore Cooper grew up in Cooperstown and named his historic New York town Templeton. Groff seamlessly blends historical elements from Cooperstown's own past with characters from Cooper's novels and characters of her own, including Willie Temple Upton--last descendant of the town founder (and great-granddaughter of a famous American writer)--who has returned home in imagined disgrace in the hopes of hiding out for a while. Alternate chapters tell the history of Templeton from the points of view of inhabitants past and present. You see, Willie is trying to figure out who her father is and to do so, she must back track through the town's historical records, personal family letters, and interviews. In her digging, Willie uncovers arson, murder, infidelity, betrayal, sadness, joy, and hope. Above all things, Monsters is a hopeful novel.

My favorite chapters are those told from the perspective of the Running Buds, 5 middle-aged men who have been running together through the town every morning for decades. The Running Buds offer a kind of Greek Chorus perspective to the town, and their chapters--offered from a collective "we"--feels so inclusive, I was wrapped up in the warmth in which they view the town itself, warts and all.

Oh, and by the way, there's a mythic lake monster who's death hangs like a pall over the entire town when its body is found at the beginning of the novel.

The writing is precise, with chapters from different voices feeling distinct enough to stand on their own, and passages of such beauty this novel has stayed with me in the month since I've finished reading it. It has stayed with me even though I have read 4 books since finishing it. I hate to predict too early in the year, but I believe Monsters may be at the top of my list still by the end of the year.