The Book of Guys

The Book of Guys

Amazon.com Review

A loosely affiliated collection of pieces culled from Harper's and the New Yorker, The Book of Guys supplies Garrison Keillor's brand of pathos-inspired belly laughs in great measure. Since Keillor is not only, by all appearances, a mensch but also the possessor of an extremely amiable voice in his writing (and who can say, with him, where his prose voice ends and the aural one begins?), you tend to forget the darker elements of his work. In fact, those are the things that make his writing so amusing.

The Book of Guys parades a collection of Joe Nobodies, average guys like Garry Keillor, "sixteen, six foot two, with the metabolism of a wolverine." But these are guys with a darker side: longings, misgivings, psychoses. There's Lonesome Shorty, the cowboy who lusts for town life, but as soon as he settles down, the trail calls him again. Or the mayor of Zenith, who has everything a man could want, his life darkened solely by a senseless vendetta carried out by the editor of the local newspaper. "I have spent thirty minutes [writing this letter to the Editor] and my wife, her black hair tumbling over her bare shoulders touched with freckles under the pale-blue gossamer negligee hanging light as a leaf on her pale breasts and bold etcetera..." But Keillor's guys are too preoccupied with everyday angst to take hold of their good fortune. "In a minute, dear," says the mayor, continuing his screed.

The Book of Guys doesn't give one much faith in the future of male-dom, but it is funny. And don't let the paucity of competition fool you; Keillor's a humorist par excellence, a fine, thoughtful, and witty writer. --Michael Gerber

From Publishers Weekly

Bewailing the lost grandeur of manhood and lambasting the half-baked perversion known as '90s man, Keillor ( Lake Woebegon Days ) brings wit, the gift of storytelling and marksmanlike satire to this collection of 22 short fictions dissecting the current predicament of "guys." Invoking various archetypal guys--cowboy, sports hero, Greek god, Don Juan--he brings each into collision with contemporary values stressing sensitivity, openness, communication, monogamy, the empowerment of women and a healthy diet. The results are provocative and hilarious. Dionysus turns 50 and is forced to seek help for his sex and alcohol problems. Baseball legend Casey of Mudville is barraged with garbage at an away game. Cattleman Lonesome Shorty gives up the range to try condominium life. President George Bush goes fishing with an admiring Willie Horton while barbarians invade Chicago. Keillor takes delicious swipes at the media, fad causes, political correctness and American tabloid culture as he convincingly sketches the precarious state of his fellow males, longing for the days when they could just be guys. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: The Viking Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067084943X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670849437
• Product Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds