Sixty-year-old Keillor seems to be trying to remember what it was like to survive a small town summer at age 15. I think he remembers the small town part better than the 15-year-old part, but then again I could be wrong. I suspect that he and I were both strange kids in 1956 (I'd have been 11), but probably not much alike. So his memories may be accurate for him. Then again, these may not be his memories as much as they are the memories he'd like to have about being 15.

The main character is Gary (as in Gary Keillor) and wants to be a writer. He's trying to figure out how to do that and deal with adolescent sexuality. Gary's father is trying to figure out how to deal with mid-life and the threat of rock and roll. Gary's mother is lightly sketched as a duplicate of June Cleaver. The "big sister" and the "older brother" are only decorations. Cousin Kate has a name, lots of nerve, and a boyfriend named Roger. Grandpa is up in heaven with Jesus watching and commenting on the goings on. Grandpa gets one of the best lines in the book: "Grandpa is looking out the window of heaven, and Jesus is standing beside him. Grandpa says, 'Jesus, why did you give an Underwood typewriter to a boy who thinks dirty thoughts all the time?' Jesus says, 'Well, we'll see what he does with it.'" And Gary gets to write descriptions of Whippets' baseball games in prose only a thesaurus owner could love.

There are great moments and wonderful lines. But, it's not filling. It's story telling and not novel writing (the label "novel" on the cover should be taken with a grain of salt). This is one of those books that's worth a trip to the library if you have a couple spare hours. Pick it up, scan through it and put it back on the shelf. Take a good book home, but you don't have to go that far with this one.