Genre: Fiction
Publisher: William Heinemann (2008)
Pages: 364 (Hardback)
My Rating: 8/10
THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON BY LAUREN GROFF
First Line:
The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass.
These curious words are spoken by the narrator, Willie Upton, upon returning to her home town, having had a disastrous affair with her married professor and now finding herself pregnant.
She slowly starts to get her life together by discovering the lives of her ancestors who founded the town of Templeton in the 1700's and through their words we learn of past secrets, lies and rumours.
Many of the chapters alternated between Willie's voice and some of her ancestors which helped to build up a fascinating picture of her weird family, some of whom I did find a little unbelievable, together with the growth of Templeton.
I thought the slow build up of the family tree diagrams throughout the story was a nice touch and the family pictures also added to the overall feel, making it all seem real.
The story of the prehistoric monster found in the Lake was a little unusual and the author kept referring to this throughout the book as some of the characters may have seen it over the years. I'm not sure if I liked this idea or not, I just found the whole concept a little strange.
Overall though I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it if you like something a little different from the normal historical/contemporary fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment