That Time of Year: A Minnesota Life

Living in Minnesota, I have been blessed with the opportunity to follow Garrison Keillor for nearly the entirety of his public life. Few have made greater contributions to the State of Minnesota than he, joining the likes of folks such as Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Bobby Dylan, Alan Page and Rod Carew in putting this bitterly cold place in “fly-over” country on the map. Yet, as most fans know, his career went down in flames as a victim of what must have been his own failings of self-management and bad timing just as the #MeToo Movement was taking hold. Such misbehavior of the part of another Minnesota superstar, Sen. Al Franken, cost America one of its strongest and smartest members of Congress in the same manner as we have lost the wonderful contributions of this unique artist. Sad.

Toward the end of this book, Garrison lays out his version of the facts regarding what he did , what he was accused of and what consequences were meted out. I’m an attorney and a strong believer in “due process” – that an accused should be able to confront his accusers, to have the opportunity to mount a defense and that, if guilty, to have the punishment fit the crime. Keillor appears to have been denied all elements of due process. And while he bemoans his treatment, he does not shy away from accepting responsibility in this memoir.

Moving to the book itself, I believe that every one of the 4 million listeners who used to tune in regularly to the Prairie Home Companion program would love this book. Garrison tells us that he is autistic and was so as a child when that diagnosis was not known. So, he could not likely fit into the “normal” world that required social skills not in his nature and had to make a life outside established career paths that bright people have open to them. And he did so with astounding creativity – sort of an Elon Musk/Bill Gates of the world of entertainment. Everything he did was new to the world – Mark Twain being the only close point of comparison.

His writing style in this book is just what one would expect from years of listening on the radio to his tales of Lake Wobegon. A pure delight! No one writes this way and no one else ever will. It is a joy to have it captured in print one more time, since we will not be hearing Garrison on radio ever again. And it is a joy to enccounter one more time a number of the cast and crew (e.g., Tom Keith, Sue Scott) who are like old friends and who helped make this show work so well for so long.

My recommendation: buy the book, grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up on these cold days and enjoy what might be Garrison’s last gift to us.

Let me start by saying no one, and I mean no one, can put something in print thatll make me laugh out loud like GK can. The man is a comic genius. This book, however, is a biography and as such is much like being served a huge bowl of crisp lettuce which, after patiently poking through it, yields a few kalamata olives and some crumbles of feta.
What came through to me is that genius does not come lightly. Its born of a relentless single-mindedness and a degree of insensitivity to the needs of the people close to you. Hes mellowed with age now, and happily married, but the book limns a younger GK whose inability to relate emotionally, especially to women, left a battlefield strewn with wounded. The death of his first marriage is just terribly sad. Its not that he was deliberately cruel because he wasnt; rather he was so obsessive and work oriented he choked off the oxygen in his relationships. Perhaps thats the trade-off for greatness.
The book does explain from GKs side the severance fiasco with MPR, a knee jerk over-reaction to the Me Too Movement and the resultant Salem Witch Hunts fueled by enthusiastic feminine retaliation that also deprived MN of Al Franken, one of our better Senators in Washington.
Keillors recounting of his life is often repetitive, yet interesting because of the nature of his familys religious belief and its effect on family members, but I would never characterize the history as riveting.
I look forward to his return to novels of human foibles and just plain silliness. These are the days where everyone could use a laugh.

Gary Keillor kept me spellbound with his actual life, as has done for over forty years on the radio, as well as in print. I start every morning reading the ‘Writers Almanac’ daily e-mail, often resulting in a purchase of a book of poetry by an author unknown to me a few minutes earlier. Mr. Keillor is still a national treasure!

I discovered “A Prairie Home Companion” soon after it went “national”, in 1980. I seldom missed a broadcast, unless I was out of the country or otherwise unable to listen. I made a pilgrimage to St. Paul in 1983 and saw the two consecutive shows in November (can’t recall the dates). Also saw one live in Anchorage, I think it was 1986. Like him, I grew up in the midwest and shared many of his youthful experiences (I’m eight years older than him). I will claim the title of “Number One Garrison Keillor in the Known Universe” (If you’re inventing a title for yourself, why be modest?).

Ive read most of GKs books, and I think this is the best. Its honest, funny, and settles in my mind once and for all who he is. And I like who he is. Hes an important writer in our time, and his brush with MeToo wont change that. One can take down his picture at the U, cancel his wonderful Writers Almanac, and otherwise try to pretend he hasnt been on this earth for nearly eight decades, but like most great yet flawed writers, his works live on and will continue to live on long after hes gone. Thank you, GK, for this book and for your explanation. Now, go fish somewhere.

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