The Twilight Of Lake Woebegotten (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
If you are a fan of parodies, satire or spoofs. If you loved Twilight, if you hated Twilight OR if you just like to read intriguing, humorous, lovingly weird books. On the other hand, perhaps Garrison Keillor and his Lake Woebegone Novels intrigue you. No matter what piques your curiosity, just get the darn book and have fun readin’!I'm so surprised that this book was so freakishly enjoyable, since I’m not big on reading parodies. Even if you don't have any knowledge firsthand about "Twilight" you will most likely enjoy this book, especially if you read any sort of speculative fiction.This book has it all: parody, comedy, sarcasm, Love sociopathic heroines, handsome vampires, and a ton of secrets.When Bonnie Greyduck (think Bella Swann) has to leave her hometown in sunny California and her mother due to rather unfortunate and bloody circumstances, she moves in with her rather clueless father, who is Police Chief in Lake Woebegotten,Minnesota. There she meets the very handsome and aloof Edwin Scullen who is hiding a secret…yep he’s a vamp, but the good kind that don’t eat people! Moreover, Bonnie just falls all over herself to become Edwin’s girlfriend once she knows his secret. I mean, just think what sort of mayhem a sociopath can wreak if she can become immortal? Oh I did so love this book, though I admit to having read the original Twilight series, I just don’t think it is necessary for you to have done so in order to find this a funny and satisfying read. I have one major grip about this book. We will Laugh, or so the synopsis promises us. And I didn’t.I don’t mean to say that I did not find the humor amusing, because everyone is allowed a different brand of joke, but that I could not find the punch line, so to speak. It was not so much a parody of Twilight, but a what-if.What if Bella had been a psychopath (or sociopath, I grew confused at the differentiation after all the explanation done in the novel)? What if she had loved Edward in whatever twisted, manipulative way she could – and what if that love were fuelled more from a desire to become the perfect predator and less from his personality?Those are the turning points presented by The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten, and if I had not been led to expect something else altogether by the blurb, I’d have enjoyed it.As it is, there were some good, original additions to the Twilight story: there’s another sociopath (or psychopath) in town, and Bonnie (Bella) has a turf war of sorts with him towards the end. It was interesting and... insightful. I could not bring myself to care much if she won or not, though, because I didn't like her all that much. However, her father was a collateral of this little turf war and that kind of pissed me off. Secondary character or not, he was the one I liked the most and the one I could relate with. Bummer.Actually, the best part of the book are the secondaries. The town drunkard, the rivalling priests, the "League of Justice" a few villagers have organized to fight off vampires, demons and occassional UFO's... All of them had brief appearances and were not the focus of the story, but still they are the ones I remember after reading the book. Another well thought out character with a somewhat more relevant role was the Narrator, a weird dude who inserts bits and pieces into the protagonist’s diary from time to time in order to give the reader a better perspective of what’s going on. We don't get to know just why he’s omniscient and just what he might be up to until the very end, and I’ll admit that it was an “oh, yesssh” moment for me. Go, weird dude!That said, the rest of the cast, the ones who come from Twilight, are either inconsequential (like Bonnie's classmates), hardly get any screen time and thur remain shallow (like the Scullen family) or present extreme traits from the characters they refer to without this fact doing much for comic relief (like Edwin’s naiveté). For me, it was not enough to become a parody. However, I guess the author does explain a bit about the inner workings of the brain of Bonnie, criminal mastermind. Perhaps too much. Really, I did not need to read about her sex life or masturbation habits.I tend to comment on style and such, as I think that the how something reads is as important as the what it reads, but this time I will be silent on that account. It was an ARC and there were some mistakes. The upside of this is, now I am looking at editors under a whole new light – they are needed in ways I had never suspected before. There’s a reason why an unedited novel is called a manuscript and not a novel, go figure. Still, the tone was light and I expect the final product will be a comfortable piece, easy to read without particular awe-inspiring moments. In conclusion, I’d say that other than a few moments of lightness that did put a smile in my face (like Bonnie's father mistaking Edwin’s name as Edward, when just the opposite happens in Twilight), the novel kept me turning pages without really gripping me. If you want to read Stephanie Meyer’s saga with an evil twist, this is an entertaining read. If you liked Twilight or are looking for a quick laugh, I’d not exactly recommend it.
What do You think about The Twilight Of Lake Woebegotten (2011)?
Actually funny in places. Surprising good read for a vampire Were-bear book
—Deb
Twilight if Twilight were awesome and readable.
—john
