The Monsters of Templeton (2008)by Lauren Groff

Author Lauren Groff

1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Monsters of Templeton (2008)

Cooperstown, New York

New York: 16/105

Upstate: 15/23

  I consider myself a fan of author Lauren Groff.  My thought is that she does have a major prize winning novel in her- she's already been a finalist for the National Book Award.  She's also prolific for a contemporary writer of literary fiction, averaging a new work every three to four years.  Finally, she's shown an ability to write about something other than herself- with forays into regional short story collections (Florida) and historical-literary fiction (The Matrix, The Vaster Wilds) from different time periods in history.  Fates and Furies was heavily laced with Greek mythology and this book, her first, has a strong element of the supernatural/magical realism with an appearance by a lake monster and a non-verbal ghost as a character. 

    She reminds me of Colson Whitehead in her efforts to blend genre appeal with the less audience friendly concerns of literary fiction- this book- her first- has several classic elements of the first novel- a university educated protagonist returns to her backwater hometown after some kind of trauma in her new life or old one.  This is a plot that is a frequent guest on the 1,0001 Novels list, I call it the Hallmark Movie plot. These books are, at the very least, said in said backwater small town, making them an excellent pick for the less-written about parts of the US.

  Groff awkwardly renames Cooperstown to Templeton and keeps the Baseball Hall of Fame generic- a real effort in the context of the gossipy tone of the references to said Hall of Fame and its impact on the community.  Half the book is pretty standard issue first novel stuff, the other half consists of a quest by the returning protagonist to uncover the identity of her father.   This involves a lot of historical research, which basically means half of The Monsters of Templeton is an epistolary novel, and tbh I could not be bothered to keep track of the quest of the narrator to find her poppa.  I mean, who cares?

 I saw this in the context of music more often but, the idea of a character in a work- a book- a song- who is an adolescent girl or post adolescent girl who is having trouble with some big decisions and spends a lot of time crying in her room- that is the most relatable trope and therefore it is super popular and there are a ton of artists who do it, and do it well, but it is, ultimately, all the same.  It's all the same in the same way that romantic poetry from the 18th and 19th century is all the same until you get to someone like Ezra Pound.   I'm not saying it's all BAD just that it covers that same thematic/artistic territory over and over again.