The Monsters of Templeton

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The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff was praised last spring when the book came out.  Debut novel, great read, etc.  I was wary after reading many books that had recently been praised and ended up not worth the read.  I read the outline and the book just didn't seem interesting.  Wrong.  Great book!

My friend recommended that I pick up the book.  It is in paperback now.  Wonderful read.  28 year old woman comes home to a town in upstate NY where a large monster has been pulled out of the lake behind her home.  The town she lives in is supposedly Cooperstown where the Baseball hall of fame resides.  This monster is something reminiscent of Loch Ness.  For some reason, I thought that the monster was a large part of the story.  I was wrong.  It is just a metaphor for the main character as she comes home and figures out her life. 

Willie, who is the main character, comes home from Stanford after having a short lived affair with her professor which ended as she tried to run down his wife.  Pregnant and unsure about her future, she comes home to her single mother who tells her that she actually does know the man who is her father.  Willie was always led to believe that her mother was just a hippie who had many sexual encounters and ended up getting pregnant and not sure by who.  Now, at 28, she is determined to trace her genealogy to find out who her true father is.

The book is full of twists and turns, relationships in the future and the past.  I looked forward to getting in to bed every night to get turn each page.  A winner.