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The Monsters of Templeton | 
 enlarge | Author: Lauren Groff
Publisher: Voice
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $4.87
You Save: $10.08 (67%)
New (36) Used (11) from $4.87
Rating:  68 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 140134092X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781401340926
Publication Date: November 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, February 2008: On the very morning Willie Upton slinks home to Templeton, New York (after a calamitous affair with her archeology professor), the 50-foot-long body of a monster floats from the depths of the town's lake. This unsettling coincidence sets the stage for one of the most original debut novels since The Time Traveler s Wife. With a clue to the mysterious identity of her father in hand, Willie turns her research skills to unearthing the secrets of the town in letters and pictures (which, "reproduced" in the book along with increasingly complete family trees, lend an air of historical authenticity). Lauren Groff's endearingly feisty characters imbue the story with enough intrigue to keep readers up long past bedtime, and reading groups will find much to discuss in its themes of "monsters," both in our towns and our families. --Mari Malcolm
Product Description
"Lauren Groff's debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton, is everything a reader might have expected from this gifted writer, and more . . . There are monsters, murders, bastards, and ne'er-do-wells almost without number. I was sorry to see this rich and wonderful novel come to an end."
--Stephen King "Lauren Groff hits a home run in her first at-bat, with a novel that is intriguingly constructed and compulsively readable."
--Denver Post "Groff's multilayered saga both thrills and delights with poignant, breathtaking prose."
--Entertainment Weekly (A) "The Monsters of Templeton, a fascinating first novel by Lauren Groff, is a book with joy in its marrow--fabulous."
--San Francisco Chronicle In the wake of a wildly disastrous affair with her married archaeology professor, Willie Upton arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in storybook Templeton, New York, looking to hide in the one place to which she swore she'd never come back. As soon as she arrives, though, a prehistoric monster surfaces in Lake Glimmerglass, changing the very fabric of the town. What's more, Willie's hippie-turned-born-again-Baptist mother, Vi, tells her a secret she's been hiding for nearly thirty years: that Willie's father wasn't the random man from a free-love commune that Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely. Someone from this very town. As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, she discovers that the secrets of her family run deep when past and present blur, dark mysteries come to light, and the shocking truth about more than one monster is revealed.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 A Dreamlike Novel December 24, 2008
James Henderson (Chicago, Illinois)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this book a dreamlike novel about a woman with a passion for exploring her family origins and the town where she began her life. I considered the main character, Willie Upton, an appealing person and the story quite compelling. At times it became somwhat complex and it was a bit muddled in the middle of the book. However, the narrative takes you to a world within our own country that is as unfamiliar as any foreign land. In my own reading I found it a satisfying family saga with intriguing aspects that made it a good read.
Mary Shelley meets William Faulkner meets James Michener meets...Sophie Kinsella? December 16, 2008
Heather Knapp (San Francisco, CA)
Woohoo! I won't bother to summarize the plot because that's been done, but I'll endorse & describe the book.
The Monsters of Templeton is a little bit...
...mystery novel,
ghost story,
fantasy tale,
complex historical drama, and
chicklit (in a positive sense)...
all rolled into one. It's a LOT of fun.
The writing is OUTSTANDING (the physical descriptions make you part of the action), the main main characters are round and real (you love them and sort of roll your eyes at them at the same time), the peripheral characters are endearing (the Running Buds, awww!), and the whole atmosphere is dreamy...spooky...mysterious, but still very fresh and modern and oddly believable.
The novel has a complex structure with lots of threads (TRANSLATION: if you have a short attention span, this may not be the book for you), and a very satisfying ending.
Plus there's a sweetly tragic LAKE MONSTER, folks! Who can resist that?
It's the perfect book to read over the winter break, curled up with cups of tea by the fire.
 who cares who the father of such an annoying character is December 10, 2008
Daisy (Flagstaff,AZ)
I gave up when I got to the aircraft bathroom scene. Talk about contrived situations to move a very slow plot along. It would help if any of the characters actually seemed like real people. Talk about dysfunctional people doing illogical things. I won't give examples, not wishing to give away the plot, such as it is, to anyone who trusts any of these other reviewers' opinions and decides to give it a try. But I'd say find something else. The Gargoyle was great if you want a better book...
Innovative Style, Pleasant Read December 9, 2008
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
Exhibiting a highly innovative writing style, Groff creates more than just a novel with The Monsters of Templeton. As opposed to the characters simply being written about, they are actually created, using hard documents from their fictional past such as letters, notes, pictures, and a variety of other unconventional literary devices. The action centers around Willie Upton, who returns to her hometown of Templeton (The same as James Fenimore Cooper's creation) after a particularly embarrassing conflict-of-interest develops at her university. Upton finds herself attempting to find clarity in her roots, embarking on a not-so-typical journey of self discovery.
Groff's style is like visiting an outdoor modern art museum in the mountains, and simply marveling at one of the pieces-That is to say, her style is stimulating, fresh, and buzzing with originality, with innovative ideas that only come to new writers, and even then, only to talented ones. A considerably enjoyable read, The Monsters of Templeton leaves you in anticipation of more work by Groff.
 Unfortunate boring mishmash.... December 9, 2008
K. kahn
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book because of the positive reviews and the cover was interesting. I, like a number of others here, found the story tedious, impossible to believe, hard to follow, and I found little reason to care about the main characters. Definitely felt like an MFA project by a young student.
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