Keillor offers up a mystical homecoming

By Laurie Hertzel

Last update: November 7, 2009 - 5:37 PM

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A CHRISTMAS BLIZZARD

By: Garrison Keillor.

Publisher: Viking, 180 pages, $21.95.

Review: A short, sentimental fable about a rich man who returns to North Dakota and finds the meaning of Christmas.

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If you decide to make Garrison Keillor's fable, "A Christmas Blizzard," a read-aloud holiday tradition, you might find yourself worrying that you won't finish it before New Year's. This book, short as it is, does go on and on. Which is not to say that it's not entertaining -- it is, in its own weird way. But it does go on and on.

Keillor tells the story of James Sparrow, a wealthy Chicago man haunted by a warning given to him as a boy in North Dakota: Do not touch your tongue to a pump handle in winter. Over time, James has come to believe it inevitable that he will do this, so he chooses to spend Christmas in Hawaii, where there aren't many pump handles and where you won't freeze, should you lick one.

But then his uncle falls ill, and James returns to North Dakota and promptly gets stranded by a blizzard. There, he experiences an epiphany in the sauna, but not before he has mystical encounters with a talking wolf, a gruff airline employee and a mysterious Chinese man in a San Francisco coffee shop -- all while alone on the middle of a frozen lake. Not exactly the ghosts of Christmas past, but you get the idea.

Keillor loads his book with sideways stories, loopy segues, inside jokes (Sparrow burns a John Sandford paperback to keep warm), and rambling remembrances from the North Dakotans. Much of it is very funny. And the sense of place is right on the money -- boots crunching on the dry snow, the sound of shovels scraping the pavement, snowflakes as big as chicken feathers falling from the sky.

LAURIE HERTZEL

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Here are some of Books Editor Laurie Hertzel's favorite sites and blogs. Got a literary link to share? E-mail Laurie.

Twin Cities Literary Scavenger Hunt Home page for the scavenger hunt, which runs now through Dec. 26.
Reading Minnesota A blog that features Minnesota writers, illustrators, publishers, bookstores, and reviewers.
Talk of the Stacks An author series from the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.
Poets & Writers The website for Poets and Writers Magazine--podcasts, author interviews, and writing resources.
Creative Writing A place to keep apprised of writing competitions in the United States.
Gather Minnesota Readers The Website for Minnesota Public Radio's books blog.
The Loft Literary Center The Website for the Loft, a local place for writers and readers.
Good Reads A way to track what you're reading, and what your friends are reading.
Lost Manuscripts Just what it sounds like - a blog (sporadically updated) devoted to missing and destroyed manuscripts.
Maud Newton Very hip, reviews, links, a little attitude.
bookreporter.com A plethora of online book reviews and reading guides.
Rain Taxi Rain Taxi Review of Books.