Short takes
Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America
By Garrison Keillor
Viking, 237 pp., $19.95
At the end of this heartfelt plea for a return to a Democratic administration, Garrison Keillor explains himself. ''Dante said that the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece." Keillor, the chronicler of Lake Wobegon, will not burn. He is a fierce defender of basic Democratic values -- courtesy, kindness, decency, humanity, lending a hand, answering a cry.
He comes by these values from his hard-working, God-loving Midwestern family, who believed in mowing the lawn, paying taxes, and caring for people in need. He attacks the current Republican administration, which, he says, is being ''led by brilliant bandits who are dividing and conquering the sweet land I grew up in." He hits hard and fast at the GOP, ''the Death Star of Government," for being responsible for ''why the rest of the world thinks we're deaf, dumb, and dangerous." Then he gently displays his deep, affectionate appreciation for the liberal values of ''tolerance, magnanimity, community spirit, defense of the weak against the powerful, love of learning." And he proudly lists the achievements of previous Democratic administrations, including legislation on civil rights, sex discrimination, clean air, Medicare, and the defense of the crumbling Roe v. Wade decision.
His personal history of growing up in small-town America, attending public school and the University of Minnesota, achieving some fame in the wider world, then returning to St. Paul to chat with pals in the caf, practically glows with good will and fellow feeling.
Osprey Island
By Thisbe Nissen
Knopf, 304 pp., $24
The Lodge at Osprey Island offers summer vacationers sandy beaches, clapboard shops lining the main street, scenic cliffs, secluded coves, golden sunsets, and sightings of the noble osprey. While the summer community swells with a variety of tourists and Irish girls who come to work as chambermaids at the lodge, the full-time residents are a small, tight, and touchy group.
In the preseason of 1988, a fire kills Lorna, a feisty island girl, and leaves her 8-year-old son, Squee, alone with his violent, angry, drunken dad, Lance. Suzy returns to the island with her young daughter Mia after some years' absence; Roddy returns alone after his own long absence. Suzy and Roddy, pals since high school, suck what sweetness they can from each other in this sour air. Suzy fears for Mia's safety;everyone fears for Squee's. Brigid, an Irish maid, bravely and foolishly enters into the rough and tumble of old feuds, lost loves, unsolved grievances, and ancient grudges.
A foul feeling of menace hangs over the whole tale and keeps it moving forward toward its inevitable violent showdown. In a community where everybody knows everything about everybody, some secrets become public knowledge, some fester, some die, some explode. Waiting to discover what will ignite and who will get fried is no picnic.
Stranger than Fiction
By Chuck Palahniuk
Doubleday, 256 pp., $23.95
Chuck Palahniuk writes about guy stuff. He is interested in guys alone and guys hanging out together. A guy's guy, he is mostly interested in himself.
The essays collected here focus on guys in Missoula, Mont., attending the Rock Creek Lodge Testicle Festival, which features coed body painting and the men's bare chest contest, as well as guys trying out for the US Olympic wrestling team in Waterloo, Iowa, where mangled, melted ears are the symbols of the brotherhood of pain.
Way out West, men build castles with turrets, Gothic arches, spiral staircases, and secret rooms. In the ballroom of the Airport Sheraton Hotel in Nashville or Kansas City, men (and women) have seven minutes to pitch their stories and screenplays to assistant editors and producers, hoping to hit the jackpot of a fat advance or a movie deal.
Palahniuk hit the jackpot several years ago when his novel ''Fight Club" was made into a successful movie, starring Brad Pitt. The last essays in this volume are a celebration of the surprises of fame. Palahniuk revels in his adventures with agents, screenwriters, actors, friends, and fans. Here's a guy who made good.
Barbara Fisher is a freelance critic who lives in New York.
