In my last book entry of 2011, I discussed my penchant for buying books, many of which go unread for some time, and my resolution to stem the tide of book buying in 2012. My first book of 2012 nicely represents this new effort. In the case of The Monsters of Templeton, I have concrete evidence that the book has been languishing on my to-be-read shelves for some time: a receipt for Powell's Books, dated 4/12/09, was tucked in the front cover. I'm not sure how many points I can score for waiting 2 years and 9 months to read this book, but it does represent one fewer tome gathering dust (only partially true, I suppose, since it will still be gathering dust--just in its properly alphabetized location on the already-read shelves).
Like many of these neglected volumes, Monsters turned out to be a very good book. Set in a small city in upstate New York, pretty clearly modeled on Cooperstown because of the baseball museum, Templeton is staged as idyllic America. Nestled on a lake amidst the rolling, forested hills, the town flourished early on and regained its importance with the establishment of the museum. The book's main character, Willie Upton, is a descendant of the town founder, raised by her ex-hippie mother in the sprawling home he built on the lake shore. Now finishing her PhD in archeology, she returns to Templeton in self-described disgrace on the every day that Glimmey, the monster rumored to live in the lake, has died and floated to the top.
Of course, the book's title implies that there is more than one monster to be found in Templeton. In the search to find her true father--whom her mother now admits is a town citizen and not one of three possible men from the free-love San Fransico commune she left upon the death of her parents--Willie digs into the past to uncover who the mysterious man may be, unearthing a few monsters along the way. The only hint her mother provides her with is that Willie's father also shares a bloodline with the founding father--although of a less legitimate nature. The stories of these family monsters are told through a series of letters as well as invented narratives, uncovering a rich history and, ultimately, Willie's heritage. It's a historical take on an early American settlement, and I'm happy I finally pulled it from the shelf.
I chose this book based on Amazon's recommendation and the fact that both Cory Doctorow and Stephen King provided blurbs for the jacket. King said, "Robert Charles Wilson is a hell of a storyteller," and since I think King is quite the storyteller himself, I thought this was pretty high praise. The book turned out compelling enough to keep me going through 400+ pages of small font (My perspective has been skewed by all the TeenLit I read these days.), but it's a hard book to describe in many ways.
Mainly the problem of describing the novel arises in assigning it a genre. Wilson is considered a SciFi author, and I suppose that loosely fits things--but very loosely. The story is set in a futuristic 22nd-Century America, but one that looks much more like things did in the 18th century. There are scattered pockets of technology, but on the whole it's much more of a feudal society, with landowners and serfs, a mixed civil and religious political structure with military leanings. There's a constant war that is being waged to maintain the American borders--and a corresponding flag of 13 stripes and 60 stars. It's low tech enough to keep it out of the Steampunk genre, yet there's a flavor of something futuristic at the same time--in a collapse type of way common to Post-Apocalyptic novels, but well after any horror has dissipated.
With all that aside, the novel is primarily a story of friendship--between a lower-born aspiring author (the book's narrator) and the aristocratic son of the slain US President. The two travel across country, engage in numerous battle scenes, make critiques of high society and religion, and comment on socialism and totalitarianism. All in all there is a bit of something in here for everyone, and while I think that it's a more male-oriented plot, there is enough drama and interest to pull most readers along.
