The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

The Monsters of Templeton is my first read by Lauren Groff and it absolutely blew me away. This book is gorgeous, lyrical, sad, emotional, funny. It blends so many different things I love about some of my favorite writers, and it completely swept me away. It is a story I will be thinking about for a long time.

Willie Upton has just left an archeological site in Alaska to return to her home in Templeton, NY (based on Cooperstown). After an affair with her professor went awry, Willie flees to her home in the hopes that she can figure out the mess she has made of her life.

Her mother, Vi, a hippie who is now a devout Baptist is a little disappointed in Willie because she gave her endless opportunities to have a better life, but she welcomes Willie home anyway, telling her that if she is going to be there all summer she better find something useful to do.

And then she tells Willie something else, which shatters everything she ever thought she knew. That her father was not some stranger her mother left behind, but someone living in Templeton. Vi refuses to tell Willie the identity of her father, but Willie is determined to make discovering the identity of her father her project for the summer. So she dives into the genealogical history of her family to try and discover more about her past.

This book is so much more than I can write in a short review. It is utterly breathtaking in scope. Willie has to learn from her mistakes, learn about the highs and lows of her family’s mistakes and also come to terms with some other truths in her own life. I loved watching Willie grow as a character, how she comes to realize the world is so much bigger than she thought and that the people in it are an active choice she must make in order to keep them a part of her life.

The way Lauren Groff writes is just beautiful. This book had a lush setting, speculative elements and really strong characters that just wormed their way into my heart. Such a gorgeous book, I cannot wait to dive into more of her work.