I really enjoyed "Wobegon Boy," Keillor's latest full-length novel. However, it creates some major continuity issues with his previous novels. Here are some of the ones I picked up on. To simplify things, the novels are LWD for Lake Wobegon Days, LH for Leaving Home, and WB for Wobegon Boy.
- In "Moses" (LH), Judy Ingqvist's mother is identified as Clarice. In WB, we learn that her mother is Mary Tollefson.
- In "Revival" (LWD), Val & Charlotte Tollefson are identified as John Tollefson's great-uncle and great-aunt. The problem is that, in WB, we are given the names of all of John's grandfather's siblings (Maren, Haakon, Otto, Harald), and Valdemar isn't one of them. Also, in LH, Val's father is identified as David. So how could he be related to John?
- The Tollefson family tree as related in WB is completely different from the one given in "A Ten-Dollar Bill" (LH). Of course, in that story, John Tollefson is called Jim Tollefson, but his father is still Byron, so it's gotta be the same guy.
- The lineup of Flambeau Family books changes completely in this novel from previous novels.
- In "Revival" (LWD), Bert Thorvaldson is identified as being John Tollefson's grandfather. Since his name isn't Tollefson, that must mean that he's the maternal grandfather. However, in WB, Mary Tollefson's father is called "Grandpa Petersen."
- In "Revival," mention is made of Pastor David Ingqvist making a pastoral visit to John Tollefson, who is a freshman in college. Dialogue from an earlier chapter, "School," puts the pastor in Keillor's age bracket, as they are in Boy Scouts together. However, in WB, we are told that John Tollefson's younger sister Judy married David Ingqvist. What's more, Judy married David before he went to the seminary and became a minister, and that wedding took place after John's senior year in college. There is absolutely no way to reconcile the two accounts.
- In WB, the recounting of John's trip to St. Cloud to register as a freshman changes from the account in LWD. Specifically, John's father is mentioned as being present, whereas in LWD he was definitely NOT present because he had to take care of some business at work.
- In WB, dialog indicates that John went to the University of Minnesota after high-school graduation. LWD says that he went to St. Cloud State for at least his freshman year.
- In WB, Byron Tollefson said that Mr. Starr was the editory of the newspaper at the time of a specific incident that occurred when Byron was 12. Since he was 73 at the time and since WB probably occurs in 1997, that would make Byron's birthdate in 1924, and thus it would be 1936 when the incident in question occurred. This conflicts with LWD, which says that Harold Starr bought the newspaper in 1944. What's more, Starr is described as being an "old guy" in 1936, when LWD and some of Keillor's monologues make it clear that he is still publishing the paper in the present day.
That's all I can think of for now. I will post more as they occur to me.
I found a few more.
1. LWD identifies John Tollefson's mother as Frances, when WB claims her name is Mary. Maybe she was Mary Frances or Frances Mary, but still....
2. Also, WB says that the Statue of the Unknown Norwegian was sculpted in 1942 and that it points west. LWD establishes that it was sculpted in 1896 and that it points toward the lake, which is EAST of town.
3. LH talks about an incident where a boy named Larry Sorrenson went forward to the altar in church 12 times, weeping, to repent. At one point, he is stated as having gone forward during a dry sermon on stewardship. In WB, Diana Tollefson claims that her younger brother, Ronnie, went forward in church several times in the same way, and that it once happened during a sermon on stewardship. While it's possible that both are true, it seems very unlikely. More likely is the fact that Keillor reused the incident.
4. Wally Krebsbach, the bartender at the Sidetrack Tap, states in WB that he was 17 years old when John Tollefson died. That would place his birthdate some time in 1925. The problem is, according to LWD, Wally played on a baseball team in 1936 with a former Chicago Cubs player. Now, unless he played when he was 11, something is off here.
I'm not trying to disparage these books. The problem is that Keillor doesn't have a strong interest in continuity, and the more he writes the more mistakes pile up.