Readers Place

About the Book

Willie Cooper arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York in the wake of a disastrous affair with her much older, married archaeology professor. That same day, the discovery of a prehistoric monster in the lake brings a media frenzy to the quiet, picture-perfect town her ancestors founded. Smarting from a broken heart, Willie then learns that the story her mother had always told her about her father has all been a lie. He wasn t the one-night stand Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely. As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, a chorus of voices from the town s past rise up around her to tell their sides of the story. Dark secrets come to light, past and present blur, old mysteries are finally put to rest, and the surprising truth about more than one monster is revealed.

Starting Points for Discussion

• What sort of novel is The Monster of Templeton ? A murder mystery? A love story? Bildungsroman? An American Epic?

• Contrast representations of Marmaduke with images of Native Americans in the novel. Is Marmaduke a hero or a villain?

• Discuss representations of the self-made man in the novel.

• Discuss the notion of ‘untrue history’ in the novel. Almost every character has a hidden or fabricated past, even Vi and Willie. Are there any characters who are completely straightforward in the novel? considering this, is the narrator trustworthy?

• Sense of place is incredibly important in the novel. Templeton could almost be considered a character itself, which others are willing to lie, steal and die for. In what other American novels is this the case? Does this occur in European fiction?

• In what ways is Lauren Gross telling of the story of Templeton similar to the story of the birth of America?

• Discuss the character of Charlotte Temple? Is she evil? Or a product of other people’s actions? Is the author encouraging the reader to be sympathetic to her?

• What does the Glimmy represent to you?  Do you find the inclusion of a fantastical animal unusual in a novel of this type?

• Consider what happens to ‘The Lump’. Do you think this situation occurs because of Willie’s search for her father?

• Larissa is the only central character in the novel not to originate from Templeton. In what ways does she become part of the town?

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  The Monsters of Templeton

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Suggested Further Reading

• The Last of the Mohicans ~ James Fenimore Cooper (Penguin Popular Classics 1994)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself ~ Frederick Douglass (Dover Thrift) (Paperback)
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ~ Mark Twain (Penguin Popular Classics)
• Redemption Falls ~ Joseph O’Connor (Harvell Secker 2007)
• The Great Gatsby ~ F.Scott Fitzgerald (Penguin Popular Classics)