Lake of the Ozarks

March 1, 2019
The Emmy Award-winning correspondent of CBS Sunday Morning reminisces about the wonderful days of his youth.During the 1960s, Geist (Way off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America, 2007, etc.) spent his summers working at a resort--the Arrowhead Lodge--owned by his aunt and uncle. In the middle of nowhere, down a winding road, the lodge provided the author with a place to work and make friends, drink beer, and meet girls. In this memoir, Geist takes readers back to those bygone days, sharing his escapades of what life was like for a young man with few experiences under his belt. The author often uses folksy humor to contrast those times with today. "A gas station attendant was a guy who filled your gas tank, checked your oil, coolant and battery fluids, and tire pressure," he writes. "But those old gas stations did not sell hats and T-shirts, sixty-two different candy bars, fifty-seven kinds of refrigerated beverages, including twenty brands of bottle water. There were no 'brands' of water, only God's. It was free. I know. Sounds crazy." Threaded throughout this lightweight narrative are amusing, harmless memories of working in the kitchen during rush hour, cleaning out the open-air septic system, and fraternizing with the girls who moved in and out of Geist's orbit. His portrayals of his fellow co-workers and his family are well-rounded, showing the good and bad in each individual. Geist's writing is consistently nostalgic as he shows how those carefree summers helped mold him into the man he became. The book is a quick, pleasant read that effectively reflects how his time at the lodge showed him that "life is more difficult and rewarding and fun when you manage to do things your way."Old-fashioned, wistful stories that will appeal to fans of Geist's previous books.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 15, 2019
Humorist and former CBS correspondent Geist follows up Way Off the Road with another enjoyable look at an offbeat corner of the U.S., the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Geist, as a teenager in the 1960s, spent summers working there at his uncle’s resort, Arrowhead Lodge. He recounts his summers in this “Midwestern Shangri-La,” where “frugal, middle-class Midwesterners could rent speedboats to ride on the water during the day and spend evenings on a midway where you could play Skee-Ball or shop for souvenirs.” Geist writes about the other young men and women he met while working at the resort who all enjoyed “an opportunity to be on our own and away from incessant interrogation about where we were last night.” Describing his most recent trip to the area, which he hadn’t visited since the lodge was demolished in 2007, Geist delivers a tenderhearted remembrance for “the whole menagerie of wonderfully bizarre eccentrics drawn by their own peculiar circumstances to this remote, unlikely destination.” Geist’s entertaining account of life in a resort town in the 1960s will certainly resonate with folks of his generation, and will offer younger readers a glimpse into a bygone era.