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From India

An emotional family drama with strong female characters

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 16 June 2021

The Lager Queen of Minnesota is a family drama concerning two sisters, Edith and Helen, estranged since their father died and left the family farm to Helen in 1967. We first meet Edith first, in 2003, at age 64, who is convinced that her younger sister Helen has manipulated their father into changing his will. Edith strives to earn a living at a nursing home, where she has been baking pies, for 37 years.

Rolling the narrative back to 1959 and shifting to Helen’s point of view, Stradal draws a sharp contrast. Helen has just had her first taste of beer at 15, and all she wants is to get out of her small Minnesota hometown and brew beer. While Edith struggles to make a living, despite baking award-winning pies, Helen builds one of the most successful light breweries in the country. Yet one day, Helen will find she needs some help herself, from someone she has known all her life. . . But is it too late?

The story is narrated using flashbacks and multiple points of view. Stradal expertly develops his story in a nonlinear fashion, moving back and forth from 2003, in chapters seen through the eyes of Edith and her granddaughter Diana, with intermingling episodes from Helen’s spectacular rise in the light beer business in the 1970s.

Though revolving around the beer business, At the heart of it, it’s a story of three resilient women – Helen, Edith, and Diana. There is lots of humor to keep things on the lighter side but the book slips in many emotional moments when you are least expecting them. The small-town setting and the historical background of brewing from the 1950s show the commendable amount of research the author has undertaken. The first half was a bit slow but enjoyable. The second half is where the story catches steam. Full marks for the warm satisfying conclusion which made it a strong finish for me. .

Stradal creates some strong and memorable characters. It was easy to get invested in these characters right from the start—From the all sacrificing Edith who always put other’s needs above her own to Helen, a ruthless, somewhat manipulative business tycoon to Diana, a teenager who kept getting into trouble until she was caught and had to work her way out of trouble, all of them expertly crafted. Apart from the characters, the book has many bright moments which will keep you invested in the storyline.

While the story has many resilient women, their storylines never combined together except towards the end. So it felt like reading different parallel stories in isolation, rather than the story of 3 generations. All the information about brewing beers and all the different kinds of beers was just so overwhelming, especially for someone who doesn’t drink at all. So a lot of it I didn’t understand but I found the process interesting nonetheless.

Overall, The Lager Queen of Minnesota is an emotional family drama with some strong and empowering female characters. With a cast of lovable characters, sharp writing, a touch of humor, and a heartwarming finish, this is a delightful read. If you love reading family dramas with strong female characters, this is a must-read book for you.

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From other countries

Yee

Easy, fun, read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 27 January 2023

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I enjoyed this book and the characters are certainly memorable. It will remain in my memories fondly. Reading about women making beer was inspiring. I have been reunited with beer this year and do like a good craft beer. So that also contributed to the joy of reading this story However, I felt the story lacked depth and was somewhat predictable which is why I gave it 4 stars.

Denise Mattox

A glimpse into the brewery world

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 12 January 2023

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As the employee of a brewery, I was SO happy with the care taken in the accuracy of all things brewery. As a lover of a good story, this ticks that box as well. It took me through a range of emotions. Loved it!

MyPenName

KMR review

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 16 October 2022

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I’m not a beer drinker but found the details of making a variety of beers very interesting. I wish I liked beer! The characters were very relatable in their struggles and support from their friends.

One person found this helpful

Cathy Klein

Generations, Strong Women & Beer

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 6 February 2020

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I love a generational story, strong women and beer so this novel checked all the boxes for me.

As a young girl, Helen realizes she loves beer and needs to be able to make it herself. She not only does projects in school and marries someone she feels can help her reach her goals. You gotta feel bad for Orval though. Helen does genuinely appreciate him not only as a means to her end, but as a husband, but it didn't start out that way.

Her older sister, Edith, on the other hand, seems to do everything right. Marries a boy from school, has children and helps her supports her husband any way she can. She also happens to bake the best pies around. When Helen & Edith's father becomes ill and needs one of them to take care of him, Edith convinces Helen that it should be her because they have a job opportunity not too close to home. Helen decides that this is the thing to do because she can then inherit all her father has to give to help her future endeavors in beer making so that is what she does.

Upon their father's death, Helen takes all the money causing family rift between the 2 sisters. Edith's granddaughter also shares the family's affinity for beer. She gets much more practice at making just the right IPA and eventually having her own business as well, but always with Edith having her back.

Beer is what eventually brings the family full circle, but there is a lot that happens in between and it's a great story. My copy is extra special because I got to meet the author and have it signed.

One person found this helpful

Newt

Unique Local Color and Sympathetic Treatment of Income Inequality!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 21 January 2020

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This is a truly delightful novel. My book club loved it! The member who picked it brought along samples of beers for us to try and that added to our enjoyment.!

There is strong character portrayal int he book and a deep understanding of the culture and values of the Twin City area of Minnesota. We see the middle class values of hard work and stoic acceptance of the difficulties of life, but we also get the definite theme that the wealthy have no conception of what it is like to struggle for even the most basic necessities of modern life, like dependable transportation. We get some moral quandaries to make us ask ourselves how we would react to inability to provide for those you love.

At the same time, there is much humor in this book and a genuine affection for the toughness and spirit of old ladies! Clearly, it is wrong to pan this book because the plot strains credulity! That's not the point. Yes, there are some real problems explored in the book, but in the end, the solution to those problems seems pretty unlikely! That's not the point. This is not a book written to suggest solutions to pressing social problems. Rather, it is a partly humorous, partly serious book that was written to engage and entertain the reader! At that objective, it is highly successful!

To illustrate my point about realism, it is not realistic that a bunch of inexperienced old ladies could quickly learn to brew marketable beers! But to judge the book on this basis is unfair. The author is not attempting to write a realistic treatment of how beer is brewed. It is the relationships, work ethic, and quirky behaviors of the characters that make this a great read.

You will greatly enjoy this book. Having spent a lot of time in Minneapolis, where our youngest son is raising his family, we found a lot of very keen observations in the book. But, you don't have to have even set foot in Minnesota to enjoy this book. Don't miss this one!

2 people found this helpful

Robin

Such a Good Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 7 July 2022

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Such a good book.

Edith and Helen are sisters whose lives diverged in animosity. They lead very different lives (Edith faces tragedies and hardships but with a steadfast outlook; Helen ambitiously takes what she needs from people/situations with a “me” outlook).

This story centers around two generations of women in the brewing industry, their triumphs and struggles both personally and professionally.

Well-written and engaging.

Miss Scarlet

Good book--until it wasn't . . .

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 6 July 2020

Verified Purchase

Fittingly, this story started and ended with the two sisters, Edith and Helen. But about halfway through, we lost track of Helen, and Edith became a minor character, replaced by Diana. I was okay with the new focus on Diana until she blundered into a career path (trying to avoid a spoiler here) that was simply too coincidental to be plausible. The plot became even more unlikely a bit later when the author suddenly added several new characters--all supposedly cute grandmothers--and way too much detail about beer. At this point, I began to count the pages until the end.

The character of Diana was inconsistent. For example, after she struggled for years to have a baby, the actual birth was skipped over, and the long-wanted child (and its father) were barely mentioned the rest of the book. And after having been assiduously coached in the careful brewing of craft beer (pages and pages of this!), Diana suddenly started bottling and selling products brewed by first-time amateurs. I found myself confusing Diana with the young Helen, but I don't know if the similarity was intentional or not.

By the time old Helen came back into the picture, I had forgotten her backstory. I'm surprised an editor didn't point out to the author that there would have been several more-believable ways to get these three women together and into the same industry.

The poignant ending did bring a tear or two, but the story could have been better.

6 people found this helpful

Mary P. Camarillo

One of my favorite books this year

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 25 June 2022

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I loved the heart and generosity shown to each character and the close attention to beer. J Ryan Stradal writes,”The right IPA is like a Miles Davis trumpet solo. Consistent yet surprising. Obeying and breaking the rules. A mixture of simple things.” The same can be said about The Lager Queen of Minnesota.” Bravo!

Thomas J. Rice

A gentle, uplifting wellcrafted tale

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 20 February 2020

Verified Purchase

Kudos for J. Ryan Stadal for following up the wonderful "Kitchens of the great Midwest" with "The Lager Queen of Minnesota".

I picked this book up because of my appreciation for the earlier novel and for an intriguing title.

This is a novel that is a wonderful intertwining about a bit of modern American family life, communities and, of course, beer making. It all hangs together very nicely and is well plotted and well paced.

I think Mr. Stradal was very thoughtful in his portrayal of how difficult it is for some families and individuals to make it in America - even if they are "trying". I think that any one who has asked themselves about the social safety net should read this book - it is not preachy but an effective reminder of why we have certain social programs. I also find that Mr. Stradal writes particularly compelling, strong female characters (men are a bit of side show in this book).

At the end of the book I reconsidered the title and thought that each reader must themselves decided just WHO, the title lager queen of Minnesota is referring to.

I highly recommend this book for both its thoughtfulness and its entertainment value.

9 people found this helpful

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