For like a year and a half I lived in Putnam and commuted to Auburn.

In my experience it's largely quaint. It seems like there's enough for kids to do and they have a bunch of community events, like music on the common with fire on the water, and an ice sculpture event. I spent a lot of time outdoors, mostly at the dam in West Thompson, but there are other nature-y spots all around.

Food and restaurants were generally pretty good. The Stomping Ground has a lot of live music.

The commute was the worst part, imo. Traffic was rarely bad, it's just a long drive through Thompson.