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Summary: Today Show Book Club!
Review: For once the Today Show Book Club picks out a good book! I had a hard time putting this book down. It's one of those feel-good book. It makes you think.
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Summary: Great book!
Review: Great book! I devoured it in one sitting. Great job!
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Summary: Fantastic
Review: Crow Lake is such a fantastic novel. It is so poignant and real that I cried a lot when reading this. I like books about grieving families and this one's the best!
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Summary: Wonderful, engaging read...
Review: Mary Lawson's Crow Lake is a wonderful novel -- a work that will blow away all hype and expectations. The novel, which is narrated by Kate, a scientist in her late twenties, begins with the death of Kate's parents. What transpires is a beautiful and poignant story of how four siblings deal with life as orphans. Lawson delves into the depths of family relationships with wonderful clarity. One of the most unique things about this book is Kate's narrative style. We follow the story of what happened after her parents were killed, as that story somehow collides with her present story. She has been invited back to Crow Lake, but doesn't know how she'd handle things. Her predicaments are the consequences of the past. It fascinated and enthralled me. Mary Lawson has written a terrific, engaging read. Highly recommended...
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Summary: Anatomy of a family tragedy
Review: This is the tale of Kate and her love for Matt, her brother. He is her number uno, her inspiration and, well, her everything. And because of this, he gives her the idea to study Zoology. It's really the many trips to outlying areas and ponds that does it. Bottomline: He comes up with the idea to get his degree, make money, and send everyone else to school. Enter the problem: Things don't quite work out, and that, in turn, sets off every emotion in the book. Jealously, hatred, resentment, love, anger, and everything in between begins to swirl around as the group wrestles with the upset.
With its well-drawn characters and colorful setting, this remarkable book is right up there with other books on the lists of today: McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood," or "The Birth of Venus." I highly recommend "Crow Lake," as it is the anatomy of a family tragedy and will keep you riveted. A highly recommended and compelling tale.
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Summary: Can't WAIT for her next book
Review: This is such a soulful literary masterpiece that you can't believe it's her debut novel. Mary Lawson has mastered the art of storytelling, especially with switching back and forth between present and past tense so that you feel completely comfortable no matter where she is at in her story. The second thing you'll notice is that you can't put the book down. She is able to develop her characters in a deep, heartfelt way so that you are completely caught up in their emotional lives and captivated as their stories unfold. She also knows how to hook you...she foreshadows these impending events cleverly so you are always curious to find out exactly what tragedy could be so awful and destructive. And yet, even when the truth is revealed you are still not satisfied...you are just eager to read more of her fascinating writing and will probably, as I was, be completely disappointed when the book finally comes to an end, as all great books do. Here is the telltale sign: I know I love this book because I can't wait to lend it someone else!
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Summary: Yawn- 1 star is too many
Review: I started this book with too great an expectation. It was recommended to me here at Amazon and I was going on vacation, so...
The obvious metaphors (bug clings tightly to water tension) and the ridiculously brittle main character kept me wondering when this book would get better. If this was written from the point of view of the brother then it may have been interesting. As it was from the POV of a whiny little girl all grown up into a whiny woman it did not grasp my interest.
This author needs to skip some details and not others. Suddenly the story moves forward and the only emotion you are allowed is the jealousy of this sister. The schmaltzy, predictable ending left this book to be tossed into the donate to charity pile.
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Summary: Exceptionally Good Novel Of Exceptionally Touching Family
Review: CROW LAKE is one of those wonderful novels you pick up and are immediately engrossed in the lives of the characters. Kate Morrison is the narrator and takes us back twenty years to the eventful year when she was seven years old. That's the year that an accident killed both her parents and left her and her one-year-old sister Bo and two older brothers, Matt and Luke, an orphaned family. Rather than allow the children to be split up among relatives, nineteen-year-old Luke makes the decision that he will forego college and care for his siblings. Life is hard but always interesting as the four survive by their wits and help from family and friends. Mainly, this is the story of Kate and her love for her brother Matt. Matt has always been her role model, her idol and inspiration. It is he who first plants the idea of studying zoology in her head with his always entertaining trips to the nearby ponds on their land. Matt is the over-achieving academic of the family who hatches a secret plot with Kate. He will get his college degree and with the wonderful job he will land he can pay for her to attend college. When she graduates, the two of them will help send Bo and Luke. Alas, the plan goes awry when a terrible tragedy at a neighbor's house spills over to the Morrisons and changes the course of all their lives. How Kate deals with this tragedy and its far-reaching effects on her will certainly give the reader a lot to consider about families and the place each child has in his or hers. This is a story of great love and great loss and the healing that takes many years to accomplish. It is a tale of resentment and jealousy played against the power of loyalty. It is an uplifting tale of succeeding against terrible odds and almost losing what is most important.
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Summary: You'll want more after the last chapter!
Review: I wasn't overly interested in reading about life in rural Ontario or the complex relationships of farm children left to fend for themselves....guess I was wrong because this book was fantastic, immensely entertaining and sucks you in deeper with every chapter to the big family issue. After reading the final page I found myself wanting to know even more about Kate, Bo, Luke, Matt and Daniel....so well written and would make an incredible movie!
This is an easy weekend read, just under 300 pages and well worth the price that amazon is currently asking for it. You will not be disappointed.
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Summary: This story was plucked right out of my family
Review: By the time I was four, both my aunt and uncle had died tragically leaving my four small cousins orphaned in a small town in southern Ontario. An event like that changes everything and I felt that Mary Lawson had seen deep into our family and articulated the pain and the loss and the survival right on. There was nothing in this book that seemed out of place or false from the perspective of someone who's lived this book and been this family.
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