Rating: 
Summary: Well constructed
Review: The characterization, setting, plot, and language of Crow Lake are all very good, but the best part is the structure of the story. It's a family history told by one of its members, who only gradually reveals tragic events of the past. Written like a fine mystery, the author masterfully draws the reader to a climatic, somewhat surprising, but satisfying ending. (The reader who couldn't see the ending was focused on the wrong aspect!) Read this book with an open mind and ponder the question of family expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing first book
Review: I could not put this book down. This is an incredible first book. The writing is mature and cleaver. Ms Lawson manages to keep the reader enthralled and turning the pages. I found the characters fascinating and although I felt the ending could have done with a little more padding - I am not entirely convinced that this was not just me - wanting the book to keep going! Excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: NOT A SOB STORY BUT GREAT FIRST NOVEL
Review: Told in the first person by 6 yearold Kate Morrison, orphan, and 27year old Kate Morrison, zoologyprofessor at a university inToronto, Canada, the story unfoldsas Kate reveals her life story asshe sees it and tries to reconcileher version with that of her brothers. Feeling guilty becauseLuke and Matt had to give up theirdreams of further education just to keep the family togther afterthe parents are killed in an autocrash, Kate finds herself isolatedfrom them. Circmstances beyond thefamily's control has drasticallychanged the dreams of the two boys. Butin the telling of thiswonderful story the reader istreated to a description of theCrow Lake area in the four seasonsand the harsh work to eke out aliving in Northern Ontario wherefamily and friends have to workhard to hold things together. Ifound the family living in mygrandmother's farm kitchen wherehomework was done at the sametable and family life ha its upsand downs. These characters aregoing to stay with you a long timeafter you finish reading the book.Nice flowing prose with vivid butnot overly worded descriptions ofcountry side, family life, feeingsand neighborily help keep youpleasantly suspended yet notanxious for the book to end. Oneof the rare finds you want othersto share the experience with. MaryLawson has picked up a lot of fanseager to read her next book.
Rating: 
Summary: A story of familial triumph...
Review: Crow Lake is a poignant and clear-eyed portrayal of loss, a novel whose pages are haunted with the regret of missed chances. The Morrison family suffers overwhelming personal tragedy when the parents are killed in an accident. The parents leave behind seven-year-old Kate, her younger sister, Bo, and two older brothers, Luke and Matt. Their particular tragedy is swift and final, but serves to unite the children in common purpose. The four children's isolated world is Crow Lake, where the harsh indifference of nature is tempered by the necessity of strict physical limitations, when often only changing seasons bring relief through renewal. Compromises are made and dreams delayed, in the pursuit of the basic needs of this small family, especially for Luke and Matt. But children often survive unimaginable misfortune, and the Morrisons cling to each other, overcoming substantial odds to remain together in the family home. The intrepid Kate, as she grows, chronicles their struggles with the immediacy of hard-won experience. There is a deeper, more relentless violence visited on their neighbors, the Pyes. The domestic discord of the Pye family is both generational and pervasive, slowly escalating as the years pass. Eventually, the two worlds collide in unexpected ways. It is Kate, after all, who becomes the achiever, with a career as a scientist, once her beloved brother and mentor, Matt's dream. Kate's acceptance of herself and her resolution of conflict and ultimate commitment to success is the key for all of them, bridging the past and accepting the grace of the present. This novel is a testament to the courage of siblings, where fear and mistrust collapse under the combined strength of familial bonds, an awareness of peace in spite of the vagaries of fate. Lawson's pure and arresting prose gently guides her readers through the complexities of a world suddenly turned upside down, with the promise, at last, of comfort, acceptance and forgiveness. Luan Gaines/2003.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Remarkable
Review: A stupendously good book -- you'll want to read it slowly just to savor the author's terrific style, but will end up racing through it because the story is so good and the characters so compelling! Mary Lawson has an uncanny ability to draw you into the world of Crow Lake. Their world is finely drawn and their personalities so distinctly portrayed that you get to know them quickly and they soon take residence in your thoughts. The author skillfully conveys the sorrow, uncertainty, and anxiety that permeates their lives without going over the top. You're pulled into their emotional lives without the narrative becoming too schmaltzy. Lawson has an immense talent for story, leaving subtle breadcrumbs along the way, merely hinting at what's to come without distracting you from what's happening in the moment or giving too much away. The family's drama is definitely suspenseful, but it's the emotional lives of the characters that carry you through the story. Lawson has a gift with words -- you'll want to read this book again just to enjoy her use of language. Her descriptions are rich without being mind-numbingly detailed, allowing for a much easier and more enjoyable read than much of the fiction that's become so popular lately. You definitely won't have to struggle to finish this book, and you'll be so sorry when it's over!
Rating:
Summary: family comes first
Review: Crow Lake was the first book that I have read by Mary Lawson -- It makes me want to read more of her novels!! We learn that "Kate" -- an orphaned child - is determined to get somewhere in life -- out of crow lake....and when she does she feels sorry for her siblings. She rarely sees or talks about them...until her closest sibling, Matt, sends her an invitation to come to crow lake. As the story takes us through the journey of a small town, through Kate's eyes, we are able to see some of the wonders of life that Kate is not able to see. Her brother Matt was her first and best teacher who explained so many of the little wonders of the natural world. We wonder how Kate can see the tiniest things under a microscope while she has difficulty seeing clearly the larger issues that are also a part of our lives. And right in front of her face. We all live a different reality and define our success. I was touched by the realistic and utter sincerity of people's different ideas of what the "real world" is!! Kate is proud of her more formal success, and pities her brother Matt who she feels missed out... Here I am reminded:
No two children are born into the same family.
We all have different dreams.....some say they lie somewhere over the rainbow....some believe there is no place like home.
And as for success, well...that is just a word -- we all define it differently. But,what's more important is that we are happy with our own achievements.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I saw the author, Mary Higgins Clark, on TV talking about this book. She said, among other things, that it grabbed her from the start and she remembered the characters long after she finished the book. Since these are qualities I look for in a book, I was anxious to read this, Mary Lawson's debut novel. There is much to recommend in this book. A good story, well told and characters who get into your heart and stay there. Although part of the story is tragic, Lawson lightens the mood with well placed humor. The antics of Kate's younger sister Bo are particularly endearing. There is a mystery here and Lawson knows exactly how much to reveal to draw the reader along. I enjoyed this story very much and I'm looking forward to more stories from Mary Lawson.
Rating:
Summary: awesome story
Review: it's rare that i can find a book that is so sad, but still incredibly uplifting and enjoyable. i found this book to be full of suspense, but the kind of suspense that didn't make me want to read ahead, but to savor each moment. i only wish that i could be half as articulate as mary lawson!
Rating:
Summary: The best this author has done
Review: "A finely crafted debut looks back to a young woman's harshly beautiful childhood..." To say the least, this book is an instant classic. No wonder it's so high up in the bestseller list! Also recommend Dreams by Ryan Nicholas Belcher. They are sure to be partners soon in the bestseller list.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book About What Makes A Family
Review: I loved Crow Lake, a place so remote "the only road led south". Kate Morrison's whole life is turned upside down when at the age of seven both her parents are killed in a tragic car accident. Her older brother Luke, 19, sacrifices his chance at teacher's college to raise Kate and her baby sister Bo, 2, as well as her other brother Matt, 17. It's been instilled in them from an early age that education equals salvation and that it's the only way to escape the limited possibilities of living in Crow Lake. All hopes are pegged on Matt, the scholar in the family and Kate's hero, but fate intervenes and Matt ends up staying and becoming a farmer. It's Kate that eventually gets that University degree and the good job as a microbiologist and she's never gotten over the guilt of what she feels has been the tragedy of Matt's lost chance. Kate has spent the rest of her life since that fateful year building a shell around herself not letting anything or anyone in that could hurt her that as a family reunion approaches she's frantically trying to re-evaluate what it means to be a part of her family and how to introduce her boyfriend into it. The reunion ends up rattling her to the core as she's forced to realize that the tragedy in her family may not be what has happened to Matt but what has happened to the relationship between the two of them. This book was surprisingly suspenseful and the characters are so richly developed that you'll keep thinking about them long after you finish the last page.
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