Rating: 
Summary: a well-executed guilty pleasure
Review: Carol Goodman has produced a dark, gothic, yet sensual tale that will definitely not let you rest until the last page is turned. If you are a well-practiced mystery reader you are undoubtedly going to figure out some aspects of the extremely convoluted plot, since the build-up to some of the conclusions is just too elaborately crafted. But the author executes this so well that you actually don't mind. For parts of the book Goodman walks the very fine line between romantic drama and second-rate kitsch, but she always gets away with it because of her classy writing and overall exquisite and non-cheesy character development. Jane Hudson, her heroine latin teacher who returns to her old school to relive the horrors of adolescence is a slightly jaded and thus intensely likeable character. Her set of school teachers at Heart Lake made me chuckle more than once, and anybody who has ever had latin in school for extended periods of time and liked it will love the pangs of nostalgia that will be inevitable when reading this book. It is really hard to categorize this novel as a typical mystery. It is a coming-of-age story as much as a romance and a dark, atmospherically very dense gothic tale. An addictive guilty pleasure.
Rating: 
Summary: A psychological mystery which didn't deliver
Review: As I sit here typing this review I am sorely disappointed after reading The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. I will be the first to admit that I really enjoy books and movies which take place at a boarding school, i.e. Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster and New Girls by Beth Gutcheon or on a college campus setting as in Red Leaves by Paullina Simons. I also seem to enjoy a good psychological mystery as well. That said, I'm afraid that reading The Lake of Dead Langauages never seemed to interest me as much as when I first opened up the book and read the dust jacket notes. Perhaps it was the comparison to Donna Tartt's well reviewed book, The Secret History, which put my nose out of joint or maybe it was the fact that this book quickly wallowed in murky V.C Andrews territory while all the while this book pretended to be something much grander with its talk about Greek mythology and the high school subject of Latin, often referred to as a dead langauge. Jane Hudson, on the verge of a divorce and the mother of a young child, returns to the boarding shcool she attended as a scholarship student. The very sight of the school Heart Lake and the lake itself, where school activities and private assignations took place, is enough to send Jane reeling back to her senior year when scandal rocked the once very proud and illustrious institutuion. Suddenly Jane begins receiving messages which seem to have been lifted straight from her writing journal which has been missing since that fateful last year. And as if this isn't bad enough, copy cat incidences from that year seem to be happening once again. It is at this point that the book takes off on the most dizzying and wild roller coaster ride which eventually had me scratching my head wondering why I bothered to finish this book. On the plus side I wil agree with the readers who said the writing and descriptions especially about the freezing lake, cold weather and ice storms was most lyrical. But I found I didn't much care for the main characters or some of the other principl players. Try as I might I found these people and the plot so bizarre and much too much of a convoluted tale. Way before the end of the book, I netiher cared what happened to Jane or her students or the school itself. After a while I found myself comparing this book to a maudlin romantic suspense book. And don't get me wrong. If this was the authors intention that would have been fine and I might have expected it but she tried so hard to make this such a serious book. Finally it was the last two pages and coincidences which were simply too much as the author provided her readers with a happily ever after ending which was truly ridiculous. Guess the next time I expect a good read from a boarding school or college campus, I better think twice.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Fun
Review: While the book can be a bit predictable in some ways, Goodman writes an interesting, interwoven tale that keeps the pages turning. I found myself staying up past midnight to finish it. She shows intellect by including the Latin subplot, and yet even adolescent readers will find it a page-turner (but beware: sexual content). This is a fun, worthy read for mystery lovers who want more than the typical, bloody, mindless tale.
Rating: 
Summary: A literate, but imperfect mystery.
Review: While being rather predictable, Carol Goodman's novel of mystery and intrigue in an east coast boarding school delivers an entertaining read. For a mystery novel it rises above the genre in its literary expectations of the reader. One might even call it a literate mystery. Jane Hudson, the main character is sympathetically rendered and the girls are likable enough, yet something seems to be missing from the book. It lacks a cohesive sense of motion. Goodman's forte is certainly in the set-up. She creates interesting characters and an intriguing plotline, but then descends to a somewhat trite, formulaic conclusion. I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the novel, but felt slightly dissatisfied by the ending. Still, it is an enjoyable book - and a mystery that does not make you feel as if you've sunk to the level of genre fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Bleh.
Review: Jane Hudson, the protagonist of this overwrought and under-written book, is a supposedly bright woman who, nevertheless, can't seem to put two and two together. The plot is intricate, but only in the way a train wreck is intricate. The story depends heavily on a series of unlikely omissions and on Jane's apparent inability to recognize... well, just about anybody, ever. Descriptions are sparse and clumsy and, in most cases, act as little more than an excuse for awkward foreshadowing, hastily introducing a character trait or prop just in time for it to be used, a few pages later, to advance the increasingly unlikely plot. A barely passable mystery, all in all, but not worthy of the comparisons it has drawn with Donna Tartt's far superior _Secret History._
Rating:
Summary: How can Carol Goodman sleep at night?
Review: I picked up this book while traveling, entirely on the strength of an on-the-cover review comparing it to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History." What the cover review doesn't say, however, is that Goodman's "atmospheric" novel is little more than a clumsy mimicry of Tartt's chilling tome. While "Languages" is admittedly well-written, nearly EVERYTHING about it is an obvious plagiarism: the eerie private school setting, the lonely, dispossesed protagonist looking back with guilt at events of the past; the seemingly impenetrable clique of bright students, including an incestuous brother & sister duo; the study of a dead language under the line-crossing tutelage of a revered & mysterious mentor; an obsession with pagan ritual; and of course, a series of tragic deaths. If you haven't read Tartt's glittering novel, I'll admit you might enjoy this. If you have, however, you'll find little here of interest. (...)
Rating: 
Summary: I haven't had a book captivate me like this one in ages
Review: The Lake of Dead Languages was recommended to me, and I am so glad I took that recommendation for once. I was not disappointed. I hope to read more from this author.
Rating:
Summary: waiting for next novel from author!!
Review: i thought this book was awesome! i can't wait to read another novel by carol goodman. if you like this one, you should also read the "seduction of water". it to is very enjoyable. her novels are simply perfect, relaxing entertainment. carol, i hope you're working on the next one!! thank you.
Rating:
Summary: a richly atmospheric debut novel
Review: Jane Hudson teaches Latin at Heart Lake School for Girls, a private school in the Adirondacks. She also attended school there as a student and was an intricate part of it's dark history. Three of Jane's friends died there while she was a student, by accident or suicide. In an effort to come to terms with her past, Jane returns with her young daughter after a failed marriage. The past soon appears to be repeating itself when a student, once again, attempts suicide. A journal is missing from Jane's student days and it is this that may hold the key.
Carol Goodman has written a richly atmostspheric debut novel. The frigid winter on the lake is skillfully rendered in a way rare for a first time novelist evoking an uncommon maturity in writing style. Characters are meticulously created to lend an air of authenticity to their actions. The plot is slowly unraveled which well compliments the languid pacing. Yet with the level of suspense and and the realism of the characters, the pages fly by.
Rating:
Summary: Had potential but didn't live up
Review: This book had the potential to be good but suffered from a number of pitfalls that ended up souring the whole, including transparent characters, befuddled plot (not aided by the skips backward and forward in time bewteen the main character Jane's school days and her modern situation teaching at the same school) and a fairly drab writing style. So many repetitions of the same type of event (return after return to the frozen lake) became tedious, with little other interesting outside action to break the monotony of it. The psychological whodunit aspect was spoiled (at least for me) because i predicted in most cases how the secret revelations about the characters would play out. About halfway through i discovered that i really didn't care about any of the characters, as most had little definitive personality; Jane's students especially blended together (especially since the Latin students went by multiple names) because there was little to distinguish them in my mind.
Also, maybe i'm too old [mid-20s] but the antics of these teen characters just seemed rather trite to me. It interested me that this book was compared to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" in the cover blurb, as many elements were similar (Classics students, mysterious deaths, close ties to a certain professor), some even enough to be almost ripped off (recreation of rites from past cultures, unusual sibling relationships), though they played out differently. If you want a skillful crafting including these elements in a fictional story, read Tartt's book instead.
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