Helpful Score: 7
O'Brien is very creative with the pacing and style in which he writes this book. It really reflects on the high cost of war upon a person. Although it refers to the main character's past in the Vietnam war, the strong references to PTSD and other difficulties are still very much something people can relate to today.
Helpful Score: 2
What happens when the secret you've hidden from everyone, even yourself, finally breaks out? This question provides the dramatic premise for Tin O'Brien's brilliant new novel, and it drives a narrative of astonishing force and ressonance.
On a lake, deep in Minnesota's north woods, John and Kathy Wade are trying to be reassemble thier lives. John, a rising political star, has just suffered a devastating electoral defeat. Kathy attempts to comfort her husbnd, but soon it becomes apparent that something is horribly wrong between them, that they have hidden toomuch from each other.
Then one day, Kathy vanishes. Thier boat is gone-did she drown or is she lost? Or did she flee, disappearing into a new life? As a massive search gets under way, the possibilities multiply in terrifying directions. Uncovering the truth requires an investigation of Wade's life.. and gradually we come to see that he is a sorcerer lost inside his own magic, a Houdini capable of escaping the chains of his darkest secret.
As tim O'Brien tells the story of a marriage built on deciet, he vividly illustrates the shifting, sometimes terrifying shape of the human heart. This beautifully crafted novel marks a new level of artistry for one of America's most gifter writers
On a lake, deep in Minnesota's north woods, John and Kathy Wade are trying to be reassemble thier lives. John, a rising political star, has just suffered a devastating electoral defeat. Kathy attempts to comfort her husbnd, but soon it becomes apparent that something is horribly wrong between them, that they have hidden toomuch from each other.
Then one day, Kathy vanishes. Thier boat is gone-did she drown or is she lost? Or did she flee, disappearing into a new life? As a massive search gets under way, the possibilities multiply in terrifying directions. Uncovering the truth requires an investigation of Wade's life.. and gradually we come to see that he is a sorcerer lost inside his own magic, a Houdini capable of escaping the chains of his darkest secret.
As tim O'Brien tells the story of a marriage built on deciet, he vividly illustrates the shifting, sometimes terrifying shape of the human heart. This beautifully crafted novel marks a new level of artistry for one of America's most gifter writers
Helpful Score: 1
I absolutely loved this book. I can't believe I missed it when it first came out. I read it from cover to cover in a matter of hours. I am not typically one to enjoy mysteries, but what I liked about this book was that the reader was left to form his/her own conclusions. Beautiful, evocative writing. Plenty of dramatic tension. One of the best books I have read in years.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed reading this book very much. Very well written. But what a previous reviewer liked, I did not. I wanted the book to have a definite ending by the author. This one left me hanging, which I did not appreciate. I mean, you read to the end to find out the truth. There is not truth to be found in this novel. But again, very well written.
Helpful Score: 1
I wasn't sure about this book at first. It started very slow and I wasn't sure what direction the author was going. Once you get past the setup the book is a great read. It is booth too disturbing to read and to enthralling to put down. I like the open-endedness of the ending No matter which way it truly turned out it is tragic tale of the long lasting effects of war and family dysfunction.
Helpful Score: 1
Great, great Tim O'Brien "novel"
Blurring the line of reality and allowing the reader to piece the puzzle together to the answer, brilliant
Blurring the line of reality and allowing the reader to piece the puzzle together to the answer, brilliant
Very interesting for a wildlife story, with people in it to make you wonder what happened.
Couldn't put this one down once I started. Highly recommend!
This book lived up to what I'd read about it keeping you guessing, and I love how O'Brien worked in the historical pieces of the story. However, I was disappointed at the ending...and maybe there was no other way it could have wrapped up, but I still felt very let down.
I read this book in one sitting... I couldn't put it down! If you like mysteries or dramatic fiction, I highly recommend it.
Well-written, interesting format for a mystery, written as a piece of investigative journalism with mock interviews and narrator speculations about what might have happened. Didn't really relate to the characters, but it was an enjoyable novel.
O'Brien is a skillful and inventive writer, but this tale of a vanished wife and a man with a horrific secret was just too much of a downer for my taste.
Tim O\'Brien makes you think.
One of the best books of 1994, but timeless. Harrowing tale of history suppressed and the impact on a marriage. Highly recommended
Very diffrent but sooooooooooooo cool!
Like The Things They Carried, In the Lake of the Woods is an unforgettable reminder of high cost of war. The book asks the reader to question whether it is possible to ever again become "good" after being involved, even peripherally, in the commission of an immoral act. This heartbreaking, suspenseful, powerful book is particularly relevant to the situation in the world today.
Gut-wrenching and impossible to stop reading...
what happens to a marriage when the darkest secrets of your past find their way into the present?
O'Brien is probably the best modern American novelist and this is perhaps his best work. A stunning piece of fiction based in events that are only too real.
Does tragedy distort reality... in this book it does. Very interesting read
O'Brien's works on the effects and aftereffects of Vietnam are not to be missed. This is another... though it would be hard to top The Things They Carried.
What a fabulous book. Keeps you going up till the end. Made me fall in love with this author
Ugh! This was one of the worst bookS, I have ever tried to read. If this is award winning, people are sure hard up for good books.
