I don't read novels about war. If I am attracted to a book by an interesting cover design and I see the words, "Vietnam War," anywhere on the back cover, I immediately put it down. I found this book at a Goodwill and, despite its subject matter, was intrigued by the plethora of glowing reviews. I am thrilled that I ignored my initial instincts and would gladly read any book written by Tim O'Brien, no matter the topic.

From the opening lines, Mr. O'Brien creates an atmosphere of foreboding, of impending horror. His language is spare, yet remarkably poetic. The story of a popular politician who has lost a big election due to the revelation of his involvement in the My Lai massacre plays out slowly, like a mystery. His almost complete denial of his role in the horror illustrates the utter mutability of truth in memory. How we can choose to revise history - our own personal history or the history of a nation. Like the boyhood magician seeking his father's approval, he cultivates a talent for making things conveniently disappear. Even his disillusioned wife -who has either been murdered or, if one chooses to believe the alternative version of her final hours that is presented, has merely drifted away, despairing, into the ether.

This book is, at once, disturbing, heartfelt, beautifully written and deeply moving. Truly rates a full five stars.

“In September, after the primary, they rented an old yellow cottage in the timber at the edge of Lake of the Woods.” So begins Tim O’Brien's 1994 novel of suspense, In The Lake of the Woods.

When I taught freshman English there was a sure way to sort out the students who liked to think about possibilities from those who wanted definite answers. The ones who courted imagination, and the ones who went after fact. It all depended on their reaction to the old short story by Frank Stockton, The Lady or the Tiger?

You remember the story. A king obsessed order and power has a beautiful princess daughter. He also has a method of justice that is unique. People in his kingdom who are accused of a crime are put into a great arena where they are forced to choose between two doors. Behind one door crouches a terrible tiger, ready to rip the accused to bloody shreds; behind the other waits a blushing and trembling lady, one most suitable to the age and station of the accused. The accused holds his fate in his own hands, and is immediately either punished or rewarded, and the masses watching are entertained in either case.

So, one day a lowborn lad has the misfortune to fall in love with the daughter of the powerful king, and in accordance with law, is thrown into the arena.

A little background. The princess loves her young man with a semi-barbaric passion. Stockton tells the reader how the princess discovers the secret of the doors, which one conceals the ravenous tiger, which the lovely lady. Gold crosses palms and she learns that the lady is one she knows well, and she is not happy. The princess has to make a tough decision. Should she send her lover to certain death, or into the arms of another woman? Sleep is lost, tears are shed, but the inevitable day arrives and the princess decides.

The crowds wait in the arena. The king and the princess have prime seats. The lover is in the middle of it. He glances up and instantly he knows that she knows. She knows that he knows that she knows. The tension grows. Her hand twitches bit, and the lover walks confidently to a door and opens it.

That’s it. Stockton leaves the reader to decide if the lady or the tiger waits on the other side of the door. That is the title, after all.

The story is wonderful to discuss, but it causes howls of protest from students who don’t see the ending coming. But it happens; those who are interested in analyzing the psychology of the semi-barbaric princess. begin to think and to talk. Slowly it dawns upon them that the story is not so much about the princess as it is about the reader. What would the reader do in that impossible circumstance? Would love or barbarism prevail?

I suspect that the same people who hate the ambiguous ending of the classic short story will also be frustrated by Tim O’Brien’s book, but for me it is as compelling today as it was when it was first published. Today’s news is full of stories of campaigning, of politicians maneuvering to win the confidence of their constituents. We’ve seen it before, a slip of the tongue, a skeleton in the closet, and the game is over. The masses watch it all on television or read about it over morning coffee, and they wait to see who falls next. The other story that is unfolding before us is that of our military entanglements overseas, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We hear of soldiers maimed and killed in roadside bombs, of suicide bombers and of snipers. Stories emerge of women and children killed, and once again it is clear that nothing is really clear at all. Deja vu for those able to remember Vietnam. What will the future hold for those men and women who return home from the carnage they witness and participate in during wartime?

The reader of O’Brien’s novel is put in the same position as my hapless freshmen. He or she must decide what happened to Kathy Wade, wife of John Wade, defeated politician, former Vietnam soldier, magician and fatherless son. Did she run off to begin a new life, meet with a simple boating accident, or was she murdered by her husband? Was she an innocent whose life was violently taken, or did she take her fate into her own hands? Is Wade a murderer? Or is he a survivor who does whatever he must to live with what his life has handed him?

Some people will crave a resolution, but others will enjoy piecing together the whole story as it flips between the present the past, shifts point of view, and presents bits of evidence and hypothesis. In the end it will be up to you to decide what really happened in The Lake of the Woods.

Why do books that kids have to read for school have to be so terrible??? This book was miserable and very hard to understand. This did not even read like a story, you didn’t get the feel for the characters or their emotions just how they acted. They were all crazy!
Ugh-I will be glad when high school English will be over.

Lt. Governor John Wade and his wife, Kathy, have retreated to a cabin in rural Minnesota after a crushing defeat in John's Senate run after his connection to Thuan Yen in the Vietnam War comes to light. Within days Kathy goes missing.

Told in disjointed sequences through chapters that give the Wade's story from intial meeting through the time of disappearance and those entitled "Hypothesis" and "Evidence" a disturbing, psychological profile of John comes to light.

While O'Brien is often criticized in his portrayal of the Vietnam experience, and often deservedly so, I personally commend his efforts on a couple of fronts. First, I appreciate the fact that he gives the men and women of this era a voice, even if it is not done perfectly. Secondly, I think he is a brilliant author. For instance, the disjointed manner he approaches this subject is tricky and doesn't work in most efforts. But, in this instance it is perfect. Even thought there are multiple thoughts thrown at the reader simultaneously, he adeptly pulls together the character to the anxious reader. Even in a work like this, when the Vietnam experience is peripheral, the reader is exposed to important historical events. It always surprises me how many people, who are well-versed in other aspects of history, are unfamiliar with Vietnam and/or Korea. Regardless of you view of O'Brien on the voice to this era, at least he explores the crucial benchmarks of the time. I found his use of the "Evidence" chapter in this work particularly effective.

Great mystery! Important American History! Great psychological study!

I loved this book the first time I read it, and I loved it having just finished it for the second time. I could easily go back to the beginning and read it for a third time right now. This book is not for the faint at heart, nor is it for people who have to have things tied up in bows. It's a book that demonstrates the shattering of a psyche that was fragile to begin with. It's a book about a man who doesn't know himself and thus seeks a definition of self through others and their reactions to him. The vehicle that Tim O'Brien uses is the Vietnam War, which he knows well from first hand experience. Within that vehicle lies the horror of the My Lai massacre If the reader is a "my country right or wrong" sort of person, then this book is going to shatter a lot of illusions about war and country. If the reader is someone who likes the exploration of relationships, psyches, souls and the forces that damage those areas of life, then this is the book. I'd give it six stars if I could. I love it that much.
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This is Exhibit A for the concept of "unreliable narrator" - rather than dropping clues along the way to revealing the answer to a mystery (in this case, why and how Kathy Wade, wife of recently disgraced politician John Wade, disappeared), In the Lake of the Woods draws out all of the possible hypotheses for the disappearance, gives evidence to back each one up - and then never gives you a definite resolution. It's a great use of literary technique, and a truly compelling read.

straight up best book i’ve ever read in my whole life, somehow beat out the things they carried, also by him, which was the best book i’d ever read

This is a real page turner, creatively beautiful and exquisitely styled. It is an exceedingly unsettling and disturbing tale weaving history and mystery together.

John Wade, is a 41 year old Viet Nam veteran whose recently failed Minnesota senatorial bid shatters his facade of success. As a child John was an illusionist and as an adult politician he honed these skills.

Seeking solace from defeat, John and his wife Kathy vacation in the deep Minnesota woods where John's tether to reality snaps. A veteran of the My Lai massacre, John's flashbacks merge with the present day in a frightening nightmare quality.

Late one night while boiling a kettle of water for tea, John decides to boil and kill the houseplants. Mentally disorganized and rapidly deteriorating, he vaguely remembers the possibility of walking down the hall to his wife's bedroom with another pot of boiling water...then awakens the next day to find her gone.

O'Brien is masterful in his ability to use the dark woods as a metaphor regarding inner secrets and demons, blending illusion with reality as we walk the slippery path of insanity with John in his search for truth.

five stars for this one!

Whoa. This book is deep. It deserves the awards it has won. I don't know what it is about O'Brien's novels but they have a way of speaking to me, getting me in the gut. This book had the same effect. It's truly a disturbing story on so many levels. It's a story about the human condition and the big bag of mess that goes with living and dying.

Love Tim's style!

This is a book that has caught my attention over and over on the library bookshelf, so I finally decided that I would give it a read. As a Minnesotan, I enjoy reading books set in Minnesota. In that regard, this didn't disappoint.

But over-all, the book DOES disappoint.

O'Brien's writing is crisp and engaging, and I really appreciated his mixing up of styles, but the book does not open up the material well. By page 280 I still had not learned anything new that I didn't know back about page 50. The book takes too much time to reveal nothing.

Others have commented on the ending, and frankly, I didn't mind the ending -- I rather expected it -- but to have read so much, getting so little, and to end with nothing, well...I don't understand the point. There are lots of writers whom I enjoy for their style, but they usually have something to say as well, or at least have a character that you like.

This book just doesn't work. It'll be awhile before I try a Tim O'Brien book again.

Vietnam revisited - the massacre at My Lai and all its atrocities. This sad story gives new meaning to PTSD. It is historical fiction that reads like a true story. I’ll admit I had to skim some parts of the killings, just too brutal. And to think Lieutenant Calley was released shortly after being convicted and is alive and well in Miami. What a travesty of justice.

I came across this book while reading a review for another Minnesota book, so I checked it out of the library. The writing was beyond good - the subject matter not my usual cup of tea. Since it was so well written I stuck with it and am glad I did. It’s not often a book gives you so many options for a conclusion. Or no conclusion at all.

Two people in love, looking for a normal life of happiness are brought down by their pasts. Magic, politics war and a picturesque Minnesota lake make for a compelling tale of desperation and hope.

I remember when this took place in My Lai and all the gruesome photos. It’s a good look at why the Vietnam War was so despised and what it did to ruin the lives of thousands of young men. Highly recommend.