Another Mary Lawson book I really like!!! Her writing is of such a high standard and her characters are wonderful. Kate Morrison is the central character her and I thought she was entirely believable. The story of her family, other families in Crow Lake and Crow Lake itself was a great read. She takes small details and turn them into something very rich. I loved the chats that Kate had with Miss Vernon - the attention to detail was remarkable. I do have another one to read and I really hope that more books arrived from time to time. Gentle, powerful, insightful - 4.5/5

Već sam pisala o lepoti kanadske književnosti... Ovo je jedna od kanadskih autorki čije knjige obavezno treba pročitati... I koje se dugo pamte... A svaka njena nova knjiga s čežnjom i nestrpljenjem se iščekuje... Jedva čekam da je neko od vas pročita i da čujem vaše utiske... :)

“I said, ‘Haven’t you ever been up north?’
He pondered. ‘Barrie. I’ve been to Barrie.’
‘Barrie! Good God … Barrie’s not north!’ ”

Many’s the pampered southern Ontario resident of Toronto who imagine that Barrie, a mere 120 kilometers out of the north end of the city, is a distant snow-buried representative of Ontario’s sub-arctic northland. But residents of real-life towns such as Sioux Lookout, Pickle Lake, Timmins or Moosonee shake their heads and laugh at such a ridiculous notion.

From my review of A TOWN CALLED SOLACE:

“Solace is a typical northern Ontario town. Home base to millions of mosquitoes in countless lakes; a year comprised of two seasons – winter and July; surrounded by marsh, swamp, rivers, and boreal forest with only one road in and one road out – the opposite sides of the same road that eventually wends its way south to Toronto; fun evenings out and dating restricted to watching the hockey games at the local rink, shopping at the Hudson’s Bay Store or asking the waitress at the local café for the daily special with a plate of pie à la mode to close out the evening festivities!

A reader’s natural inclination might be to yawn and wonder what possible stories might be told about such a dreary location.”

With the sole difference of having a topography forgiving enough (one hardly need add “barely”) that a masochistic farmer could scrape a hard scrabble living off some cleared land, CROW LAKE was a town set in the boreal forest of the Canadian Shield cut from the same rough hewn cloth.

Unlike A TOWN CALLED SOLACE which could be characterized as a mystery, CROW LAKE was definitely a much more slow-burn, character driven family melodrama set over several generations – love, lust, and hate; marriage, families, children, and estrangement; birth and death; murder and suicide; morality and not so much!

Mary Lawson is unquestionably an eloquent wordsmith but CROW LAKE, for me at least, was a distant second to the gripping story that I fell in love with in A TOWN CALLED SOLACE. Your mileage may vary and I’d be willing to bet that reactions to this novel will be widely varied depending on readers’ personal tastes.

That said, it might be instructive to quote a lovely example of Ms Lawson’s musings on a roadside stop for a wilderness kidney relief break (a common enough occurrence, I dare say, for those familiar with the sparsity of public restrooms!)

“I got out of the car and picked my way through the underbrush to the pines. They were growing in a shallow dip between bare ribs of granite; around them tough wiry blueberry bushes fought with the grasses and the mosses and the lichens, all of them struggling for foot room. In some places there is so little topsoil you wouldn’t think it was worth the effort of trying to grow, but they manage. They thrive, in fact. They find every crack, every crevice, every crumb of soil, and send out their tough little roots and dig in, and cling on, and hoard every dropped leaf, every twig, every grain of sand or dust that’s blown their way, and gradually, gradually build up enough soil around themselves to support their offspring. And so it goes on, down the centuries … I squatted down behind the scant shelter of the pines, flapping my hands behind me to fend off the blackflies, and peed into a brilliant green pillow of moss, and ached with love for it.”

You have to admit that that’s a long, long, beautiful way from what many might picture as a simple hurried act of squat, squint, squeeze, and squirt, LOL!

Give CROW LAKE a try and judge for yourself.

Paul Weiss

4.5 stars

I love it when I stumble upon a great book. This short novel is written in simple prose taut with tension. The four Morrison siblings are suddenly orphaned by a car accident. The story of how they survive that first year in the aftermath is told almost twenty years later by Kate, the third youngest who is only seven at the time of her parents' death. The setting is northern Ontario, farmland at the end of a long gravel road. The four siblings and their neighbors are well-developed characters, but the nearby ponds are also central to the story. Kate and her older brother Matt bond as they spend hours observing the aquatic life. Kate is the only sibling who has left home as she pursues a career as a researcher of invertebrate aquatic life, and she has a lot of unresolved feelings about what transpired years before. A trip home for a family celebration provides an opportunity for her to begin to understand her siblings' paths. This first novel is written with confidence. There are no missed notes and the pacing is perfect. I read it over the course of twenty-four hours as I was so taken with the narrative.

The Morrison children have been left orphans in the farming community of Crow Lake which is part of the wild terrain in Ontario, causing them to become a project of sorts for the townspeople. Meanwhile a nearby family the Pyes, are having plenty of tragedy themselves. The eldest two Morrison boys have worked on the Pye farm on occasion throughout the years and it's no surprise that the two families are drawn together in grief. This is Mary Lawson's debut novel(2002) She has written a book with rich characterization and lyrical descriptions of place. It was chosen as a Todays Bookclub read, where most of the books picked are very popular. I personally kept hoping for a bit more plot, but it's still a nice read. 3 stars

I am in awe of the ability of Mary Lawson to have created such a beautiful narrative in her debut. The story is so real and relatable, I am guilty of placing myself and my life into so many of the family scenes as they were constructed. The plot slowly gains momentum, and reaches a very satisfying ending. Gripping, insightful, and heartfelt. I highly recommend this one.

3 1/2 stars. I've had Mary Lawson's books on my radar for awhile, and I finally got around to reading her first one. Ms. Lawson sets her books in Northern Ontario. In this book, her portrayal of family life, and the effects of great loss on a family are poignant and and real. This book is rooted in sibling relationships, and the way the book moves slowly and steadily forward increases the tension and as you move forward the inevitable tragedy keeps unfolding. This book focuses on the Morrisson family who live by a lake in northern Ontario. The story is told from the viewpoint of a young seven year old girl called Kate. The family consists of 19 year old Luke, 17 year old Matt who is Kate's mainstay, seven year old Kate and year and a half year old Bo (Elizabeth), and their mother and father. When tragedy strikes the family, everything in Kate's life changes. As I was reading, I knew there was more tragedy to come, but Mary Lawson moves her story on at the same steady pace and I continued to read and wait for the next thing to happen. Human stregths and weaknesses are very realistically portrayed throughout the book. If I have any complaint about the book, it is that I really couldn't get to really like Kate. She seemed to stay that seven year old girl right up to when we leave her at the end of the story when she is a 27 year old researcher at a Toronto university. In fairness though, such a tragic event happening at such a young age, would probably leave indelible marks on anyone, let alone a sensitive seven year old girl. As the book is based on Kate's recollections of her childhood, the picture that we get of her and her family of siblings is skewed towards the thoughts and feelings of that damaged seven year old girl who never really grows up. I enjoyed the book, and I will continue to read the remainder of Mary Lawson's backlist.

Wow! Sharp intake of breath as I finish this one! Review to follow. The previous section was my initial reaction to "Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson and I haven't changed my mind one whit since then. That's why I'm giving it 5 tender, wistful stars.

It was such an all-encompassing feeling to become the protagonist from her childhood in a tiny town near the fictitious Crow Lake, to grown up being her, to flash back and forth from our shared tortured past to our tortured present. Of course, I KNOW I'm not really Kate from Crow Lake, but that's what this kind of wonderful writing can do...you become the characters who are so real to you. And it wasn't just Kate, every character in the family was carefully and lovingly delineated. The most evil of characters was also described through past generations of trauma leading to the inevitable outcome.

There was everything I love: Foreshadowing of a foreboding nature ("someday someone is going to get killed on that farm"), keen Kingsolverish zoology and botany, gradual slow burning into a burst of flame plot, humanity's attempt to approach and understand one another, in depth sib description, gripping grief reactions, lush lovely literary prose, and so much more that I can't even state it all! Mind blown, alert to whatever else she has written, next on my list.

Following are a few choice quotes which won't spoil the plot for all of you since you REALLY NEED to pick up "Crow Lake".

On why denizens of the area couldn't communicate directly about feelings and therefore neither could Kate... (as another sidebar, this seems to be a common problem among rural, farming people. See my review of "Con Respeto" about rural families from Mexico)

It was the Eleventh Commandment, carved on its very own tablet of stone and presented specifically to those of Presbyterian persuasion: Thou Shalt Not Emote.

On the unreality and magical thinking connected with death...

I was protected from the reality of what was happening by disbelief. I could not believe that my mother and father were in those two boxes by the gravesides, and certainly I could not believe that if they were, people would lower them into the ground and heap earth onto them so that they could never get out.

Because of course they will need to crawl out of their graves when they come back. Just like I saved my mom's glasses after she died because she would need them to see. Just like Joan Didion needed to save her dead husband's shoes in "The Year of Magical Thinking" because he would need them when he got back.

On the differing world views that Kate and her boyfriend Daniel had due to her impoverished upbringing and his ritzy one. The passage is also very amusing!

There were paintings on the walls-originals, not prints-and several weighty bits of sculpture lying around. The furniture looked old, and good, and had a luster to it which I imagine you get only with something that's been polished lovingly once a week for at least a hundred years. Where I come from such conspicuous good taste would be viewed with vague disapproval, hinting as it does at a love of material things.

About Nature remaking itself, or is it really about the survival of hardscrabble farming families?

I got out of the car and picked my way through the underbrush to the pines. They were growing in a shallow dip between bare ribs of granite; around them tough wiry blueberry bushes fought with the grasses and the mosses and the lichens, all of them struggling for foot room. In some places there is so little topsoil you wouldn't think it was worth the effort of trying to grow, but they manage. They thrive in fact. They find every crack, every crevice, every crumb of soil, and send out their tough little roots and dig in, and cling on, and hoard every dropped leaf, every twig, every grain of sand or dust that's blown their way, and gradually, gradually build up enough soil around themselves to support their offspring. And so it goes on, down the centuries. I forget, when I'm away, how much I love this landscape. I squatted down behind the scant shelter of the pines, flapping my hands behind me to fend off the blackflies, and peed into a brilliant green pillow of moss, and ached with love for it.

About returning to your childhood home...

It is the sensation of going back in time, moving from "now" to "then", and the recognition that wherever you are now and wherever you may be in the future, nothing alters the point you started from.

It's what I call the telescoping back and forth in time. Some people call it deja vu, but in this case you've already really seen your childhood, first family, the places, 5 senses interactions with that world that looks similar but can never be the same as before.

In conclusion, the central issue here all gets back to many family of origin's primary problem: a hating father. In this case, three generations of them will lead to the denouement. But I'm not here to ruin your reading adventure! Next I'm off to read what other reviewers had to say about "Crow Lake" and to comment or like them. After that, I'll be on a journey through Mary Lawson's other books because, if this is what she can do with a debut novel, the following ones are guaranteed to head to my faves list!!!

4.5 Stars - Such a Beautiful Story

There are two reasons I loved this novel: the characters & the setting.

First, the characters were fleshed out and fully developed. Complex and lovable, the Morrison children felt like real people. I don't usually get attached to characters in novel, but I found myself caring deeply for each of the main characters. (I adored Bo!)

Second, the setting was incredibly well drawn. Lawson writes such an authentic experience of living in a northern Canadian community. I loved reading her rich descriptions of the natural beauty. She perfectly described the contradictory nature of Northern Canada, both incredibly isolating and rich with community.

The language is very accessible, yet still lovely. Lawson plays with so many themes including family, education, regret, and pride to create a simple, thought-provoking story. I would highly recommend this wonderful piece of Canadian literature.

Told in first person, it's as if Mary Lawson has written her autobiography. What a grasp she has for portraying the sacrifice, hurt and enduring pain that can latch onto one's family. That's the crux of this one, tragedy turned resilience turned comfort and peace.

This was the second novel I've read by her and I stand now even more firm that she possesses an innate knack for writing a family story. She softly rolls through pieces of the protagonist's young life (Kate) starting as a 7 year old. I found the characters were drawn up to be superbly realistic. Everything in the end made sense to me, it all fit together so nicely. This was a simple story, a slow burn done so, so well.

One quote I really enjoyed that kinda stuck with me; "If you pressed your face against the glass it looked as if the night had a million holes in it."

4.5

A beautiful beautifuol story. I am very hopeful and excited for more from this author.

So, I found this well written with an excellent structure, however, I also found it quite simplistic. The problem of course, as I see it is that for almost the entire story we have Kate as our narrator. The whole plot rests on Kate's interpretation of the events that happened in her seventh and eighth years. She views the events that cause her elder brother Matt to stay home and not go to university - as a tragedy. She feels guilty because as things have worked out it is she that goes to Toronto and is established in a high-status academic career. It is Kate who has escaped the back-woods life of northern Ontario.

So, I could see the fallacy in the plot about half-way through, that everything supports Kate's construction of what didn't happen for Matt. The obvious problem, is that it is only Kate's perspective. So we have a very subjective view - we never actually get to hear what Matt thinks about how his life has turned out.

I wasn't sure who exactly was going to wake Kate up out of her conclusions; the one that Kate is most hostile to of course, Matt's wife, Marie.

So, - there we have it. Most reviewers, think this is a four or five star book - fine. There are some interesting elements - the zoology for instance, but again most of that I am already familiar with, the fact that beetles can submerge in water - they take their own little air bubble down with them - the surface water tension forms a 'skin', that insects use - too many David Attenborough programs - in my youth.

The tale is well told - although I think there are sections, where things are over-explained. I did like all the descriptions of Bo, the youngest girl. In the author's acknowledgements, Lawson thanks someone who allowed her the use of their baby-hood memories. I can usually sense genuine re-creations, as is the case with the wonderful toddler Bo.

Great - nice read; I would say it was light - but there is some pretty nasty violence. Two graphic incidents, at least, which I am not entirely sure are justified by the main plot line.