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Lake Burntshore
A funny and emotionally resonant coming-of-age novel about one summer of momentous social and political change at a Jewish sleepover camp
It’s the summer of 2013 and 21-year-old Ruby, a counselor at Camp Burntshore, can’t wait to supervise a rowdy cabin of 11-year-olds, smoke weed by the fire, and argue about which city make the best bagels. But when Brent, the camp owner’s son, hires Israeli soldiers to deal with a staffing shortfall, Ruby, a committed anti-Zionist, must decide if she’s willing to jeopardize her place at Burntshore to fight Brent over the contentious issues of Jewish belonging and settler colonialism, even as she finds herself falling in love with one of the soldiers, the sweetly handsome Etai.
Soon it becomes clear that the conflict is not just about the camp’s internal divisions but also about Burntshore’s relationship with the neighboring Black Spruce First Nation, strained because of Brent’s larger scheme to buy the Crown land surrounding the lake. As campers swim, go canoe tripping, and stage an over-the-top musical, Ruby has to contend with her feelings for Etai while simultaneously trying to save her beloved camp from greed and colonialism. A social satire, romance, and political commentary all in one, Lake Burntshore celebrates the contemporary Jewish world through its most iconic symbol — the often idyllic yet always dramatic summer camp.
It’s the summer of 2013 and 21-year-old Ruby, a counselor at Camp Burntshore, can’t wait to supervise a rowdy cabin of 11-year-olds, smoke weed by the fire, and argue about which city make the best bagels. But when Brent, the camp owner’s son, hires Israeli soldiers to deal with a staffing shortfall, Ruby, a committed anti-Zionist, must decide if she’s willing to jeopardize her place at Burntshore to fight Brent over the contentious issues of Jewish belonging and settler colonialism, even as she finds herself falling in love with one of the soldiers, the sweetly handsome Etai.
Soon it becomes clear that the conflict is not just about the camp’s internal divisions but also about Burntshore’s relationship with the neighboring Black Spruce First Nation, strained because of Brent’s larger scheme to buy the Crown land surrounding the lake. As campers swim, go canoe tripping, and stage an over-the-top musical, Ruby has to contend with her feelings for Etai while simultaneously trying to save her beloved camp from greed and colonialism. A social satire, romance, and political commentary all in one, Lake Burntshore celebrates the contemporary Jewish world through its most iconic symbol — the often idyllic yet always dramatic summer camp.
408 pages, Paperback
First published April 22, 2025
11 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 22, 2025
Happy publication day 🥳🎉🎧
This is a tricky review for me to write. I didn’t hate the book infact I wholly appreciated the authors intention, the over arching message should’ve been really meaningful, but I struggled to find the satire? Or rather I struggled to find the humour in the satire.
Personally I think this would work better had it been broken down into a short series, and perhaps pitched as ya - although the sex and drugs would need a heavy edit.
Enjoyable, informative but way too long.
I enjoyed the audio narration.
My thanks to ECW Press audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧
This is a tricky review for me to write. I didn’t hate the book infact I wholly appreciated the authors intention, the over arching message should’ve been really meaningful, but I struggled to find the satire? Or rather I struggled to find the humour in the satire.
Personally I think this would work better had it been broken down into a short series, and perhaps pitched as ya - although the sex and drugs would need a heavy edit.
Enjoyable, informative but way too long.
I enjoyed the audio narration.
My thanks to ECW Press audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧
April 3, 2025
4.25 stars This book follows the staff at a Jewish summer camp over the course of a summer. As you would expect, it covers coming of age and teenage drama and bad behavior, but it also engages more seriously with world affairs. The camp invites Israeli soldiers to work at the camp as counselors, and the camp considers expansion by taking over a neighboring first nations tribe's land without their permission.
At times the book did feel unfocused and there were so many plots and characters that it started to feel a little slow by the end, Overall however, I felt that Kreuter was clever in the way that he wove social commentary criticizing occupations and stealing indigenous land into a cozy Jewish camp story. From my perspective as a secular Jew, the combination of familiar camp comfort and real world ethical issues resonated with how it feels be a Jewish person with a conscience today.
I listened to the audio and found the narration to be competent and engaging, but not distracting.
Thank you to ECW Press Audio for an Advance Listening Copy of this book.
At times the book did feel unfocused and there were so many plots and characters that it started to feel a little slow by the end, Overall however, I felt that Kreuter was clever in the way that he wove social commentary criticizing occupations and stealing indigenous land into a cozy Jewish camp story. From my perspective as a secular Jew, the combination of familiar camp comfort and real world ethical issues resonated with how it feels be a Jewish person with a conscience today.
I listened to the audio and found the narration to be competent and engaging, but not distracting.
Thank you to ECW Press Audio for an Advance Listening Copy of this book.
September 27, 2025
This book made me feel so much nostalgia for sleepover camp that I didn't even know I had the capacity for. It made me want to go back to a camp that I hated while I was there, that's how well-written this book is, and how much emotion it evokes.
December 28, 2024
I enjoyed the immersion into Jewish summer camp, but the book was too long and disjointed with the 'minor' plotlines and character voices combined with Ruby and the 'major' plotline. The book has something to say, but it never quite commits.
Book was provided for review by NetGalley.
Book was provided for review by NetGalley.
March 28, 2025
The premise of this book intrigued me, but I DNF'd the book nonetheless. Both the writing and narration style felt choppy. I couldn't find my footing in the story. I didn't enjoy any of it and therefore didn't last that many chapters into the story. Perhaps a physical copy would have allowed for a different experience, though the choppy introductions and cluttered start into the novel would have been the same. So I don't know. Pass.
Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 16, 2025
I have mixed feelings about this book. The overall theme is good and interesting and provided me with information and context that I appreciated learning about and contemplating. I think many people would feel the same. However, there are many characters and sub-stories that I felt could have been streamlined. However, it may be a personality thing, it is not a fast-paced book and i think that generally the type of book I prefer. In summary - I’m glad I read it, but I looked at the page count a lot while I was reading it.
May 18, 2025
2.25/5.
Too many characters thrown at the reader and lacking development of most characters, except Ruby.
Sure, parts were entertaining, and any reader who has been to summer camp will easily reminisce their own experiences, but the commie subtext about forcefully redistributing wealth is quite tiring.
The best parts were the chapters absent of the political commentary.
Too many characters thrown at the reader and lacking development of most characters, except Ruby.
Sure, parts were entertaining, and any reader who has been to summer camp will easily reminisce their own experiences, but the commie subtext about forcefully redistributing wealth is quite tiring.
The best parts were the chapters absent of the political commentary.
June 5, 2025
From my review in The Miramichi Reader:
Lake Burntshore, the debut novel from acclaimed author Aaron Kreuter, is the hardest working book about teenage stoners at a summer camp you’re likely to read. What it manages to accomplish is nothing short of remarkable. It is premature to refer to the book as Kreuter’s magnum opus, as he still has a long career ahead, the scope of the novel, the history it packs, and the weight of centuries of choices, all bear down on the characters.
Set in 2013, in Ontario’s cottage country, the eponymous Lake Burntshore is a Jewish summer camp which borders Black Spruce First Nation. That summer, due to numerous violations of the camp’s rules, mostly revolving around marijuana possession, the camp is short on counselors. To alleviate the shortage, the camp’s owner brings in a half-dozen IDF soldiers, who work double duty as counselors and de facto ambassadors of the state of Israel. What we get is summer camp, a hot and humid place filled with sweaty, horny and stoned teenagers fending off bug bites and breakups, mixed with heavy politics and history.
Lake Burntshore offers an ensemble cast, though we can’t help but follow Ruby, a counselor who is a student activist at York University and a staunch anti-Zionist. Her best friend back home, Seema, is a Palestinian whose family was forced to take refuge in Jordan before coming to Toronto. While at camp, Ruby falls in love with Etai, one of the IDF soldiers. Although Etai objects to the occupation of Palestinian territories, and refuses deployment, he still wears the uniform of a military enmeshed in war crimes and human rights violations.
Lake Burntshore is a coming-of-age, summer camp story that explores not only teens deciding what kind of adults they’d like to be, but young Jews discovering for themselves as individuals, what it means to be Jewish. For some of them, that means a connection to Israel, for others, it means the embrace of diasporic traditions. It was refreshing to see a broad swath of Jewish society portrayed in this book, with many diverse opinions and positions. Too frequently, in Western media, Jewish thought is portrayed as monolithic, and Zionist ideology is misrepresented as synonymous with Judaism. Kreuter recognizes this, and offers, through his many characters, many different takes on what Judaism means to them, not conflating the century-old political ideology of Zionism with the thousands of years of Jewish cultural and religious traditions.
Through the everyday operations of a Jewish summer camp, we confront many of the questions that face contemporary Jewish society. At the beginning of the summer, there’s a debate among the campers as to which city makes the best bagels, Montreal, Toronto or New York. Towards the end of the book, when the debate arises once more, Dov, the alpha of the IDF soldiers, condemns bagels as the food of “diaspora weakness.” In many ways, Dov represents what the Zionist leader Max Nordau called “muscular Judaism” in the 1890s. Nordau rejected the “old Jew,” the diasporic Jew, and called for a new kind of Jew; muscular, aggressive, Zionist. Dov carries that image throughout Lake Burntshore, he is bold, strong, able, a natural leader. When he condemns diaspora food like bagels, he elevates “Israeli food” such as hummus and falafel. Ruby has to step in and remind him that what he considers “Israeli” was appropriated from the Arabs of the region.
Through Yehuda, another of the IDF soldiers and a true believer in the Zionist project, we get to view Judaism through the lens of Herzl and other early Zionist thinkers. When Ayelet Cho speaks to him about languages, he condemns Arabic as the language of the enemy, which, in a nutshell, encapsulates the decades of discrimination the Mizrahim, or Arabic-speaking Jews had to endure when they came to Israel after its formation. Yehuda also considers Ayelet half-Jewish, since her father is Chinese. This seems like an artifact of early Zionist thinking, which was as obsessed with race as the other ethnonationalist political ideologies coming out of Europe at the time.
The book reaches its climax when Brett, the son of the camp’s owner, makes a move to purchase many acres of the Crown land surrounding the camp. This puts the Jewish campers at odds with the local Indigenous people who live nearby (some of whom work in the camp). It forces the campers, Ruby most of all, to come face-to-face with the continuing colonial practices.
Kreuter’s handling of complex history, culture, faith and politics, weaving them seamlessly into the lives of teenage potheads and horndogs, is masterful. At one point, some campers sneak into the Zionist doctor’s office and add Palestinian and non-Zionist books to the collection the doctor uses to influence campers towards his cause. It both introduces Zionist and anti-Zionist politics and history, while being the kind of puerile prank that teenage radicals would attempt. Like many bildungsromans, the characters are asking who they are. In Lake Burntshore, that question is extended to include who the characters are as Jews, and who they are as citizens of land stolen from Indigenous peoples.
Kreuter brings us long, hot days, waves lapping against the shore, fireside guitar sing-a-longs and sex. He gives us young people trying to find their way in the world and find their tribe. He does so not only while grappling with heavy subjects, but while portraying the beauty and richness of Jewish diasporic culture. The novel asks hard questions, but is so infused with humanity that the reader will set it down with the satisfaction of having taken a nice summer vacation. The chapter titles inject the fun of a Wes Anderson film into the book, adding a little campiness to the camp story.
Lake Burntshore, the debut novel from acclaimed author Aaron Kreuter, is the hardest working book about teenage stoners at a summer camp you’re likely to read. What it manages to accomplish is nothing short of remarkable. It is premature to refer to the book as Kreuter’s magnum opus, as he still has a long career ahead, the scope of the novel, the history it packs, and the weight of centuries of choices, all bear down on the characters.
Set in 2013, in Ontario’s cottage country, the eponymous Lake Burntshore is a Jewish summer camp which borders Black Spruce First Nation. That summer, due to numerous violations of the camp’s rules, mostly revolving around marijuana possession, the camp is short on counselors. To alleviate the shortage, the camp’s owner brings in a half-dozen IDF soldiers, who work double duty as counselors and de facto ambassadors of the state of Israel. What we get is summer camp, a hot and humid place filled with sweaty, horny and stoned teenagers fending off bug bites and breakups, mixed with heavy politics and history.
Lake Burntshore offers an ensemble cast, though we can’t help but follow Ruby, a counselor who is a student activist at York University and a staunch anti-Zionist. Her best friend back home, Seema, is a Palestinian whose family was forced to take refuge in Jordan before coming to Toronto. While at camp, Ruby falls in love with Etai, one of the IDF soldiers. Although Etai objects to the occupation of Palestinian territories, and refuses deployment, he still wears the uniform of a military enmeshed in war crimes and human rights violations.
Lake Burntshore is a coming-of-age, summer camp story that explores not only teens deciding what kind of adults they’d like to be, but young Jews discovering for themselves as individuals, what it means to be Jewish. For some of them, that means a connection to Israel, for others, it means the embrace of diasporic traditions. It was refreshing to see a broad swath of Jewish society portrayed in this book, with many diverse opinions and positions. Too frequently, in Western media, Jewish thought is portrayed as monolithic, and Zionist ideology is misrepresented as synonymous with Judaism. Kreuter recognizes this, and offers, through his many characters, many different takes on what Judaism means to them, not conflating the century-old political ideology of Zionism with the thousands of years of Jewish cultural and religious traditions.
Through the everyday operations of a Jewish summer camp, we confront many of the questions that face contemporary Jewish society. At the beginning of the summer, there’s a debate among the campers as to which city makes the best bagels, Montreal, Toronto or New York. Towards the end of the book, when the debate arises once more, Dov, the alpha of the IDF soldiers, condemns bagels as the food of “diaspora weakness.” In many ways, Dov represents what the Zionist leader Max Nordau called “muscular Judaism” in the 1890s. Nordau rejected the “old Jew,” the diasporic Jew, and called for a new kind of Jew; muscular, aggressive, Zionist. Dov carries that image throughout Lake Burntshore, he is bold, strong, able, a natural leader. When he condemns diaspora food like bagels, he elevates “Israeli food” such as hummus and falafel. Ruby has to step in and remind him that what he considers “Israeli” was appropriated from the Arabs of the region.
Through Yehuda, another of the IDF soldiers and a true believer in the Zionist project, we get to view Judaism through the lens of Herzl and other early Zionist thinkers. When Ayelet Cho speaks to him about languages, he condemns Arabic as the language of the enemy, which, in a nutshell, encapsulates the decades of discrimination the Mizrahim, or Arabic-speaking Jews had to endure when they came to Israel after its formation. Yehuda also considers Ayelet half-Jewish, since her father is Chinese. This seems like an artifact of early Zionist thinking, which was as obsessed with race as the other ethnonationalist political ideologies coming out of Europe at the time.
The book reaches its climax when Brett, the son of the camp’s owner, makes a move to purchase many acres of the Crown land surrounding the camp. This puts the Jewish campers at odds with the local Indigenous people who live nearby (some of whom work in the camp). It forces the campers, Ruby most of all, to come face-to-face with the continuing colonial practices.
Kreuter’s handling of complex history, culture, faith and politics, weaving them seamlessly into the lives of teenage potheads and horndogs, is masterful. At one point, some campers sneak into the Zionist doctor’s office and add Palestinian and non-Zionist books to the collection the doctor uses to influence campers towards his cause. It both introduces Zionist and anti-Zionist politics and history, while being the kind of puerile prank that teenage radicals would attempt. Like many bildungsromans, the characters are asking who they are. In Lake Burntshore, that question is extended to include who the characters are as Jews, and who they are as citizens of land stolen from Indigenous peoples.
Kreuter brings us long, hot days, waves lapping against the shore, fireside guitar sing-a-longs and sex. He gives us young people trying to find their way in the world and find their tribe. He does so not only while grappling with heavy subjects, but while portraying the beauty and richness of Jewish diasporic culture. The novel asks hard questions, but is so infused with humanity that the reader will set it down with the satisfaction of having taken a nice summer vacation. The chapter titles inject the fun of a Wes Anderson film into the book, adding a little campiness to the camp story.
May 6, 2025
There's a lot going on in this book, and it starts off with so many characters. Even by the end, I'm not sure I have a grasp on who everyone is, their role, and age. I think Part 2 is when I really got into enjoying the book. There is a lot to like and appreciate, and I liked the expansive yet contained world we live in within Camp Burntshore.
It isn't until my adult years, through work, when I became exposed to the world of rich summer camps but I got a few years of my own experience as an outsider looking in. So I was excited to read a book that tells the story of an Ontario Camp.
In today's climate, this book felt like a controversial one to read and maybe I wouldn't feel comfortable telling everyone I know I even read it. But it's a powerful story, combining politics, settler-colonialism along with romance and coming-of-age stories all in one. Just growing up and learning about the world we live in, the things we took for granted without thinking about what they really mean, the impacts they have on others. I liked the hopeful, yet realistic, end we landed on. I really liked the Indigenous representation and the parallels drawn.
"Eh, why should I care about the millions of humans, or other lifeforms who have given up? I need a community of people I can see, touch, talk to, gossip about. If thirty, a hundred, three hundred of us can live how do you say, ethically, isn't that the best we could hope for?"
It was in direct opposition to what had just occurred in Tom's office, a bright, polished lie to the hard, jagged truth of what it means to be Jewish in this world, where to belong means to exclude."
This debate between Dov and Etai and Ruby's thought at the end of the Tel Aviv play really stuck with me. Fascinating and opposing viewpoints. As a non-Jewish person who doesn't carry the history and weight of the genocide personally, it feels difficult to come from a place of judgment at the worldviews some people have taken. But I think we have to be able to keep our eyes open to the realities while holding space for complexity and multiplicity of experiences.
It isn't until my adult years, through work, when I became exposed to the world of rich summer camps but I got a few years of my own experience as an outsider looking in. So I was excited to read a book that tells the story of an Ontario Camp.
In today's climate, this book felt like a controversial one to read and maybe I wouldn't feel comfortable telling everyone I know I even read it. But it's a powerful story, combining politics, settler-colonialism along with romance and coming-of-age stories all in one. Just growing up and learning about the world we live in, the things we took for granted without thinking about what they really mean, the impacts they have on others. I liked the hopeful, yet realistic, end we landed on. I really liked the Indigenous representation and the parallels drawn.
"Eh, why should I care about the millions of humans, or other lifeforms who have given up? I need a community of people I can see, touch, talk to, gossip about. If thirty, a hundred, three hundred of us can live how do you say, ethically, isn't that the best we could hope for?"
It was in direct opposition to what had just occurred in Tom's office, a bright, polished lie to the hard, jagged truth of what it means to be Jewish in this world, where to belong means to exclude."
This debate between Dov and Etai and Ruby's thought at the end of the Tel Aviv play really stuck with me. Fascinating and opposing viewpoints. As a non-Jewish person who doesn't carry the history and weight of the genocide personally, it feels difficult to come from a place of judgment at the worldviews some people have taken. But I think we have to be able to keep our eyes open to the realities while holding space for complexity and multiplicity of experiences.
December 6, 2025
Lake Burntshore
is an interesting exploration of summer camp life in granular detail, and Canadian Jewish summer camp life in particular. It roughly takes place in the summer of 2013.
I liked the description style in general and the genuine love for the northern ON wilderness the pages exude, but there's so much of it that it bogs down the pacing.
Granted, I was never a summer camp kid. Maybe if you were, all that specificity really resonates. For me, it was a case where a little less might be more in the balance.
I liked the exploration of settler colonialism in Canada and Israel, and a consideration of what it might mean to return land in Canada and truly honour the terms of reconciliation, especially at a time when denialism is trying to show the 94 recommendations away from our national consciousness.
Ruby, a long-time camper turned camp counsellor (our main character), is anti-Zionist and supports the #landback movement, but struggles to see the connections between her joy in camp, Canadian history, and the oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
She's seen as radical by many of her peers, though the novel clearly sides with her and takes pains to demonstrate the rigidity of the characters who believe in the Zionist movement.
On the whole, Ruby's committed to her general position from page 1. While she becomes slightly more flexible through her relationship with a dissenting Israeli soldier who is also against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, her growth is small. She doesn't change much through the arc of the story, which makes for a less dynamic reading experience.
I wish her best friend Seema, who represents the Palestinian perspective, was more present in the novel. We get their letters, but since the majority of the characters at camp are Canadian/Jewish or Indigenous, no one at the camp represents that perspective.
I liked the description style in general and the genuine love for the northern ON wilderness the pages exude, but there's so much of it that it bogs down the pacing.
Granted, I was never a summer camp kid. Maybe if you were, all that specificity really resonates. For me, it was a case where a little less might be more in the balance.
I liked the exploration of settler colonialism in Canada and Israel, and a consideration of what it might mean to return land in Canada and truly honour the terms of reconciliation, especially at a time when denialism is trying to show the 94 recommendations away from our national consciousness.
Ruby, a long-time camper turned camp counsellor (our main character), is anti-Zionist and supports the #landback movement, but struggles to see the connections between her joy in camp, Canadian history, and the oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
She's seen as radical by many of her peers, though the novel clearly sides with her and takes pains to demonstrate the rigidity of the characters who believe in the Zionist movement.
On the whole, Ruby's committed to her general position from page 1. While she becomes slightly more flexible through her relationship with a dissenting Israeli soldier who is also against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, her growth is small. She doesn't change much through the arc of the story, which makes for a less dynamic reading experience.
I wish her best friend Seema, who represents the Palestinian perspective, was more present in the novel. We get their letters, but since the majority of the characters at camp are Canadian/Jewish or Indigenous, no one at the camp represents that perspective.
April 17, 2025
This one was interesting in the sense of the background narrative of the Jewish culture / history including persecution, occupation, Zionism, holocaust, Israel, etc and this was fascinating with all this at the backdrop of the story…
On the other hand, this is a coming-of-age story set in a summer camp – although it felt like it was more of a free for all with everyone knocking off with everybody else… I might be a bit naïve with the going ons with summer camps in general but couldn’t quite believe how “free” it all was.. and this was on top of the drugs and rock n roll and it all just felt a bit too much..
I liked the story around the division amongst the staff counsellors with regards to the purchasing of the Crown land against the neighbouring Black Spruce First Nation and the similarity with the Jews losing their own lands.. and the other narratives such as the introduction of the Israeli soldiers… so lots going on to keep the story trundling along…
I listened to the audio narration and found it enjoyable and appealing but the whole story just felt far too long and was quite repetitive with all the sexual shenanigans going on… with the book equivalent being at over 400 pages, I felt that this book would be far more appealing if it was cut down to, at most, 300 pages…
So a thought-provoking story, interesting backdrop and a coming of age story made for a decent book but one which, in my humble opinion, could be edited into something a bit better
Many thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the chance to review this ARC
On the other hand, this is a coming-of-age story set in a summer camp – although it felt like it was more of a free for all with everyone knocking off with everybody else… I might be a bit naïve with the going ons with summer camps in general but couldn’t quite believe how “free” it all was.. and this was on top of the drugs and rock n roll and it all just felt a bit too much..
I liked the story around the division amongst the staff counsellors with regards to the purchasing of the Crown land against the neighbouring Black Spruce First Nation and the similarity with the Jews losing their own lands.. and the other narratives such as the introduction of the Israeli soldiers… so lots going on to keep the story trundling along…
I listened to the audio narration and found it enjoyable and appealing but the whole story just felt far too long and was quite repetitive with all the sexual shenanigans going on… with the book equivalent being at over 400 pages, I felt that this book would be far more appealing if it was cut down to, at most, 300 pages…
So a thought-provoking story, interesting backdrop and a coming of age story made for a decent book but one which, in my humble opinion, could be edited into something a bit better
Many thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the chance to review this ARC
April 4, 2025
Lake Burntshore
By Aaron Kreuter
Publishes on April 22,2025
Lake Burntshore is a coming-of-age story that is set in the summer of 2013 at a Jewish sleep away camp. We follow Ruby a 21 year old counselor and committed anti-Zionist as she navigates through a summer that is filled with political and social and cultural changes. When multiple staff are let go after being caught breaking camp rules they bring in Israeli soldiers to help fix the staffing shortage. Ruby is troubled with her moral values that could result in her being let go from the camp if she doesn’t watch how she approaches issues.
The camp experience these kids get are filled with many different elements including one that all summer camps deal with is camo romances. I really liked the complexity of all the layers that Aaron wrote into this book, for both campers and the counselors and even some of the higher up staff members who run the camp. There was a division amongst staff about the land that borders the camp and ma y have strong feelings on the issues causing a divide.
This was well written and it really made me feel that summer camp vibe.
Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for this ALC audiobook. All opinions are my own.
By Aaron Kreuter
Publishes on April 22,2025
Lake Burntshore is a coming-of-age story that is set in the summer of 2013 at a Jewish sleep away camp. We follow Ruby a 21 year old counselor and committed anti-Zionist as she navigates through a summer that is filled with political and social and cultural changes. When multiple staff are let go after being caught breaking camp rules they bring in Israeli soldiers to help fix the staffing shortage. Ruby is troubled with her moral values that could result in her being let go from the camp if she doesn’t watch how she approaches issues.
The camp experience these kids get are filled with many different elements including one that all summer camps deal with is camo romances. I really liked the complexity of all the layers that Aaron wrote into this book, for both campers and the counselors and even some of the higher up staff members who run the camp. There was a division amongst staff about the land that borders the camp and ma y have strong feelings on the issues causing a divide.
This was well written and it really made me feel that summer camp vibe.
Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for this ALC audiobook. All opinions are my own.
March 26, 2025
Lake Burntshore is a delightful coming-of-age novel set in a Jewish summer camp that combines humor with meaningful social commentary. The author weaves in sharp observations that feel natural, enhancing the narrative without overwhelming it. What stands out most is how the political and cultural themes- such as the presence of Israeli soldiers at camp, an anti-Zionist counselor, and discussions of colonialism—are explored thoughtfully, respecting the camp setting and the diverse age groups involved.
The camp experience is filled with familiar elements, including camp romance, but this novel takes a distinctive approach by introducing the complex layers of heritage, land, and identity. It’s refreshing to see the characters—both campers and counselors—grappling with their understanding of the world, exploring the history of the land on which their camp stands, and discovering connections between their personal experiences and broader political issues.
Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the chance to listen to this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
The camp experience is filled with familiar elements, including camp romance, but this novel takes a distinctive approach by introducing the complex layers of heritage, land, and identity. It’s refreshing to see the characters—both campers and counselors—grappling with their understanding of the world, exploring the history of the land on which their camp stands, and discovering connections between their personal experiences and broader political issues.
Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the chance to listen to this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
May 12, 2025
This book was difficult, but in the best way possible. It's not something I could skim (something I often resort to, even though it's something I hate about myself!) There are lots of characters to keep track of, and big themes and ideas that they are parsing that means you need to pay attention. But I was so engrossed in this summer camp living, and everyone's thoughts and ideas and antics, that even though it was a tougher reading experience than I'm used to, by the end I realized I loved the experience.
And don't let that toughness fool you. It's also a romp. It made me wish I was a summer camp kid - feeling the heat of the sun, the cool of the water, and sitting through insufferable jam sessions from guys playing the guitar around the campfire. Aaron Kreuter - hoorah. A great book, and one I'll be thinking back to often.
And don't let that toughness fool you. It's also a romp. It made me wish I was a summer camp kid - feeling the heat of the sun, the cool of the water, and sitting through insufferable jam sessions from guys playing the guitar around the campfire. Aaron Kreuter - hoorah. A great book, and one I'll be thinking back to often.
Read
March 23, 2025This book is a hot mess - trying to do way too much.
It could easily have been two books - and two much better books.
Write the story about Jewish camp culture… but focus on the camp culture. And by the way the time spent on counsellor’s smoking and drinking and engaging in all manner of sexual shenanigans does nothing for your story. Indeed every time there is an opportunity to be serious - this goes low brow and loses the magic moment… loses the impact.
Write the other book about Zionism and Palestine - and you can even keep the “camp bit”... make it like an Outward Bound experience.
But shoving it all into this one book is not working.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.
DNF
It could easily have been two books - and two much better books.
Write the story about Jewish camp culture… but focus on the camp culture. And by the way the time spent on counsellor’s smoking and drinking and engaging in all manner of sexual shenanigans does nothing for your story. Indeed every time there is an opportunity to be serious - this goes low brow and loses the magic moment… loses the impact.
Write the other book about Zionism and Palestine - and you can even keep the “camp bit”... make it like an Outward Bound experience.
But shoving it all into this one book is not working.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.
DNF
September 28, 2025
This is a fun and compelling read that really gets the culture and politics of Jewish summer camp right. It grapples with challenging questions around Zionism and hasbara (propaganda) in North American Jewish summer camps, and weaves in the parallels between anti-Zionism and indigenous sovereignty in North America well. The characters are solid archetypes of people who work at Jewish summer camp, and the camp Hebrew linguistics make the book feel authentic. Kreuter also does an excellent job of world building the Jewish summer camp he creates in a realistic way. I was a Jewish summer camp counselor and college student at the time the book takes place, and I found the book to be resonant and nostalgic.
April 27, 2025
I really tried with this one. I found mysself listening to this one and putting it down. It had a lot of characters, and was very busy making it challenging to follow and get invested in the characters. Eventually I ended up as a DNF at the approximately 50% mark. I have a gut feeling, this will be a better read, than audiobook.
Thank you to ECW Press Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this ALC. All opinions are my own.
Rating: 1 Star
Audio Release Date: Apr 22 2025
#ECWPressAudio
#LakeBurntshore
#AaronKreuter
#CommingofAge
#Humor
#Satire
#Yarisbooknook
#NetGalley
Thank you to ECW Press Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this ALC. All opinions are my own.
Rating: 1 Star
Audio Release Date: Apr 22 2025
#ECWPressAudio
#LakeBurntshore
#AaronKreuter
#CommingofAge
#Humor
#Satire
#Yarisbooknook
#NetGalley
January 19, 2025
A searing political novel in the manner of Michael Chabon and Lauren Groff, Lake Burntshore is an immersive, sensual, and profoundly human story of a moment of reckoning at Jewish summer camp. A rollicking ride from start to finish, the vivid and colourful characters and political awakenings around settler colonialism are held together by the shimmer and sparkle of Kreuter's prose and the propulsive force of his vision. Burntshore is the best thing Kreuter has written yet--I can't wait to see what he does next!
August 26, 2025
I really enjoyed this book set in a Muskoka summer camp. Taking us over the course of a summer, the story embodies the closeness, friendship, and drama of living together at a camp for over eight weeks. The tension revolves around some political awakenings and realizations of our key characters, as they grapple with the historical injustices that have built up their idyllic lives. And they figure out how to live justly in the world of injustice.
I’m glad I saved this one for a summer read. It was a great story to take me through summer evenings.
I’m glad I saved this one for a summer read. It was a great story to take me through summer evenings.
August 10, 2025
I have marked this book as a book club recommendation, although I'm afraid there is too much sex and marijuana smoking in it for our group. Examines relationships between young adults at a summer camp. Also issues related to Israeli aggression against Palestinians and land seizure (and return) to aboriginal people in Canada. The characters were well developed and I found I really cared about them. An excellent read for me, because I love summer camp.
June 7, 2025
It's an original & unique premise, and it touches gently but firmly on the background of certain issues inflaming the present day. But I think it rambles on a bit too long on the soap-opera-ish components of the plot, at the expense of power of the Jewish/Palestinian conflict, and its reflection in dealings with Canadian First Nations. Too much of one thing, and not enough of the other.
July 4, 2025
I very much enjoyed this book. It should be the summer read on all decks and docks across Canada
We live in complex times and the characters reflect the struggles that we all have. While the story is set in 2013 it rings true today.
Thank you to the author and the Anishinaabe consultants who worked in the book
We live in complex times and the characters reflect the struggles that we all have. While the story is set in 2013 it rings true today.
Thank you to the author and the Anishinaabe consultants who worked in the book
May 8, 2025
Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.
I didn't really find myself connecting with this one. It's not that I didn't like it or find it interesting, I guess it just wasn't working for me.
I didn't really find myself connecting with this one. It's not that I didn't like it or find it interesting, I guess it just wasn't working for me.
July 28, 2025
This book contains multitudes.
Social justice, philosophy, and character development wrapped up in a cozy campfire package.
S’mores as metaphor.
Also: Can we re-normalize Chapter Titles, s’ils vous plait?
Social justice, philosophy, and character development wrapped up in a cozy campfire package.
S’mores as metaphor.
Also: Can we re-normalize Chapter Titles, s’ils vous plait?
June 15, 2025
Thoughtful and smart, this was just the novel I needed to read right now. I highly recommend for those who attended Jewish summer camp.. and all those who did not, too.
July 2, 2025
DNF'd. It was going somewhere and then just kept going.. and going.. and not getting to the point. So much description that was nice! But not forwarding the plot at all and I've lost interest.
August 4, 2025
The storyt and character development were stunted by the constant casual sex and recreational drug use. A disappointing book
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews