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How a Woman Becomes a Lake
From the Giller-nominated author of Y comes How a Woman Becomes a Lake, a taut, suspenseful novel about the dark corners of a small town, and the secrets that lurk within...
It's New Year's Day and the residents of a small fishing town are ready to start their lives anew. Leo takes his two young sons out to the lake to write resolutions on paper boats. That same frigid morning, Vera sets out for a walk with her dog along the lake, leaving her husband in bed with a hangover.
But she never returns. She places a call to the police saying she's found a boy in the woods, but the call is cut short by a muffled cry. Did one of Leo's sons see Vera? What are they hiding about that day? And why are they so scared of their own father?
Told from shifting perspectives, How a Woman Becomes a Lake is a compelling, lyrical novel about family, new beginnings, and costly mistakes, and asks, what do you do when the people who are meant to love you the most, fail?
It's New Year's Day and the residents of a small fishing town are ready to start their lives anew. Leo takes his two young sons out to the lake to write resolutions on paper boats. That same frigid morning, Vera sets out for a walk with her dog along the lake, leaving her husband in bed with a hangover.
But she never returns. She places a call to the police saying she's found a boy in the woods, but the call is cut short by a muffled cry. Did one of Leo's sons see Vera? What are they hiding about that day? And why are they so scared of their own father?
Told from shifting perspectives, How a Woman Becomes a Lake is a compelling, lyrical novel about family, new beginnings, and costly mistakes, and asks, what do you do when the people who are meant to love you the most, fail?
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2020
40 people are currently reading
2231 people want to read
About the author
Marjorie Celona
5 books95 followersMarjorie Celona’s debut novel, Y, won France's Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Héroïne and was nominated for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Marjorie has published work in The O. Henry Prize Stories, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Southern Review, Harvard Review, The Sunday Times, and elsewhere. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Marjorie teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 263 reviews
November 1, 2020
I wish to thank Netgalley and Penguin Random House, Canada, for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review. I regret that my reading experience was not more positive.
The book has been praised for its literary value and lyrical prose containing a mystery. During this unsettling time of COVID-19 lockdown and divisive political agendas, I could not connect with its dark, gloomy themes and its damaged, broken characters. This unpleasant read had no joy, little redemption or resolution. I stayed with it to the end but was overwhelmed with grief, guilt, anger, fear and sadness.
The story was told from many viewpoints, everyone holding back or lying about what they knew. I felt that the dead woman's narration while underwater or floating around in outer space added nothing except the macabre. I thought the conclusion to the mystery was distasteful. Prospective readers should not be deterred by my personal misgivings but should also read positive reviews.
The book has been praised for its literary value and lyrical prose containing a mystery. During this unsettling time of COVID-19 lockdown and divisive political agendas, I could not connect with its dark, gloomy themes and its damaged, broken characters. This unpleasant read had no joy, little redemption or resolution. I stayed with it to the end but was overwhelmed with grief, guilt, anger, fear and sadness.
The story was told from many viewpoints, everyone holding back or lying about what they knew. I felt that the dead woman's narration while underwater or floating around in outer space added nothing except the macabre. I thought the conclusion to the mystery was distasteful. Prospective readers should not be deterred by my personal misgivings but should also read positive reviews.
April 20, 2020
A smartly structured slow burn that knows when to be suspenseful and when to focus on character, a difficult balance indeed. At first, to pull us in, Celona presents this as more of a mystery. At first we do not know what is going to happen, it seems there are so many terrifying directions this one January morning could go. But even when we find out what the terrible thing is, even though we do not know exactly what happened, we know just enough to have a pretty good idea and at this point it becomes less a novel of suspense and more an opening up, an opportunity to explore grief, guilt, and how they act upon dysfunctional relationships.
It's the rare crime novel that will appeal to literary readers while also giving mystery readers enough to keep going. It is not a fast book, but it lets you invest and dig in and still provides just enough obscured facts to give the kind of satisfying conclusion mystery readers long for.
At this time, I am not able to find information about an American publisher. (It's a Canadian book.) I certainly hope it eventually gets a US release.
It's the rare crime novel that will appeal to literary readers while also giving mystery readers enough to keep going. It is not a fast book, but it lets you invest and dig in and still provides just enough obscured facts to give the kind of satisfying conclusion mystery readers long for.
At this time, I am not able to find information about an American publisher. (It's a Canadian book.) I certainly hope it eventually gets a US release.
August 20, 2023
“Missing person” stories have become the gift which keeps on giving. Over the past year I must have read about four or five novels built on the premise of a mysterious disappearance (I’m honestly losing count). The good news is that this trope - or genre, which is what it has basically morphed into – keeps reinventing itself, with every author giving it an idiosyncratic spin.
In Marjorie Celona’s How a Woman Becomes a Lake the missing protagonist is Vera, a thirty-year old filmmaker and lecturer who lives in the small West Coast fishing town of Whale Bay, “just a stone’s throw from Canada”. On New Year’s Day 1986, Vera goes out for a walk with her dog Scout and fails to return home. The local detectives immediately presume foul play. Vera’s considerably older husband, Denny Gusev, becomes a murder suspect, particularly since neighbours claim to have heard the couple heatedly argue on the evening of the disappearance. Officer Lewis Coté, however, refuses to accept this neat solution. Just before going awol, Vera phones the Police claiming that she has found a boy in the woods. Could it have been one of Leo’s two sons, who were out near the lake on the same day? Do the boys know more than they are letting on?
The book’s blurb describes this novel as “a literary novel with the pull and pace of a thriller, told in taut illuminating prose”. It’s the type of description which, unfortunately, shows the stigma still associated with genre fiction. There would have been nothing wrong or shameful with describing How a Woman Becomes a Lake as a “noir” or an outright “thriller”, because (i) that’s what it is and (ii) it is a noir/thriller in the best senses of the word. It is a page-turner which reveals its secrets cunningly. In a nod to Scandi-thrillers, it also uses landscape and nature to wonderful effect. Also, at a more ‘philosophical’ level, it is in keeping with the noir tradition which revels in psychological and moral shadows. The best characters have their faults, whilst even the worst have redeeming features.
Celona borrows her title from a New Yorker essay by Jia Tolentino, which in turn references Ovid. This title, with its echoes of Classical mythology, suggests a magical realist aspect to the novel, one which becomes apparent in its more whimsical, poetic chapters. It also invites a metaphorical reading of the book: a cry against the gender politics of a patriarchal society, reflected in the expectations society makes of Vera, of Evelina and, conversely, of Lewis, Leo and Denny.
How a Woman Becomes A Lake provides much food for thought. Which, of course, does not make it any less of an exciting noir.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
In Marjorie Celona’s How a Woman Becomes a Lake the missing protagonist is Vera, a thirty-year old filmmaker and lecturer who lives in the small West Coast fishing town of Whale Bay, “just a stone’s throw from Canada”. On New Year’s Day 1986, Vera goes out for a walk with her dog Scout and fails to return home. The local detectives immediately presume foul play. Vera’s considerably older husband, Denny Gusev, becomes a murder suspect, particularly since neighbours claim to have heard the couple heatedly argue on the evening of the disappearance. Officer Lewis Coté, however, refuses to accept this neat solution. Just before going awol, Vera phones the Police claiming that she has found a boy in the woods. Could it have been one of Leo’s two sons, who were out near the lake on the same day? Do the boys know more than they are letting on?
The book’s blurb describes this novel as “a literary novel with the pull and pace of a thriller, told in taut illuminating prose”. It’s the type of description which, unfortunately, shows the stigma still associated with genre fiction. There would have been nothing wrong or shameful with describing How a Woman Becomes a Lake as a “noir” or an outright “thriller”, because (i) that’s what it is and (ii) it is a noir/thriller in the best senses of the word. It is a page-turner which reveals its secrets cunningly. In a nod to Scandi-thrillers, it also uses landscape and nature to wonderful effect. Also, at a more ‘philosophical’ level, it is in keeping with the noir tradition which revels in psychological and moral shadows. The best characters have their faults, whilst even the worst have redeeming features.
Celona borrows her title from a New Yorker essay by Jia Tolentino, which in turn references Ovid. This title, with its echoes of Classical mythology, suggests a magical realist aspect to the novel, one which becomes apparent in its more whimsical, poetic chapters. It also invites a metaphorical reading of the book: a cry against the gender politics of a patriarchal society, reflected in the expectations society makes of Vera, of Evelina and, conversely, of Lewis, Leo and Denny.
How a Woman Becomes A Lake provides much food for thought. Which, of course, does not make it any less of an exciting noir.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
November 14, 2020
She understands, now, why people have children. It is because we fail as ourselves, all of us fail. But we have a secret plan, a subconscious desire within us to become something astonishing, like the caterpillar that unwittingly becomes a butterfly. And, so, knowing that we will fail as ourselves, what we do instead is make something astonishing. We make our children in an effort to remake ourselves.
How a Woman Becomes a Lake begins like a lost woman mystery — a police officer finds an empty car idling with its doors open beside a frozen lake while responding to a woman’s call for help from the nearby payphone — but as author Marjorie Celona is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop who now teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Oregon, this modern “gone girl” trope is used with great intention to explore deeper themes of family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, grief, and loss. On the one hand, I can see that this wouldn’t be the twisty thriller that readers of the (apparent) genre would be looking for, and the sense that the writing is quite calculated and engineered keeps the characters at a bit of a remove, but Celona has a lot of interesting things to say about families, gender-based expectations, and relationships and I won’t fault her (too much) for allowing her craftsmanship to shine through. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
”I will keep your secret,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Because I think it’s the right thing to do.”
This is essentially a mystery, so I won’t give away the plot, but I do want to note the characters. There are two main women: Vera is the one who is missing in the beginning and she is a successful experimental filmmaker, an assistant professor of cinema, and at thirty, beginning to regret that the man she married isn’t actually the most interesting person in the world. Evelina is recently separated from her abusive husband, and as a single mother caring for two young boys, she longs for the days of freedom in her youth when she was an adventure-loving cook on a fishing boat. As for the men: Leo is the abusive husband, and as fundamentally unlikeable as he is (heavy drinking, quick temper, violent rages with his sons), he knows he should become a better man and notes that at least he isn’t as hard on his boys as his own father had been with him. Lewis is the young and handsome police officer who responds to the initial call and we eventually learn that it was a difficult relationship with his own father that made him want to become a defender of the public. And Denny is the husband of the missing woman — both pitiful in his grief and the focus of the police investigation — and besides knowing that his parents died just before he met Vera (and that they were Russian Orthodox immigrants, his father teaching Denny the goldsmithing trade before Denny decided to move far away from them), and that Denny is an older husband who couldn’t stop himself from drinking too much and oversleeping to Vera’s disgust, Denny is almost here as a foil for the other characters. Jesse and Dmitri are the two boys (10 and 6 at the beginning) and their pain, fear and yearning for love and approval drive the emotional heart of the story.
And I want to note a major motif: It becomes very apparent that mirrors are an important element in Celona’s ideas. Not only was Vera’s Cannes-screened short film named Mirror, but eventually, Evelina notes that the lake from the beginning has at some point been named Mirror Lake. In between these two points — and because I read a digital copy and could easily go back and confirm my suspicions — pretty much every character has a transformative moment of self-recognition while looking at themselves in a mirror. And noting this, I had to wonder if the names “Vera” and “Evalina” were meant to be wonky mirrors of one another (it can’t be a coincidence that both of them are described as being distanced from their parents in a book about parenthood and emotional inheritance), as are “Leo” and “Lewis” (and especially because they were both most pointedly formed by their relationships with their fathers). The presence of mirrors is so prevalent that Celona obviously wants the reader to notice and reflect upon them (har har), and that’s the kind of engineered writing that can make me impatient. On the other hand, and contrary to some of the reviews I have read for this book, I did really like the lyrical disembodied sections; I’m all for noticing lovely language.
The past is not buried. The past is right there, like a coin in a shallow pool, and all she has to do is reach.
And I want to end by talking about the title. In her endnotes, Celona writes that she took it from an essay in The New Yorker from 2018 by Jia Tolentino. The essay talks about rape culture and the patriarchy — from Greek mythology (wherein virtuous women could be transformed into streams or laurel trees but the rapacious gods would yet pursue them) to Susan Brownmiller’s landmark 1975 book Against Our Will (which argued that “a politics of dominance over the earth, the poor, the vulnerable, is fundamentally connected to the belief that women’s bodies are rightfully subjected to men”) to Tolentino’s present in 2018, in which Trump had recently given power to a string of rape-deniers and anti-abortionists — and as abstract as “How a Woman Becomes a Lake” feels as a title for that essay (Tolentino does write of her moment, “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt lake-like — cool and still.”), I really had to meditate on how Celona meant it as a title for this book. There are no rapes here or men dominating helpless women: Evelina was madly in love with Leo, but she found the wherewithal to kick him out before the book begins; Vera was incredibly accomplished and held down by no man (is the sign she taped up in her office — work harder than everyone else, but never feel like you’re working — meant to signal how this “workaholic” succeeds in a man’s world?). If anything, it’s the men (and boys) in this story who are burdened by the weight of the patriarchy as passed down by their fathers, and that might be Celona’s point, but I am left still confused about the title. (In the essay, Tolentino describes some of the artwork at an exhibition she attended — in which women artists exposed rape as an unheroic act in counterpoint to classical themes — and she writes, “What we do to ourselves in order to weather trauma often feels similarly abstract, silent: a patch of skin becoming bark-like, a former softness growing spikes.” And that feels closer to Celona’s themes than what is evoked by “a woman becoming a lake”; I’m still pondering her meaning.)
This is hard to evaluate as a straight story — the plot takes some quirky turns, and like others have written, the ending is a bit underwhelming — but there is much to learn from the characters and their backstories and their development. I do admire Celona’s craft, wish it wasn’t quite so visible, and appreciate that she’s given me so much to think about; more to love than merely like.
February 20, 2020
How A Woman Becomes A Lake is an absolutely mesmerising read, I'm not even sure how to describe it in the context of genre - the mystery element is very low key, whilst there is an eventual reveal of what happened on "the day that never happened " it's not what the novel is about, nor is it at all unexpected.
I think the multi arc character drama of it is what makes it rise above- the writing is purely beautiful, the lives being lived within the pages utterly compelling. The voice of a dead woman resonates throughout, whilst those close to her and those involved and knowledgeable about her final moments, live with the very personal mental consequences.
The years flow by, the relationships ebb and flow, ever changing with the seasons...all the while as a reader you are completely gripped, until the final, emotional pages.
Very good indeed. A little literary delight.
I think the multi arc character drama of it is what makes it rise above- the writing is purely beautiful, the lives being lived within the pages utterly compelling. The voice of a dead woman resonates throughout, whilst those close to her and those involved and knowledgeable about her final moments, live with the very personal mental consequences.
The years flow by, the relationships ebb and flow, ever changing with the seasons...all the while as a reader you are completely gripped, until the final, emotional pages.
Very good indeed. A little literary delight.
November 20, 2019
Recently, Jia Tolentino described, in a 2018 New Yorker essay, a peculiar form of longing, a longing deeply pertinent to our times. Recalling recent political decisions in the United States and other depressing news items, she writes, “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt lake-like–cool and still.” The desire to feel not only a stillness, often associated with trendy mindfulness techniques, but also a sense of detachment, a separation from one’s own nature and the accompanying social conditions, carries with it a particularly cynical undertone.
Invoking a myth popularized in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Tolentino reflects on the emotional state of the pursued woman, the dominated woman. How peaceful, then (and this is where the cynicism shows through), to be like Arethusa. To be still, to turn into a cool spring, to rest. Of course, as Tolentino reminds us, Arethusa’s pursuer ultimately transforms himself into a river, penetrating Arethusa, despite her shapeshifting.
This essay, from which Marjorie Celona derived the title of her forthcoming novel, carries with it a subtle but important significance to the novel.
In the novel, Vera, the character missing under suspicious circumstances, is exceedingly productive, with “powersuits,” a luxury car, an enviable and predictable daily routine. Her job as a film professor at a local university is, on the surface, a marker of success and status. At one point, she narrates what appears to be a standard meeting with “a flushed-faced eighteen-year-old” in her office. “So often she wanted to take her students by the shoulders and shout: Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get where I am?” she recalls, emphasizing that she “dulled the feeling” with her perfectly choreographed life.
Vera has a sign in her office saying, “Work harder than everyone else, but never feel like you’re working.” And isn’t this the epitome of a 21st-century woman’s predicament? Work harder, but also be the perfect wife, mother, friend. It’s a trap, in a sense, and Vera has succumbed. Wouldn’t it be a relief, then, to simply become “still”.
The shocking undertone of this novel is the bubbling up of violence, the allusions to suicide, the abuse of the most vulnerable among us. An underlying question of this novel seems to be, what happens to the vulnerable when they are suddenly in a position to inflict violence?
The readabilty and captivating qualities of this novel come from its frame as a crime novel feel. While the publisher has chosen not to categorized it as such (rather, a “literary novel with the pull and pace of a thriller“), Celona’s text resembles qualities of the very best of Scandinavian crime novels.
The traits that set Scandinavian crime fiction apart from that of other regions are twofold: 1) a preoccupation with landscape and with the idea of place, how tragedy is informed and ultimately overwhelmed by the surrounding landscape, and 2) a focus on the deeply human flaws of the characters, particularly the moral considerations and confusions of the individual investigating the crime at hand. How a Woman Becomes a Lake benefits from both of these qualities, but Celona goes much further to show how these characteristics can be paired seamlessly and productively with an emphasis on literary excellence.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the advance copy of this title.
Invoking a myth popularized in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Tolentino reflects on the emotional state of the pursued woman, the dominated woman. How peaceful, then (and this is where the cynicism shows through), to be like Arethusa. To be still, to turn into a cool spring, to rest. Of course, as Tolentino reminds us, Arethusa’s pursuer ultimately transforms himself into a river, penetrating Arethusa, despite her shapeshifting.
This essay, from which Marjorie Celona derived the title of her forthcoming novel, carries with it a subtle but important significance to the novel.
In the novel, Vera, the character missing under suspicious circumstances, is exceedingly productive, with “powersuits,” a luxury car, an enviable and predictable daily routine. Her job as a film professor at a local university is, on the surface, a marker of success and status. At one point, she narrates what appears to be a standard meeting with “a flushed-faced eighteen-year-old” in her office. “So often she wanted to take her students by the shoulders and shout: Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get where I am?” she recalls, emphasizing that she “dulled the feeling” with her perfectly choreographed life.
Vera has a sign in her office saying, “Work harder than everyone else, but never feel like you’re working.” And isn’t this the epitome of a 21st-century woman’s predicament? Work harder, but also be the perfect wife, mother, friend. It’s a trap, in a sense, and Vera has succumbed. Wouldn’t it be a relief, then, to simply become “still”.
The shocking undertone of this novel is the bubbling up of violence, the allusions to suicide, the abuse of the most vulnerable among us. An underlying question of this novel seems to be, what happens to the vulnerable when they are suddenly in a position to inflict violence?
The readabilty and captivating qualities of this novel come from its frame as a crime novel feel. While the publisher has chosen not to categorized it as such (rather, a “literary novel with the pull and pace of a thriller“), Celona’s text resembles qualities of the very best of Scandinavian crime novels.
The traits that set Scandinavian crime fiction apart from that of other regions are twofold: 1) a preoccupation with landscape and with the idea of place, how tragedy is informed and ultimately overwhelmed by the surrounding landscape, and 2) a focus on the deeply human flaws of the characters, particularly the moral considerations and confusions of the individual investigating the crime at hand. How a Woman Becomes a Lake benefits from both of these qualities, but Celona goes much further to show how these characteristics can be paired seamlessly and productively with an emphasis on literary excellence.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the advance copy of this title.
March 23, 2020
I must admit that I picked this book up based on the title and cover, but it worked in my favour. How a Woman Becomes a Lake is a slow-burn mystery that has a lot to say about relationships, childhood, and human flaws. While the disappearance of a woman is at the center of the novel, it is not the most important element of the book, nor is it that hard to predict what has happened. Fans of thrillers with plenty of twists may not feel satisfied with this one, but I was nonetheless swept away by the evocative writing and cast of characters.
January 10, 2022
RATING: 3 STARS
2020; Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House Canada
How a Woman Becomes a Lake is a slow burn mystery, that is heavier on literature side than mystery. If you are looking for a pop-suspense, I would skip this one. Celona is a beautiful writer, and the story is at times lyrical, but I was finding it hard to concentrate on what was happening at times. The story sometimes veers too much in the lyrical side. I did enjoy the complex realistic characters, but it is a book I would reread or recommend readily so that is why I rated it just three stars.
***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
2020; Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House Canada
How a Woman Becomes a Lake is a slow burn mystery, that is heavier on literature side than mystery. If you are looking for a pop-suspense, I would skip this one. Celona is a beautiful writer, and the story is at times lyrical, but I was finding it hard to concentrate on what was happening at times. The story sometimes veers too much in the lyrical side. I did enjoy the complex realistic characters, but it is a book I would reread or recommend readily so that is why I rated it just three stars.
***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
November 30, 2020
Fantastic..... with a puzzling ending in a good way
October 15, 2020
I was captivated by this author's voice right from the first paragraph. This is an immersive read, plunging us into the lives of everyone involved with the sudden death of an extraordinary woman and how that event affects each of them as their lives go forward. More than that, it takes us backwards, showing the relationships in each person's life prior to the tragedy and how these culminated as a perfect storm. Each character is drawn compassionately and achingly real. This is not a thriller: it's very much literary fiction but at the same time it's a compulsive page-turner. You can't help but feel for Vera and Denny, Jesse and Dmitri, and everyone else. They're all so finely drawn. I'd give this book ten stars if I could.
#netgalley
#netgalley
May 2, 2020
Review to come!
August 12, 2020
First off, this title is clever and the cover was haunting.
This was such a rare book. What do you do when the people you love the most fail you? I will not say much about this book because the less you know the more this book will take you by surprise. But.....
I could not put it down from the first chapter. It kept me up late at night trying to figure out where this was all heading to. It was nice and short at only 266 pages so there never was a lull in the drama.
Haunting and speaks to grief. Love lost and moving forward. I think this will stay with me for awhile. An unexpected surprise. Hopefully this is enough of a description that some of my friends will read this and share their thoughts.
This was such a rare book. What do you do when the people you love the most fail you? I will not say much about this book because the less you know the more this book will take you by surprise. But.....
I could not put it down from the first chapter. It kept me up late at night trying to figure out where this was all heading to. It was nice and short at only 266 pages so there never was a lull in the drama.
Haunting and speaks to grief. Love lost and moving forward. I think this will stay with me for awhile. An unexpected surprise. Hopefully this is enough of a description that some of my friends will read this and share their thoughts.
April 4, 2021
How a woman becomes a lake was an interesting read. Very different to the genre I generally read, I was suprised that I liked the book inspite of thinking otherwise after reading other reviews. All characters in the book were so realistic and the emotions captured felt so real that this almost felt like it was based on a true story. The chapters about the after-death 'experience' felt a bit complex. Ive never read a book where there a person narrating stuff about what comes after death. It was fascinating to see the story unfold although iy could guess the outcome. The story was poignant and touching to say the least.
Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Canada & Marjorie Celona for an arc!
Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Canada & Marjorie Celona for an arc!
September 16, 2020
Rating: 3.1 / 5
This book was, in a word, boring. I'm surprised that I was even able to read it until the end, actually, but I did. I suppose that seeing as it's only 261 pages long, that's it's blessing: because it's a shorterish book, it's more of an incentive for readers to finish, regardless of how much or little they are interested in the actual story.
Myself, I was...underwhelmed; though in the book's defense, I don't think the purpose is to overwhelm you or even just whelm you, as it's pretty benign in it's setting, characters, etc. Do we necessary care about Vera's death? Well, not really, since she's dead at the beginning and so we never get to know her except through the views of her husband, Denny--and he's pretty pathetic, so we don't really care about him either.
Do we care about Leo or Evelina? Er...Leo's delusional and an ass, so no, and Evelina's the sort of wishy-washy character you can hang to dry along with countless forgettable others, so no.
Do we care about Jesse or Dimitri? Well, Dimitri maybe a little, since he's the young and innocent party in all of this, but since he's often overshadowed by Jesse, who is both the result of an abusive childhood and just a bad seed in and of himself, it's hard to sympathize even there.
And Lewis? Eh, not really an important character by any means. You usually except the cop character to do something, to get involved and become highly ingrained in the story but, other than becoming Evelina's eventual man candy, he doesn't really serve a purpose, since the police would've connected Vera's family to Evelina's regardless of his involvement.
The prose, for the most part, was nice, I suppose, so maybe that's another point of light tolerance for this book. Also, I've marked it on my "lured by a pretty cover" list, so that also plays a part right there.
I'm not sure what else to say about this except that it left me feeling indifferent. I don't think it's "bad" per se in any which way, but at the same time it's not something that I would ever remember, read again, or even recommend. It's just...there, and I'll leave it at that. If anyone's interested, you'll have to read and see for yourself what interpretations you can come up with, or what you take for the text. Myself--not much of anything.
This book was, in a word, boring. I'm surprised that I was even able to read it until the end, actually, but I did. I suppose that seeing as it's only 261 pages long, that's it's blessing: because it's a shorterish book, it's more of an incentive for readers to finish, regardless of how much or little they are interested in the actual story.
Myself, I was...underwhelmed; though in the book's defense, I don't think the purpose is to overwhelm you or even just whelm you, as it's pretty benign in it's setting, characters, etc. Do we necessary care about Vera's death? Well, not really, since she's dead at the beginning and so we never get to know her except through the views of her husband, Denny--and he's pretty pathetic, so we don't really care about him either.
Do we care about Leo or Evelina? Er...Leo's delusional and an ass, so no, and Evelina's the sort of wishy-washy character you can hang to dry along with countless forgettable others, so no.
Do we care about Jesse or Dimitri? Well, Dimitri maybe a little, since he's the young and innocent party in all of this, but since he's often overshadowed by Jesse, who is both the result of an abusive childhood and just a bad seed in and of himself, it's hard to sympathize even there.
And Lewis? Eh, not really an important character by any means. You usually except the cop character to do something, to get involved and become highly ingrained in the story but, other than becoming Evelina's eventual man candy, he doesn't really serve a purpose, since the police would've connected Vera's family to Evelina's regardless of his involvement.
The prose, for the most part, was nice, I suppose, so maybe that's another point of light tolerance for this book. Also, I've marked it on my "lured by a pretty cover" list, so that also plays a part right there.
I'm not sure what else to say about this except that it left me feeling indifferent. I don't think it's "bad" per se in any which way, but at the same time it's not something that I would ever remember, read again, or even recommend. It's just...there, and I'll leave it at that. If anyone's interested, you'll have to read and see for yourself what interpretations you can come up with, or what you take for the text. Myself--not much of anything.
December 22, 2020
2 STARS
It's New Year's Day and the residents of a small fishing town are ready to start their lives anew. Leo takes his two young sons out to the lake to write resolutions on paper boats. That same frigid morning, Vera sets out for a walk with her dog along the lake, leaving her husband in bed with a hangover.
But she never returns. She places a call to the police saying she's found a boy in the woods, but the call is cut short by a muffled cry. Did one of Leo's sons see Vera? What are they hiding about that day? And why are they so scared of their own father?
.
.
.
One word to describe this novel: BLEAK. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities and I couldn't scrounge up sympathy for any of them. I do believe this was intentional, as its not a "happy" story by any means, but I wish that there had been something more to connect to. Honestly the only reason I finished this was because I wanted to know what happened to Vera.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC!
It's New Year's Day and the residents of a small fishing town are ready to start their lives anew. Leo takes his two young sons out to the lake to write resolutions on paper boats. That same frigid morning, Vera sets out for a walk with her dog along the lake, leaving her husband in bed with a hangover.
But she never returns. She places a call to the police saying she's found a boy in the woods, but the call is cut short by a muffled cry. Did one of Leo's sons see Vera? What are they hiding about that day? And why are they so scared of their own father?
.
.
.
One word to describe this novel: BLEAK. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities and I couldn't scrounge up sympathy for any of them. I do believe this was intentional, as its not a "happy" story by any means, but I wish that there had been something more to connect to. Honestly the only reason I finished this was because I wanted to know what happened to Vera.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC!
September 29, 2020
I'm going to start this review off by saying that I have picked up Y, Marjorie Celona's first book, probably about a hundred times and never followed through with actually reading it. I will need to remedy that, as this one was sooooooo good.
How a Woman Becomes a Lake is one of my favourite books I have read this year.
I don't want to get too personal, so I won't say too much, but this book gave me all of the feels - Evelina's anger and despair, Jesse's terror and rage, Leo's unpredictability and Lewis's dependability, Denny's deep grief and Dmitri's innocence and confusion - they were all written so profoundly well.
This book was a masterpiece. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.
How a Woman Becomes a Lake is one of my favourite books I have read this year.
I don't want to get too personal, so I won't say too much, but this book gave me all of the feels - Evelina's anger and despair, Jesse's terror and rage, Leo's unpredictability and Lewis's dependability, Denny's deep grief and Dmitri's innocence and confusion - they were all written so profoundly well.
This book was a masterpiece. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.
January 30, 2020
There was something rather wonderful about the writing in this book.
How it voiced so many things,the feeling that Leo is going to explode any minute,that Jesse hates himself and the most stand out voice, Vera.
As everyone wonders where she went,what happened,was it the husband?
The reveal was perfectly timed and in some ways it felt inevitable what happened,but then there was more.
An interesting read.
How it voiced so many things,the feeling that Leo is going to explode any minute,that Jesse hates himself and the most stand out voice, Vera.
As everyone wonders where she went,what happened,was it the husband?
The reveal was perfectly timed and in some ways it felt inevitable what happened,but then there was more.
An interesting read.
November 5, 2020
A beautifully written but ultimately very depressing story of family dysfunction, child abuse and the corrosive effects of grief and guilt.
September 19, 2024
One New Year's day a father takes his two young boys out to a frozen lake. His intention is to teach them to shoot - share a 'manly' endeavour with them. Things do not go as he planned however. The reason? Both boys are terrified of him and his habitual abuse of them.
The boys' mother, Evelina, worries when the boys are late home. When their father does finally return them, the youngest, six year old boy has a badly bruised face. The older boy, ten year old Jesse, is distraught, fearful, and traumatized.
A woman takes her dog out for a walk at the same lake. She is never seen again. This woman's husband never gets over the loss of her.
The policeman who looks into the disappearance of the woman has suspicions, but it is a long time before he knows for certain what happened that New Year's Day. He becomes good friends with the woman's husband and her dog. Also, he becomes a huge part of the lives of Evelina and her two young boys.
The setting, a small town in the Pacific Northwest near the Canadian border is vividly portrayed. The characters leap from the pages they are so richly drawn. A captivating story told from multiple points of view.
This is a slow-burn literary mystery about secrets that fester over years. How abuse of a child can have far-reaching repercussions to many people. How damage can manifest itself over time.
The search for happiness when sadness prevails. At times the novel's tone is overwhelmingly bleak despite the beautifully written prose.
Life, love, death and regret. Guilt, grief, and blame. Chilling, haunting, literary fiction with richly developed characters. A novel that will remain in my memory for some time...
The boys' mother, Evelina, worries when the boys are late home. When their father does finally return them, the youngest, six year old boy has a badly bruised face. The older boy, ten year old Jesse, is distraught, fearful, and traumatized.
A woman takes her dog out for a walk at the same lake. She is never seen again. This woman's husband never gets over the loss of her.
The policeman who looks into the disappearance of the woman has suspicions, but it is a long time before he knows for certain what happened that New Year's Day. He becomes good friends with the woman's husband and her dog. Also, he becomes a huge part of the lives of Evelina and her two young boys.
The setting, a small town in the Pacific Northwest near the Canadian border is vividly portrayed. The characters leap from the pages they are so richly drawn. A captivating story told from multiple points of view.
This is a slow-burn literary mystery about secrets that fester over years. How abuse of a child can have far-reaching repercussions to many people. How damage can manifest itself over time.
The search for happiness when sadness prevails. At times the novel's tone is overwhelmingly bleak despite the beautifully written prose.
Life, love, death and regret. Guilt, grief, and blame. Chilling, haunting, literary fiction with richly developed characters. A novel that will remain in my memory for some time...
March 21, 2020
Twists were predictable and characters kind of weak and not-developed enough, not bad for a time killer but there are plenty way more interesting mystery novels.
June 3, 2020
This book was part of my April SweetReadsBox. I was not familiar with this one and that’s what makes these book boxes so much fun, reading something I wouldn’t ordinary pick up.
Labeled as a thriller/mystery I was expecting a suspenseful story that would keep me on my toes and be hard to put down. That being said I read 50% on Sunday afternoon. The different story lines weaved a tale of dysfunction, secrets and longing. I was intrigued.
The different characters carried baggage that was authentic and emotional. But the pacing slowed down and maybe because I was expecting something thrillerish (is that a word?) it flattened out for me. Not that it didn’t keep my attention, I was genuinely interested in reading and finding out what happened. While the ending was satisfying I wanted more in terms of what happened to a couple players here. This book left me feeling sad and with an aching heart actually. It could be what’s been going on in the world that exasperated that for me though.
But all in all, a good read. 5 stars for the first half of book and 3.5 for the last, rounding out at 4.
Labeled as a thriller/mystery I was expecting a suspenseful story that would keep me on my toes and be hard to put down. That being said I read 50% on Sunday afternoon. The different story lines weaved a tale of dysfunction, secrets and longing. I was intrigued.
The different characters carried baggage that was authentic and emotional. But the pacing slowed down and maybe because I was expecting something thrillerish (is that a word?) it flattened out for me. Not that it didn’t keep my attention, I was genuinely interested in reading and finding out what happened. While the ending was satisfying I wanted more in terms of what happened to a couple players here. This book left me feeling sad and with an aching heart actually. It could be what’s been going on in the world that exasperated that for me though.
But all in all, a good read. 5 stars for the first half of book and 3.5 for the last, rounding out at 4.
November 2, 2023
tre stelle mezzo
Quando una donna diventa un lago di Marjorie Celona (Bollati Boringhieri) è un libro incalzante e appassionante. Questo è un periodo in cui leggo poco e fatico a concentrarmi, quindi ho scelto una lettura che liberasse completamente la mente e devo dire che non mi ha deluso. Bollati mi ha mandato il libro giusto al momento giusto, non sempre succede quindi gioisco doppiamente! Ora proverò a raccontarvi qualcosa di più senza togliervi il piacere dei colpi di scena.
Quando una donna diventa lago è ambientato nel 1986, è Capodanno e ci troviamo a Whale Bay. Una strana telefonata arriva alla polizia: Vera Gusev ha trovato un bambino nei pressi del lago ma quando gli agenti arrivano sul posto, non c’è più traccia né del bambino né di Vera. Una sparizione inspiegabile e fulminea, la sua macchina è ancora con le portiere spalancate e il suo cane gira attorno al lago. Che fine ha fatto Vera?
RECENSIONE COMPLETA: https://www.lalettricecontrocorrente....
Quando una donna diventa un lago di Marjorie Celona (Bollati Boringhieri) è un libro incalzante e appassionante. Questo è un periodo in cui leggo poco e fatico a concentrarmi, quindi ho scelto una lettura che liberasse completamente la mente e devo dire che non mi ha deluso. Bollati mi ha mandato il libro giusto al momento giusto, non sempre succede quindi gioisco doppiamente! Ora proverò a raccontarvi qualcosa di più senza togliervi il piacere dei colpi di scena.
Quando una donna diventa lago è ambientato nel 1986, è Capodanno e ci troviamo a Whale Bay. Una strana telefonata arriva alla polizia: Vera Gusev ha trovato un bambino nei pressi del lago ma quando gli agenti arrivano sul posto, non c’è più traccia né del bambino né di Vera. Una sparizione inspiegabile e fulminea, la sua macchina è ancora con le portiere spalancate e il suo cane gira attorno al lago. Che fine ha fatto Vera?
RECENSIONE COMPLETA: https://www.lalettricecontrocorrente....
January 30, 2022
4/5 stars, a well written, suspenseful thriller that kept me guessing as to what the outcome could be!
It follows the disappearance of a women near a lake on a frigid New Year’s Day. Her story intertwines with a young boy who is reported missing the very same day. This story was as heavy as it was suspenseful, it was filled with grief and frustration that you could feel for the characters in your core. Reflecting on this book I feel the title captures the book perfectly and it gains so much depth as you read.
I loved the story but I am unsure of the ending, for a book weighted down with sadness and mystery I just wish the ending gave me just the slightest content/happiness. But other than that I have no complaints, this book was great!!
It follows the disappearance of a women near a lake on a frigid New Year’s Day. Her story intertwines with a young boy who is reported missing the very same day. This story was as heavy as it was suspenseful, it was filled with grief and frustration that you could feel for the characters in your core. Reflecting on this book I feel the title captures the book perfectly and it gains so much depth as you read.
I loved the story but I am unsure of the ending, for a book weighted down with sadness and mystery I just wish the ending gave me just the slightest content/happiness. But other than that I have no complaints, this book was great!!
June 24, 2020
The writing swept me away, and the story was heartbreaking and beautiful in parts. It wasn’t the mystery I was anticipating but I definitely enjoyed it. The ending was anticlimactic, but sort of worked with the book, which was a slow burn.
January 7, 2021
A very beautifully written novel told by different character view points.
How A Woman Becomes a Lake, starts off with a missing woman out walking her dog. However, it does not end there, instead the author takes you on a journey following the lives of one dysfunctional family.
A sad tale of one families struggle of coping and grief.
How A Woman Becomes a Lake, starts off with a missing woman out walking her dog. However, it does not end there, instead the author takes you on a journey following the lives of one dysfunctional family.
A sad tale of one families struggle of coping and grief.
April 25, 2020
Not your typical psychological thriller...more of a slow burn mystery with a focus not on the mystery itself but more on the actual characters. The author was able to paint such different characters and emotions across a wide spread of ages.....this is where the book really was able to shine, especially on the main character. I was loving the book (although you could guess the mystery pretty easily) but the ending fell flat for me.
May 16, 2021
I'm sorry but I can't even be bothered to write a full review for this book because it was just bad. The writing wasn't outstanding and neither were any of the characters, nor the plot. I kept waiting for it to feel more mysterious, for some thrills, but it was just so dull, like it was trying to be a deeper work than it was. The best thing about it was that it was a fast read.
May 25, 2020
I was attracted to this book by its title and was so pleased that behind that title is a great read.
The novel is set in 1986 in the state of Washington “in a small fishing town a stone’s throw from Canada.” A police officer, Lewis Côté, finds Vera Gusev’s car abandoned in a parking lot near a frozen lake at Squire Point. She had called the police to report finding a young boy in the woods, but neither she nor a boy can be found. Leo Lucchi takes his sons Jesse and Dmitri to the lake but when Jesse pulls a cruel prank on his father, Leo leaves him in the woods for a while to think about what he did before picking him up. Lewis wants to find out what happened to Vera. Did Leo and the boys meet her? Despite their claiming not to know what happened to Vera, there are suspicions that they are keeping a secret.
The novel is told from shifting perspectives: Lewis, Jesse, Denny (Vera’s husband), Evelina (Jesse and Dmitri’s mother), Leo, Dmitri, and Vera. The reader comes to know each of these characters quite well, including their personalities and their motivations. Of course, information is also withheld; it is made obvious that the full truth is not being told: “He could live with that story, with that version of things” and “’I will keep your secret . . . Because I think it’s the right thing to do.’”
Guilt and grief are explored. Denny, for example, suffers from both. He is consumed by grief because of his wife’s disappearance and by guilt because his marriage was failing. Lewis grieves because of his father’s death and feels guilty because he was unable to help his dad when he was alive. Leo, divorced from Evelina, knows he was not always the best husband and father and keeps looking for redemption.
Jesse knows he has not always been a good brother so he determines to treat Dmitri better.
The book examines justice: does justice for the dead supersede any duty to the living? A search for the truth cannot help a deceased victim but may harm the living. For instance Denny is initially suspected of knowing something about his wife’s disappearance. The investigation leaves him in even more torment: “They would investigate every aspect of his life and marriage, the detectives told him. They would turn him inside out.” So he starts thinking “Maybe she hadn’t disappeared at all. Maybe he had driven her away. Maybe he had driven her to suicide.”
Also explored is the impact of childhood experiences. Lewis often ponders the impact of his difficult childhood on his life, especially the choices he has made: “the child of a crazy parent spends his whole life trying to fix the world.” As a police officer, he thinks that “if a child committed a crime by age twelve, he could help that child turn things around. He could have a huge impact on that child’s life. But if that child was fifteen? Forget about it.” Jesse experienced violence at the hands of his father so when he becomes a parent, Evelina “finds herself watching him closely when he holds his daughter. Studying his hands. How tightly they grip the baby’s little thighs, her little arms. Or did he get all the violence out of him . . . ?”
A concern shared by several characters is the desire to be a good parent. Certainly, Lewis wants to be a good father: “Was that the kind of thing a good parent would say? . . . He wanted to be a good parent . . He wanted to be.” Evelina wants to be a good mother: “She had read somewhere that after a separation a parent should not speak ill of the other parent. So she tried to reminisce, as much as she could with the boys, about Leo’s good qualities.” Even Leo acknowledges that he might need to take parenting classes.
This is a crime novel, but it is a crime novel with thematic depth. It leaves the reader wondering what he/she would do in a similar situation.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
The novel is set in 1986 in the state of Washington “in a small fishing town a stone’s throw from Canada.” A police officer, Lewis Côté, finds Vera Gusev’s car abandoned in a parking lot near a frozen lake at Squire Point. She had called the police to report finding a young boy in the woods, but neither she nor a boy can be found. Leo Lucchi takes his sons Jesse and Dmitri to the lake but when Jesse pulls a cruel prank on his father, Leo leaves him in the woods for a while to think about what he did before picking him up. Lewis wants to find out what happened to Vera. Did Leo and the boys meet her? Despite their claiming not to know what happened to Vera, there are suspicions that they are keeping a secret.
The novel is told from shifting perspectives: Lewis, Jesse, Denny (Vera’s husband), Evelina (Jesse and Dmitri’s mother), Leo, Dmitri, and Vera. The reader comes to know each of these characters quite well, including their personalities and their motivations. Of course, information is also withheld; it is made obvious that the full truth is not being told: “He could live with that story, with that version of things” and “’I will keep your secret . . . Because I think it’s the right thing to do.’”
Guilt and grief are explored. Denny, for example, suffers from both. He is consumed by grief because of his wife’s disappearance and by guilt because his marriage was failing. Lewis grieves because of his father’s death and feels guilty because he was unable to help his dad when he was alive. Leo, divorced from Evelina, knows he was not always the best husband and father and keeps looking for redemption.
Jesse knows he has not always been a good brother so he determines to treat Dmitri better.
The book examines justice: does justice for the dead supersede any duty to the living? A search for the truth cannot help a deceased victim but may harm the living. For instance Denny is initially suspected of knowing something about his wife’s disappearance. The investigation leaves him in even more torment: “They would investigate every aspect of his life and marriage, the detectives told him. They would turn him inside out.” So he starts thinking “Maybe she hadn’t disappeared at all. Maybe he had driven her away. Maybe he had driven her to suicide.”
Also explored is the impact of childhood experiences. Lewis often ponders the impact of his difficult childhood on his life, especially the choices he has made: “the child of a crazy parent spends his whole life trying to fix the world.” As a police officer, he thinks that “if a child committed a crime by age twelve, he could help that child turn things around. He could have a huge impact on that child’s life. But if that child was fifteen? Forget about it.” Jesse experienced violence at the hands of his father so when he becomes a parent, Evelina “finds herself watching him closely when he holds his daughter. Studying his hands. How tightly they grip the baby’s little thighs, her little arms. Or did he get all the violence out of him . . . ?”
A concern shared by several characters is the desire to be a good parent. Certainly, Lewis wants to be a good father: “Was that the kind of thing a good parent would say? . . . He wanted to be a good parent . . He wanted to be.” Evelina wants to be a good mother: “She had read somewhere that after a separation a parent should not speak ill of the other parent. So she tried to reminisce, as much as she could with the boys, about Leo’s good qualities.” Even Leo acknowledges that he might need to take parenting classes.
This is a crime novel, but it is a crime novel with thematic depth. It leaves the reader wondering what he/she would do in a similar situation.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
August 24, 2021
I remember when Marjorie Celona‘s first book was released, Y. It came with huge buzz, her publishers were relentlessly pushing it to all the Canadian book festivals, and international rights were sold widely. It was awhile ago now, so I don’t honestly remember my reaction after reading it, but I do recall this buzz, which is why I was excited to read her sophomore novel, How a Woman Becomes a Lake. This one has gotten mixed reviews, some Goodreads reviews pointed to the depressing characters and plot as a reason for not enjoying it. I don’t mind a depressing read now and then if the writing lifts it out of darkness, which this one certainly does. It languished on my book shelf for over a year because other books called me to more urgently, but I finally found the time to read it, while I was in Victoria, British Columbia no less, Celona’s hometown. Not quite literary fiction, but not quite a mystery either, this book offers a little bit of everything, which is what kept me so enthralled from start to finish – I read it in 24 hours, probably a new record for me.
Plot Summary
Vera sets out for a walk on a snowy New Year’s Day morning with her dog Scout, and never comes back. Because her marriage is failing and neighbors had overheard an argument, Vera’s husband Denny becomes the main suspect in her disappearance. But the lake where Vera’s car is found is also the location of a strange family disagreement. An alcoholic father, Leo is desperate to show his kids Dimitri and Jesse he cares about them, but when he leaves them for a few minutes beside a frozen lake to run back to his car and grab a pack of cigarettes, he returns to find Dimitri missing. A police officer finds Scout after a call is placed to the station reporting a lost child, but only this dog is found, no sign of a missing child, just Vera’s car running with the door still open. Slowly we learn more clues about what happened that day, to both the children, their father, and Vera. The plot ticks along steadily but slowly, and rather than focusing only on Vera’s disappearance, the thinning bonds between Leo, his kids, and his soon-to-be ex-wife pushes against the other storyline, soon eclipsing it entirely. The reader is not transfixed by what happens that day, instead, we are pushed to wonder what happens next. What does the future hold for these people, and how can they go on after this?
My Thoughts
I don’t want to describe my reactions to the plot developments too closely as I really want people coming to this book for the first time to be as surprised as I was, to succumb to the suspense working its way through the slow developments of those first few chapters. Celona doesn’t rely on the cheap trick of vaguely referring to ‘that day’, keeping readers in the dark while the characters remain purposefully coy. Instead, as we gradually learn the truth of that day it informs our perceptions of each character, and our judgements of them. I didn’t find this book depressing, I found it honest. Celona’s characters behave selfishly, especially Jesse and Dimitri’s biological parents, but it truly does come across as them just doing their best.
Childhood trauma is another common theme that runs throughout, bullying its way into many lives, leading the trajectory of the plot in many ways. Childhood and adulthood are two distinct phases of life in this book, and characters young and old struggle to relate to one another. Love is both destructive and healing for these characters, never actively withheld, but struggled against nonetheless. The marrying of Celona’s descriptive writing along with a plotline filled with tiny tragedies is what propelled me through this book, but the character development is what keeps me returning to it in my mind, long after I finished the last page. At the cusp of a turning point near the beginning of the book, Jesse thinks to himself:
Whatever he had been unable to feel before, he felt now–a real sense of panic, tears forming in his eyes, a desire to reach up and peel back the sky to reveal some other universe, some other possibility (p. 46).
Each character seems to desire another place, another life, or another parent. They all seem to feel let down in some way, struggling against the current of their everyday life. This reality can turn off many readers, but again, I only saw the realism of this, as sad as it sounds. Their developments and personalities aren’t meant to make us feel better, they are simply there for us to observe.
It’s not a book for everybody, certainly not those looking for a fast-paced thriller, but I appreciated the honesty of this perspective, and the edges of mystery made it more entertaining than I had originally expected.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
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Plot Summary
Vera sets out for a walk on a snowy New Year’s Day morning with her dog Scout, and never comes back. Because her marriage is failing and neighbors had overheard an argument, Vera’s husband Denny becomes the main suspect in her disappearance. But the lake where Vera’s car is found is also the location of a strange family disagreement. An alcoholic father, Leo is desperate to show his kids Dimitri and Jesse he cares about them, but when he leaves them for a few minutes beside a frozen lake to run back to his car and grab a pack of cigarettes, he returns to find Dimitri missing. A police officer finds Scout after a call is placed to the station reporting a lost child, but only this dog is found, no sign of a missing child, just Vera’s car running with the door still open. Slowly we learn more clues about what happened that day, to both the children, their father, and Vera. The plot ticks along steadily but slowly, and rather than focusing only on Vera’s disappearance, the thinning bonds between Leo, his kids, and his soon-to-be ex-wife pushes against the other storyline, soon eclipsing it entirely. The reader is not transfixed by what happens that day, instead, we are pushed to wonder what happens next. What does the future hold for these people, and how can they go on after this?
My Thoughts
I don’t want to describe my reactions to the plot developments too closely as I really want people coming to this book for the first time to be as surprised as I was, to succumb to the suspense working its way through the slow developments of those first few chapters. Celona doesn’t rely on the cheap trick of vaguely referring to ‘that day’, keeping readers in the dark while the characters remain purposefully coy. Instead, as we gradually learn the truth of that day it informs our perceptions of each character, and our judgements of them. I didn’t find this book depressing, I found it honest. Celona’s characters behave selfishly, especially Jesse and Dimitri’s biological parents, but it truly does come across as them just doing their best.
Childhood trauma is another common theme that runs throughout, bullying its way into many lives, leading the trajectory of the plot in many ways. Childhood and adulthood are two distinct phases of life in this book, and characters young and old struggle to relate to one another. Love is both destructive and healing for these characters, never actively withheld, but struggled against nonetheless. The marrying of Celona’s descriptive writing along with a plotline filled with tiny tragedies is what propelled me through this book, but the character development is what keeps me returning to it in my mind, long after I finished the last page. At the cusp of a turning point near the beginning of the book, Jesse thinks to himself:
Whatever he had been unable to feel before, he felt now–a real sense of panic, tears forming in his eyes, a desire to reach up and peel back the sky to reveal some other universe, some other possibility (p. 46).
Each character seems to desire another place, another life, or another parent. They all seem to feel let down in some way, struggling against the current of their everyday life. This reality can turn off many readers, but again, I only saw the realism of this, as sad as it sounds. Their developments and personalities aren’t meant to make us feel better, they are simply there for us to observe.
It’s not a book for everybody, certainly not those looking for a fast-paced thriller, but I appreciated the honesty of this perspective, and the edges of mystery made it more entertaining than I had originally expected.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
Sign up for my newsletter here: https://ivereadthis.com/subscribe/
Or follow me on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ivereadthis/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivereadthisblog
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivereadthis
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6E...
May 18, 2020
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
This book was written extremely well. The author writes with a mesmerizing flow and nails powerful descriptions over and over. How a Woman Becomes a Lake explores hurt and lingers there. Highlights the choices people make and their downfall. The book might have ended with hope for the remaining characters, yet the final chapter showing where they were many years later whisked my hopes away.
So, while I know in my heart I know this is a really good book it isn’t something I would have chosen to experience. It was in a book subscription box that I ordered. Sometimes paying for an unknown book can back fire as it falls in poorly matched hands.
This book was written extremely well. The author writes with a mesmerizing flow and nails powerful descriptions over and over. How a Woman Becomes a Lake explores hurt and lingers there. Highlights the choices people make and their downfall. The book might have ended with hope for the remaining characters, yet the final chapter showing where they were many years later whisked my hopes away.
So, while I know in my heart I know this is a really good book it isn’t something I would have chosen to experience. It was in a book subscription box that I ordered. Sometimes paying for an unknown book can back fire as it falls in poorly matched hands.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 263 reviews