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Mistik Lake
Seventeen-year-old Odella is haunted by family secrets. Why doesn't her great-aunt Gloria visit anymore? Why does her mother, Sally, drink so much? Sally's tragic car accident on a frozen lake when she was sixteen seems to have cast a spell over her life that no one can break. Odella tries to hold her family together, but when her mother runs off, the family is left reeling. Then Odella meets Jimmy Tomasson, whose dreams of prophetic flying fish seem to have led him to her. In the heat and tenderness of their deepening feelings and in his belief in her, Odella begins to find the strength to unravel the web of secrets that has ensnared them all.
This stunning novel, written in spare, elegant prose and told from multiple points of view, explores the lives of three generations of women in one family, revealing what happens when you don't have the courage to follow your own heart, and what can happen when you do.
This stunning novel, written in spare, elegant prose and told from multiple points of view, explores the lives of three generations of women in one family, revealing what happens when you don't have the courage to follow your own heart, and what can happen when you do.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2007
7 people are currently reading
737 people want to read
About the author
Martha Brooks
28 books51 followersMartha Brooks is an award-winning novelist, playwright and jazz singer whose books have been published in Spain, Italy, Japan, Denmark, England, Germany and Australia, as well as in Canada and the United States. She is a three-time winner of the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year, as well as the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Governor General’s Award, and the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work. Letters to Brian is her first book for adult readers. She lives in Winnipeg.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
August 19, 2017
Choisi au hasard à la bibliothèque - bon, quand même en pensant que l'histoire pourrait me plaire, je ne suis pas si téméraire ;-) Très belle surprise, une histoire de vies, d'adolescence, de secrets de famille, de rêves et de racines (d'Islande, en l'occurrence).
Un style fluide, des chapitres courts qui alternent les voix de plusieurs membres d'une famille (les trois filles, la grand-tante Gloria).
Une auteur que je retiens.
Un style fluide, des chapitres courts qui alternent les voix de plusieurs membres d'une famille (les trois filles, la grand-tante Gloria).
Une auteur que je retiens.
August 13, 2016
I didn't like this book at all, which is odd because I like family secrets. Kill all the adverbs.
August 10, 2018
Una bonita y sencilla historia de secretos y relaciones familiares.
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May 4, 2017 This novel explores the lives and secrets of three generations of females in a Canadian family, especially teenage Odella, who is the narrator of most chapters. For years, Odella has coped with, and protected, her mother which was an alcoholic, Sally, who finally deserts the family. Sally never truly recovered after surviving a terrible accident near Mistik Lake, which was described dramatically to pull the readers attention.
Personally I felt the book was physically and emotionally touching to many for there are people in the world that aren`t lucky enough to say their parent rather it be mom or dad survive an accident due to drinking. Even to the point to where it makes you think about your personal life involving a family member not making it through an accident. This is a great book if you can withstand emotions and family hardships.
Personally I felt the book was physically and emotionally touching to many for there are people in the world that aren`t lucky enough to say their parent rather it be mom or dad survive an accident due to drinking. Even to the point to where it makes you think about your personal life involving a family member not making it through an accident. This is a great book if you can withstand emotions and family hardships.
September 4, 2011
Story Description:
Sixteen-year-old Sally is the only survivor when a car full of teenagers plunges through the ice to the bottom of Mistik Lake. Many years later, Sally’s daughter Odella is left wondering whether the accident is to blame for her mother’s life as a sad alcoholic who eventually abandons her family and flees to Iceland with another man. Odella, her father and two younger sisters are almost overwhelmed with grief and confusion until three people provide help and healing in unexpected ways: Jimmy Tomasson, with whom Odella embarks on a passionate and tender love affair; Odella’s great-aunt Gloria, the keeper of family secrets; and an eccentric middle-aged butcher named Gerald.
This stunning new novel from Governor General’s Award winner Martha Brooks explores what happens when you don’t have the courage to follow your own heart, and what can happen when you do.
My Review:
After reading Mistik Lake, which won the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Award, I now understand why it shocked the pants off a Grade 8 teacher who had wanted to use the book as a Literacy Circle Book. I personally enjoyed the book thoroughly, loved its characters and their development in the story, but the book does deal with some mature themes that may make some people a tad uncomfortable.
We have an alcoholic Mom who abandons her family and has children from 3 different men; Aunt Gloria who is a lesbian; a young boy with a schizophrenic Mom; and a family full of grief and confusion. For a Literacy Circle Book, this would just be too many “major” themes to deal with for some kids all at once. Considering children develop and mature at different rates, what one child may be ready to deal with at a certain age, another may not. Also, I personally think, having had children of my own go through the school system, that some of the parents I knew would take issue with some of these themes being taught in a novel in the classroom.
I still highly recommend this book for any adult and any young adult age 16 and over. Martha Brooks is a good Canadian author who has written some other great books for kids. This was very, very well done and at only 206 pages, it was a quick enjoyable read.
Sixteen-year-old Sally is the only survivor when a car full of teenagers plunges through the ice to the bottom of Mistik Lake. Many years later, Sally’s daughter Odella is left wondering whether the accident is to blame for her mother’s life as a sad alcoholic who eventually abandons her family and flees to Iceland with another man. Odella, her father and two younger sisters are almost overwhelmed with grief and confusion until three people provide help and healing in unexpected ways: Jimmy Tomasson, with whom Odella embarks on a passionate and tender love affair; Odella’s great-aunt Gloria, the keeper of family secrets; and an eccentric middle-aged butcher named Gerald.
This stunning new novel from Governor General’s Award winner Martha Brooks explores what happens when you don’t have the courage to follow your own heart, and what can happen when you do.
My Review:
After reading Mistik Lake, which won the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Award, I now understand why it shocked the pants off a Grade 8 teacher who had wanted to use the book as a Literacy Circle Book. I personally enjoyed the book thoroughly, loved its characters and their development in the story, but the book does deal with some mature themes that may make some people a tad uncomfortable.
We have an alcoholic Mom who abandons her family and has children from 3 different men; Aunt Gloria who is a lesbian; a young boy with a schizophrenic Mom; and a family full of grief and confusion. For a Literacy Circle Book, this would just be too many “major” themes to deal with for some kids all at once. Considering children develop and mature at different rates, what one child may be ready to deal with at a certain age, another may not. Also, I personally think, having had children of my own go through the school system, that some of the parents I knew would take issue with some of these themes being taught in a novel in the classroom.
I still highly recommend this book for any adult and any young adult age 16 and over. Martha Brooks is a good Canadian author who has written some other great books for kids. This was very, very well done and at only 206 pages, it was a quick enjoyable read.
March 3, 2008
In 1943, Gloria fell in love with a girl.
In 1981, her niece Sally and some other high school kids were driving on frozen Mistik Lake and it went through the ice. Sally was the only survivor.
In 2000, Sally runs off with an icelandic filmmaker, and her oldest daughter Odella has to pick up the pieces. The secrets and lost loves of the past reverberate through the story, but this is really Odella’s story - as she falls apart, picks herself up, falls in love.
As I was reading this one, I kept thinking back to the cover of the other Brooks novel I’ve read, True Confessions of a Heartless Girl. The girl on the cover has such character - plain and fierce and unapologetic. Odella is very different from Noreen, but there’s something reminiscent in the fierce and plain tone of the story. The characters are beautifully, subtly delineated; I especially liked how even though Odella’s sisters are relatively minor characters, they definitely feel eight years old and thirteen years old, not like generic children. It’s the kind of book where relatively little happens, but what does happen slowly builds in meaning and associations over the course of the story.
Yet I was a little disappointed by the denouement - for all that it had been building up to Something Big, it didn’t feel to me as if all the ends got tied up as they should be.
I did love all the little details of life, a life that is firmly situated in Winnipeg and in the tiny lake town of Mistik Lake. Like making macaroni and cheese from the box, with the powdered cheese, but you have to use real butter and 2% milk (not skim!).
In 1981, her niece Sally and some other high school kids were driving on frozen Mistik Lake and it went through the ice. Sally was the only survivor.
In 2000, Sally runs off with an icelandic filmmaker, and her oldest daughter Odella has to pick up the pieces. The secrets and lost loves of the past reverberate through the story, but this is really Odella’s story - as she falls apart, picks herself up, falls in love.
As I was reading this one, I kept thinking back to the cover of the other Brooks novel I’ve read, True Confessions of a Heartless Girl. The girl on the cover has such character - plain and fierce and unapologetic. Odella is very different from Noreen, but there’s something reminiscent in the fierce and plain tone of the story. The characters are beautifully, subtly delineated; I especially liked how even though Odella’s sisters are relatively minor characters, they definitely feel eight years old and thirteen years old, not like generic children. It’s the kind of book where relatively little happens, but what does happen slowly builds in meaning and associations over the course of the story.
Yet I was a little disappointed by the denouement - for all that it had been building up to Something Big, it didn’t feel to me as if all the ends got tied up as they should be.
I did love all the little details of life, a life that is firmly situated in Winnipeg and in the tiny lake town of Mistik Lake. Like making macaroni and cheese from the box, with the powdered cheese, but you have to use real butter and 2% milk (not skim!).
October 24, 2013
Mistik Lake is a great book for teenagers in High school to read. The book has a lot of family secrets that the main character finds out throughout the book. The main character is in high school and her mother leaves her family. She also has to deal with job changes and love during the book. The main character is a great leader in her family and she also knows how to handle situation good. Her family goes through some hard times when her mom leaves and her aunt starts to have secrets she doesn't know about. Some of their secrets will hurt the family or make them know more about what happened at Mistik Lake. Mistik Lake is were the main characters mom grew up and know the family visits there every summer. They all enjoy going there but they don't know what happened there. There is also a boy there that the main character falls in love making her go to Mistik Lake for the whole summer and while she is there she finds out a big secret that involves herself.
February 26, 2019
18 March 2007 MISTIK LAKE by Martha Brooks, Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Melanie Kroupa Books, September 2007, ISBN: 0-374-34985-1
"Love is an unreasonable thing -- that's something else she'd like to tell her grand-nieces back in Winnipeg. You can't predict who you'll fall in love with. Of course you can live a lie, and not follow your heart, and suffer secretly."
When, as a guy reader, I find a beautifully-written book about three interconnected generations of women with their stories of love, losses, family connections, and long-held secrets to be a totally compelling read, to be a book that demands an immediate second read, and to unquestionably be one of the YA highlights of the current year, then you've got to figure that it is one heck of a book.
In fact, I am so in love with MISTIK LAKE that I am skeptical of my ability to overstate the case for reading and sharing this stunning book.
"I don't say anything more to them. Just lie there being the filling in this sister sandwich. It's great to be here again."
Time and again I found myself laughing with total delight as the strands of story, which crisscross several time periods between the 1940's and the early twenty-first century, flow so effortlessly into one another and reveal all of the interconnectedness -- for better or worse -- that revolves around a little lake community whose name is a Cree word meaning "wood."
"Memories of every summer spent at Mistik Lake come flooding back as I give this old man my hand. He takes it, pulls me into his arms, and clasps me in a ferocious hug.
" 'Welcome, welcome, welcome!' he cries. 'Come in and meet Lilja. She's made you coffee! And cake!'
"As I'm ushered into the house I give a backward glace at Jimmy, who throws up his hands with a smile.
"His grandmother, a tiny woman, pats my hand, beaming, too, as I take her in -- her large ocean-colored eyes."
The tale of Mistik Lake is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of three characters: Odella, the primary narrator, whose story is the one told in the first person, her Great-Aunt Gloria, and a young man Odell's age named Jimmy Tomasson. But the character who is at the epicenter of the web of stories is a woman long known to all of Mistik Lake: Odella's mother, Sally McLean, nee Thorsteinsson:
"On a stone-cold night in 1981 a carload of teenagers went joyriding out on frozen Mistik Lake. The car careened around a few ice-fishing shacks, knocking one over, eyewitnesses said, then skidded and shimmied farther out on the lake, suddenly broke through the ice, and sank to the bottom. "There was one survivor -- our mother, Sally.
It is the rare young adult novel that so perfectly combines teen sensibilities and edginess and lust and dreams with an elegance of language and an unforgettable sense of place. MISTIK LAKE is truly a unique gem of a book.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
"Love is an unreasonable thing -- that's something else she'd like to tell her grand-nieces back in Winnipeg. You can't predict who you'll fall in love with. Of course you can live a lie, and not follow your heart, and suffer secretly."
When, as a guy reader, I find a beautifully-written book about three interconnected generations of women with their stories of love, losses, family connections, and long-held secrets to be a totally compelling read, to be a book that demands an immediate second read, and to unquestionably be one of the YA highlights of the current year, then you've got to figure that it is one heck of a book.
In fact, I am so in love with MISTIK LAKE that I am skeptical of my ability to overstate the case for reading and sharing this stunning book.
"I don't say anything more to them. Just lie there being the filling in this sister sandwich. It's great to be here again."
Time and again I found myself laughing with total delight as the strands of story, which crisscross several time periods between the 1940's and the early twenty-first century, flow so effortlessly into one another and reveal all of the interconnectedness -- for better or worse -- that revolves around a little lake community whose name is a Cree word meaning "wood."
"Memories of every summer spent at Mistik Lake come flooding back as I give this old man my hand. He takes it, pulls me into his arms, and clasps me in a ferocious hug.
" 'Welcome, welcome, welcome!' he cries. 'Come in and meet Lilja. She's made you coffee! And cake!'
"As I'm ushered into the house I give a backward glace at Jimmy, who throws up his hands with a smile.
"His grandmother, a tiny woman, pats my hand, beaming, too, as I take her in -- her large ocean-colored eyes."
The tale of Mistik Lake is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of three characters: Odella, the primary narrator, whose story is the one told in the first person, her Great-Aunt Gloria, and a young man Odell's age named Jimmy Tomasson. But the character who is at the epicenter of the web of stories is a woman long known to all of Mistik Lake: Odella's mother, Sally McLean, nee Thorsteinsson:
"On a stone-cold night in 1981 a carload of teenagers went joyriding out on frozen Mistik Lake. The car careened around a few ice-fishing shacks, knocking one over, eyewitnesses said, then skidded and shimmied farther out on the lake, suddenly broke through the ice, and sank to the bottom. "There was one survivor -- our mother, Sally.
It is the rare young adult novel that so perfectly combines teen sensibilities and edginess and lust and dreams with an elegance of language and an unforgettable sense of place. MISTIK LAKE is truly a unique gem of a book.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
July 26, 2020
Enjoyed this book. It's really geared for older teens, in my opinion, but it is worth reading for anyone older than that, as well. Wouldn't recommend it for preteens or younger teens due to the subject matter. The book was interesting, and I wanted to see what the family secrets were, but it wasn't truly compelling. Not too many books are, though. The intrigue is the people and their relationships with one another, not any outside influences or political situations, or other external factors.
It is important to follow each character and remember their individual stories and how they know one another and how they are related to one another. So, as I'd read, I'd keep that in mind, reminding myself of these details. If you're not into this sort of story, you will want to make note of doing this because it will make the ending more meaningful. I have to say, I didn't see the ending coming until a little before it was revealed, at the time the main character realized it.
One thing I loved about this book was the setting and the characters. You get to know Icelandic culture as it exists within Canada. You get to feel like you're visiting Canada just a little, and you get to see the names and characters as they are described, and related to Canada and Iceland. It is not every day you find a book with this ethnicity and culture behind it. I think that is what I will remember about the book most in the coming months and years, in addition to what is revealed at the very end of the book.
It is important to follow each character and remember their individual stories and how they know one another and how they are related to one another. So, as I'd read, I'd keep that in mind, reminding myself of these details. If you're not into this sort of story, you will want to make note of doing this because it will make the ending more meaningful. I have to say, I didn't see the ending coming until a little before it was revealed, at the time the main character realized it.
One thing I loved about this book was the setting and the characters. You get to know Icelandic culture as it exists within Canada. You get to feel like you're visiting Canada just a little, and you get to see the names and characters as they are described, and related to Canada and Iceland. It is not every day you find a book with this ethnicity and culture behind it. I think that is what I will remember about the book most in the coming months and years, in addition to what is revealed at the very end of the book.
January 17, 2018
A really well written novel and great to read one that takes place in Canada.
Sad but beautiful coming of age story, a quick and easy read! Unfortunately, not super memorable.
Decent read.
Sad but beautiful coming of age story, a quick and easy read! Unfortunately, not super memorable.
Decent read.
February 16, 2018
Good character development and nice treatment of family issues.
October 31, 2019
Learning the truth, learning to survive regardless.
January 31, 2020
Mistik Lake was a refreshing book I didn’t know I needed. It was short and sweet and to the point. Sometimes you need a book like that.
November 4, 2024
One of those books that I know I read, and I thought was OK, but can't remember anything about it.
July 6, 2017
Odella is the oldest child and fulfills an almost parental role for her two younger sisters. However, after (possibly) falling in love with Jimmy, Odella begins changing. As she changes, so do the dynamics of her family. Her mother has constantly grappled with psychological issues, which everyone knows is tied to a major car crash that occurred during her teenage years. Very few know the extent of its impact. Odella is growing and learning the truth behind her family's secrets.
I thought the twists and the mysteries to be anticlimactic. The story was dry and I didn't connect with the characters (there was nothing wrong with them, they just didn't offer much to latch onto).
I thought the twists and the mysteries to be anticlimactic. The story was dry and I didn't connect with the characters (there was nothing wrong with them, they just didn't offer much to latch onto).
February 28, 2018
It's interesting however, does not make the readers feel sucked in with the characters and a lot of romance that's not needed in some chapters.
August 23, 2008
"Mistik Lake" by Martha Brooks won the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Award and being a Canadian book I knew in advance that the book would be liberal in its ideas and themes and I was correct.
"Mistik Lake" contains an array of small town characters whose lives are all intertwined. There is the lesbian Aunt Gloria, the schizophrenic mother, the runaway mother who has children from three different partners, the architect father and the teenage daughter who has sex.
I enjoyed the book, but I would caution that it is for adults and for at least seventeen year olds and older young adults.
The book takes place in the province Manitoba where a family of three girls and their father are abandoned by their mother who heads to Iceland with her lover. Their mother had never been normal because she was haunted with an accident that occurred when she was sixteen years old of which she was the only survivor, three of her friends died, but she lived.
The girls have to come to terms with the loss of their mother and their lives are turned into havoc because of her abandonment. Each girl handles the separation differently; the main focus being on Odella the oldest of the three girls. Odella is seventeen and she has a hard time adjusting. Odella encounters a boy and is heart stricken by him, but returns home and latches on to a leach of a boy who is only after sex; eventually Odella and the first boy reunite and this time it is the real thing for Odella.
The family has to discover who they are and refocus their lives. The book ends in a satisfying way with a bit of a surprise ending about Odella when all the mysteries of her mother are revealed.
"Mistik Lake" contains an array of small town characters whose lives are all intertwined. There is the lesbian Aunt Gloria, the schizophrenic mother, the runaway mother who has children from three different partners, the architect father and the teenage daughter who has sex.
I enjoyed the book, but I would caution that it is for adults and for at least seventeen year olds and older young adults.
The book takes place in the province Manitoba where a family of three girls and their father are abandoned by their mother who heads to Iceland with her lover. Their mother had never been normal because she was haunted with an accident that occurred when she was sixteen years old of which she was the only survivor, three of her friends died, but she lived.
The girls have to come to terms with the loss of their mother and their lives are turned into havoc because of her abandonment. Each girl handles the separation differently; the main focus being on Odella the oldest of the three girls. Odella is seventeen and she has a hard time adjusting. Odella encounters a boy and is heart stricken by him, but returns home and latches on to a leach of a boy who is only after sex; eventually Odella and the first boy reunite and this time it is the real thing for Odella.
The family has to discover who they are and refocus their lives. The book ends in a satisfying way with a bit of a surprise ending about Odella when all the mysteries of her mother are revealed.
August 9, 2016
The book I read was Mistik Lake written by Martha Brooks. It is a story of a girl named Odella who has to take care of herself and her family, while bearing many family secrets. I enjoyed this book because it was relatable, passionate, and heartfelt.
Her mom has a cold past and eventually abandons the rest of her family and moves to Iceland. While there, she dies in a car accident and Odella struggles to take care of herself and her younger sisters with the help of her dad. She meets a boy named Jimmy who becomes a huge part of the book. Her great aunt Gloria is also someone who holds many secrets and is a key person in Odella's life.
The reason I enjoyed this book was because it was very relatable. It had many problems that typical teenagers go through such as grades, boys, and fighting with their siblings. Another reason I liked it was because it was written with a lot of passion and sounded very heart felt. The author did this by portraying a lot of detail. One example of her doing this is by describing a simple scene by saying "I nuzzle closer to Mom's soft blond hair, its familiar apple scent rising from the musty cottage pillows." Brooks does this a lot throughout the book so each time something bad or important happens, it is very clear and understandable. Another way the author made it very passionate and heartfelt was with the message of the book. There were many quotes from the book that were written beautifully that I really enjoyed. One was when Aunt Gloria said "Life is full of regret, Odella. It really is. I wish I could tell you differently but there it is." In the context of the book, these words were very moving to both the characters and the reader.
Her mom has a cold past and eventually abandons the rest of her family and moves to Iceland. While there, she dies in a car accident and Odella struggles to take care of herself and her younger sisters with the help of her dad. She meets a boy named Jimmy who becomes a huge part of the book. Her great aunt Gloria is also someone who holds many secrets and is a key person in Odella's life.
The reason I enjoyed this book was because it was very relatable. It had many problems that typical teenagers go through such as grades, boys, and fighting with their siblings. Another reason I liked it was because it was written with a lot of passion and sounded very heart felt. The author did this by portraying a lot of detail. One example of her doing this is by describing a simple scene by saying "I nuzzle closer to Mom's soft blond hair, its familiar apple scent rising from the musty cottage pillows." Brooks does this a lot throughout the book so each time something bad or important happens, it is very clear and understandable. Another way the author made it very passionate and heartfelt was with the message of the book. There were many quotes from the book that were written beautifully that I really enjoyed. One was when Aunt Gloria said "Life is full of regret, Odella. It really is. I wish I could tell you differently but there it is." In the context of the book, these words were very moving to both the characters and the reader.
August 20, 2010
I didn't like this book for a number of reasons. Three stand out the most. One, it very much clashes with my own standards and values and I don't really enjoy books like that. But that's me and I wouldn't turn readers away from that because of my own personal preferences. Two, I am still trying to get if there was a point to the book. I'll blame myself for that one, too. Three, the way the book was written confused me. I think listening to it on audio added to the confusion. It took me a while to realize there were 2 or 3 perspectives, and that one was written in first-person while the others were not. That irritated me.
The book also did not flow logically. At first, I really did not like that. However, even while it annoyed me it also became the "selling point" for this novel and kept me willing to finish when I was halfway through and ready to say forget it. When family secrets, pasts, etc are being revealed, they don't come out in logical, straight-forward way. So well done to the author on that part. I was intrigued to keep learning the full story, and see what else was going to be added--in spite of its teen soap opera feel that had me cringing at times.
So, even if I was uncomfortable with certain parts of the book and finished going "what was the point," I did not hate the book. The rating is more of a 1.5 for a writing technique that both annoyed me and made me think a bit.
I also know there are plenty of things in this book that some readers could relate to. All of them at once? I'm not so sure. But the book has its place for some. Just not me.
The book also did not flow logically. At first, I really did not like that. However, even while it annoyed me it also became the "selling point" for this novel and kept me willing to finish when I was halfway through and ready to say forget it. When family secrets, pasts, etc are being revealed, they don't come out in logical, straight-forward way. So well done to the author on that part. I was intrigued to keep learning the full story, and see what else was going to be added--in spite of its teen soap opera feel that had me cringing at times.
So, even if I was uncomfortable with certain parts of the book and finished going "what was the point," I did not hate the book. The rating is more of a 1.5 for a writing technique that both annoyed me and made me think a bit.
I also know there are plenty of things in this book that some readers could relate to. All of them at once? I'm not so sure. But the book has its place for some. Just not me.
November 6, 2012
Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com
For some people, the times in their lives in which everything finally comes together are the same times that everything falls apart.
Meet Odella, a teenage girl whose family is drowning in secrets. Odella and her two sisters are adjusting to the fact that their mother has abandoned them to move to Iceland with another man. Now they are faced with their mother's death. Odella must now deal with questions about her mother that may remain unanswered. Why did her mother drink so much? What really happened during that accident at Mistik Lake when her mother was a teenager? Why doesn't her Aunt Gloria visit anymore? And why is it that everyone in Mistik Lake and Manitoba seem to know the answers to Odella's questions?
Odella's life isn't all bad. There is Jimmy Tomasson, the boy Odella met last summer. Jimmy has come back into her life and Odella is thrilled to have him. But even Jimmy seems to know more about Odella than she does.
MISTIK LAKE is the story of two generations of family and the secrets they share. Author Martha Brooks tells the story through the viewpoint of three different characters: Odella, Aunt Gloria, and Jimmy. This compelling story will pull you along, tempting you with the promise of tantalizing secrets. More than that, Mistik Lake demonstrates how far the damage from those secrets can reach.
For some people, the times in their lives in which everything finally comes together are the same times that everything falls apart.
Meet Odella, a teenage girl whose family is drowning in secrets. Odella and her two sisters are adjusting to the fact that their mother has abandoned them to move to Iceland with another man. Now they are faced with their mother's death. Odella must now deal with questions about her mother that may remain unanswered. Why did her mother drink so much? What really happened during that accident at Mistik Lake when her mother was a teenager? Why doesn't her Aunt Gloria visit anymore? And why is it that everyone in Mistik Lake and Manitoba seem to know the answers to Odella's questions?
Odella's life isn't all bad. There is Jimmy Tomasson, the boy Odella met last summer. Jimmy has come back into her life and Odella is thrilled to have him. But even Jimmy seems to know more about Odella than she does.
MISTIK LAKE is the story of two generations of family and the secrets they share. Author Martha Brooks tells the story through the viewpoint of three different characters: Odella, Aunt Gloria, and Jimmy. This compelling story will pull you along, tempting you with the promise of tantalizing secrets. More than that, Mistik Lake demonstrates how far the damage from those secrets can reach.
June 7, 2010
When I scan the audio book shelves at the library, I usually look for something I'd heard of one way or another (either from seeing it in a bookstore, recommended by a friend, or having read a review of it by a blogger.) I'd never heard of "Mistik Lake," but something about it caught my eye and I checked it out.
I'm glad I did. Only four discs long, and there was a lot of story jammed in here. Only it didn't feel jammed at all. The writing flowed in and out, beautiful and highly enjoyable. The story switched from teenage Odella's first person narrative, to the third person account of her great-aunt Gloria, and perspective of Odella's boyfriend Jimmy. Normally a strange choice of switching point of view like that would throw me off, but Brooks worked it and it payed off. (I also wanted to mention that as an American reader, I was fascinated by the bits about characters' Icelandic lineage.)
"Mistik Lake" is a story about a lot of things. It's about love, family, regret, loss, hope, sexuality, danger, secrets, guilt, abandonment, pain, death, growing up, coming to terms. For a story that was only 4 discs long (or about 200 pages), there's a lot covered and it never felt overwrought. One of my favorite reads of the year so far.
I'm glad I did. Only four discs long, and there was a lot of story jammed in here. Only it didn't feel jammed at all. The writing flowed in and out, beautiful and highly enjoyable. The story switched from teenage Odella's first person narrative, to the third person account of her great-aunt Gloria, and perspective of Odella's boyfriend Jimmy. Normally a strange choice of switching point of view like that would throw me off, but Brooks worked it and it payed off. (I also wanted to mention that as an American reader, I was fascinated by the bits about characters' Icelandic lineage.)
"Mistik Lake" is a story about a lot of things. It's about love, family, regret, loss, hope, sexuality, danger, secrets, guilt, abandonment, pain, death, growing up, coming to terms. For a story that was only 4 discs long (or about 200 pages), there's a lot covered and it never felt overwrought. One of my favorite reads of the year so far.
May 20, 2015
Titre : Mistik Lake
Auteur : Martha Brooks
Editeur : Alice Jeunesse
Date de parution : 15/04/2010
Résumé : Par une nuit glacée de l'hiver 1981, dans le Grand Nord canadien, une voiture fit une folle virée sur la surface gelée de Mistik Lake, puis dérapa avant de couler à pic. Des quatre jeunes occupants, il y eut une seule survivante : Sally. Ce tragique accident est le point de départ d'une histoire de famille, avec ses secrets, ses non-dits, ses révélations... Aux côtés de ses deux soeurs cadettes, Janelle et Sarah, la jeune Odella - la narratrice principale - devra bientôt affronter le passé de leur mère, Sally et son propre destin.
Mon avis : Un roman agréable à lire mais qui reste très superficiel. Il n’a pas su m’atteindre alors qu’il parle de sujets douloureux.
Odella s’intéresse à un évènement survenu des années plutôt qui a marqué tout une population et dont sa mère est la seule survivante.
Le but de cette quête, c’est de connaître sa mère. Pourtant, malgré la noblesse de sa cause, ça reste bien trop superficiel.
Ça n’a pas été pour moi une lecture marquante, l’histoire est intéressante mais m’a laissée de marbre et les personnages n’ont pas réussi à me toucher.
Ma notation :
Histoire : 5/10 ; personnages : 5/10 ; ambiance : 5/10 ; suspense : 5/10
**_ _ _
Auteur : Martha Brooks
Editeur : Alice Jeunesse
Date de parution : 15/04/2010
Résumé : Par une nuit glacée de l'hiver 1981, dans le Grand Nord canadien, une voiture fit une folle virée sur la surface gelée de Mistik Lake, puis dérapa avant de couler à pic. Des quatre jeunes occupants, il y eut une seule survivante : Sally. Ce tragique accident est le point de départ d'une histoire de famille, avec ses secrets, ses non-dits, ses révélations... Aux côtés de ses deux soeurs cadettes, Janelle et Sarah, la jeune Odella - la narratrice principale - devra bientôt affronter le passé de leur mère, Sally et son propre destin.
Mon avis : Un roman agréable à lire mais qui reste très superficiel. Il n’a pas su m’atteindre alors qu’il parle de sujets douloureux.
Odella s’intéresse à un évènement survenu des années plutôt qui a marqué tout une population et dont sa mère est la seule survivante.
Le but de cette quête, c’est de connaître sa mère. Pourtant, malgré la noblesse de sa cause, ça reste bien trop superficiel.
Ça n’a pas été pour moi une lecture marquante, l’histoire est intéressante mais m’a laissée de marbre et les personnages n’ont pas réussi à me toucher.
Ma notation :
Histoire : 5/10 ; personnages : 5/10 ; ambiance : 5/10 ; suspense : 5/10
**_ _ _
February 26, 2008
Mistik Lake is a tiny town in Manitoba. Three generations of women have spent significant parts of their lives there: Gloria, her niece Sally, and Sally’s daughter Odella. Although Mistik Lake is a beautiful place, it is also home to heartbreak and tragedy. When she was fifteen, Sally was the only survivor of an accident in which three other local teenagers were killed. The accident – and the part that Sally played in it – affected her entire life. The reader sees these effects in the stories of Gloria and Odella as well. This is one of those books that once you reach the last page, you are tempted to go back and read the whole thing again now that you know the full story and all of the characters in it. I felt with way with the author's "True Confessions of a Heartless Girl" too.
Brooks is a great YA author to recommend to adults as well.
Brooks is a great YA author to recommend to adults as well.
December 22, 2007
Mistik Lake is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of three characters: Odella, the primary narrator, whose story is the one told in the first person, her Great-Aunt Gloria, and Jimmy Tomasson, a young man Odell's age. But the character who is at the center of the web of stories is a woman long known to all of Mistik Lake: Odella's mother, Sally McLean. [return][return]"On a stone-cold night in 1981 a carload of teenagers went joyriding out on frozen Mistik Lake. The car careened around a few ice-fishing shacks, knocking one over, eyewitnesses said, then skidded and shimmied farther out on the lake, suddenly broke through the ice, and sank to the bottom. There was one survivor -- our mother, Sally. [return][return]Sally doesn't say much in the book, in fact she leaves her family and runs off to Iceland, but the long held secrets surrounding her and everyone else from Mistik Lake propel this incredible story of love, losses, and family connections.
January 18, 2011
Later in bed, as all of this sink in, I concentrated on convincing myself that maybe it's kind of like having a tooth pulled. Afterwards, there's a space that you're aware of for a while. Your tongue goes to it every morning when you are waking up - exploring where the tooth was, the little injured place where the gum is still red, pulpy and tender. Then one morning you wake up and you forget to check for the missing tooth.
It's, however, so much worse than that!
Those were Odella'a words after her mother died. It is very hard on a teenager to take responsiblity over other smaller creatures, two sisters.
What is the big secret that every1 know, and hide from Odella?
Why was Mistik Lake her mom's favorite place?
and how is it like to turn 18 in a Western country? What decisions you have to make?
This book "is" Canadian; people survive winter and save their super plans for summer, and it was assigned for our literature circle. I do not recommend it though.
It's, however, so much worse than that!
Those were Odella'a words after her mother died. It is very hard on a teenager to take responsiblity over other smaller creatures, two sisters.
What is the big secret that every1 know, and hide from Odella?
Why was Mistik Lake her mom's favorite place?
and how is it like to turn 18 in a Western country? What decisions you have to make?
This book "is" Canadian; people survive winter and save their super plans for summer, and it was assigned for our literature circle. I do not recommend it though.
November 25, 2008
The audio version of this was recommended by a friend, and I was enjoying it so much that I pulled the book off the shelf to finish it.
This a young adult novel focusing on the family secrets of 17-year-old Odella. Mistik Lake is where her mother grew up and where her family has a summer cabin. This is a novel of family secrets, sisterhood and falling in love. It’s a typical YA problem novel, and packs in pretty much every issue imaginable, but it’s handled well and is believable. The narration shifts from Odella, to her great aunt and to her love interest Jimmy. Normally I don’t like this switching of perspectives, but this was done quite well.
This is a sparse lyrical story. The audio book was well done - the narrator had excellent skills in differentiating the various character voices.
This a young adult novel focusing on the family secrets of 17-year-old Odella. Mistik Lake is where her mother grew up and where her family has a summer cabin. This is a novel of family secrets, sisterhood and falling in love. It’s a typical YA problem novel, and packs in pretty much every issue imaginable, but it’s handled well and is believable. The narration shifts from Odella, to her great aunt and to her love interest Jimmy. Normally I don’t like this switching of perspectives, but this was done quite well.
This is a sparse lyrical story. The audio book was well done - the narrator had excellent skills in differentiating the various character voices.
April 15, 2010
The book "Mistik Lake", is a realistic fiction narrative by Martha Brooks. In the story, the main character's (Odella McLean) mother, Sally, moves to Iceland, leaving her three daughters with their father at Mistik Lake. A few years later, however, she passes away, which greatly changes Odella and her family. She eventually discovers secrets about her family which her mother never told her.
An interesting aspect of this book is the fact that it follows the events in the lives of three characters in different chapters, yet only one character's life is written in first-person (the main character). Because of this, parts of the story are not in chronological order. This book is probably for readers who enjoy realistic fiction. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy books about a family's secrets and it's past.
An interesting aspect of this book is the fact that it follows the events in the lives of three characters in different chapters, yet only one character's life is written in first-person (the main character). Because of this, parts of the story are not in chronological order. This book is probably for readers who enjoy realistic fiction. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy books about a family's secrets and it's past.
January 1, 2008
This came recommended, but I was never really sold on it. The writing was evocative and the characters and setting had potential, but the whole shebang never really came alive for me. There were too many jolts back and forward in time, shifts which would have been intriguing with a longer, more in-depth story. It reminded me of The Red Shoe, both in the way I wanted to really like it, but didn't quite, and in the way the relationships between sisters were treated. Both books invoked certain aspects of childhood and family relationships, but felt like they skimmed the surface in other areas. Not the type of style to make me fall in love with the book, but excellent in its own way. Good for high school or college - some sex but nothing explicit.
July 7, 2009
HOLY COW! This is an incredibly written book! I'm so glad my daughter pulled it off the shelf. I would have never picked it out on my own.
Odella is a 17 year-old girl who has lost her mother in many ways. She is a strong intelligent girl, who is beyond her years more than is fair. When the loss of her mother starts an unraveling of secrets she's really just along for the ride. Luckily she has the support of Jimmy, a boy of whom is connected to her family from past generations and who proves (in my opinion) to be prince charming.
I reccomend this book to anyone. It is written beautifully, and was original in the fact that I could not predict what was going to happen. The end was a shocker to me... wonderful book!
Odella is a 17 year-old girl who has lost her mother in many ways. She is a strong intelligent girl, who is beyond her years more than is fair. When the loss of her mother starts an unraveling of secrets she's really just along for the ride. Luckily she has the support of Jimmy, a boy of whom is connected to her family from past generations and who proves (in my opinion) to be prince charming.
I reccomend this book to anyone. It is written beautifully, and was original in the fact that I could not predict what was going to happen. The end was a shocker to me... wonderful book!
January 25, 2023
a hidden gem. really beautiful and compelling
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