The Long-Shining Waters

by Danielle Sosin

Lake Superior, the north country, the great fresh-water expanse. Frigid. Lethal. Wildly beautiful. The Long-Shining Waters gives us three stories whose characters are separated by centuries and circumstance, yet connected across time by a shared geography.

In 1622, Grey Rabbit—an Ojibwe woman, a mother and wife—struggles to understand a dream-life that has taken on fearful dimensions. As she and her family confront the hardship of living near the “big water,” her psyche and her world edge toward irreversible change. In 1902, Berit and Gunnar, a Norwegian fishing couple, also live on the lake. Berit is unable to conceive, and the lake anchors her isolated life, testing the limits of her endurance and spirit. And in 2000, when Nora, a seasoned bar owner, loses her job and is faced with an open-ended future, she is drawn reluctantly into a road trip around the great lake.

As these narratives unfold and overlap with the mesmerizing rhythm of waves, a fourth mysterious character gradually comes into stark relief. Rich in historical detail, and universal in its exploration of the human desire for meaning when faced with uncertainty, The Long-Shining Waters is an unforgettable and singular debut.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Native American, Contemporary, Historical, American Novels

270 pages, Hardcover

First published March 30, 2011

About the author

Danielle Sosin is the author of the novel The Long-Shining Waters (Milkweed Editions, 2011) and Garden Primitives a collection of stories (Coffee House Press, 2000). Her fiction has been featured in the Alaska Quarterly Review, and has been recorded for National Public Radio’s Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, and Iowa Public Radio’s Live From Prairie Lights. Born in 1959, she lives in Duluth, Minnesota.

Reviews

[♏ Gina☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danielle Sosin definitely has a poet's heart. Her writing style is enchanting.

This book is based on a concept I found interesting. It is the story of three different women, all of whom live on or near Lake Superior. The difference is the time period in which they live.

The earliest character is Grey Rabbit. The year is 1622, and Grey Rabbit is an Ojibwe woman whose nocturnal dreams make her waking life a nightmare as she tries to understand what the dark dreams foretell.

The middle character is Berit, wife to Gunner, who live in the area in 1902.

Finally, in 2000, we meet Nora, a bar owner.

These three would seemingly share nothing in common other than the locale in which they lived. However, all three must face lives filled with ups and downs, the constant wonder of whether the huge lake will be friend or foe on any day, love, broken hearts, and everything in between.

[Laura (booksnob) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three women across three different centuries, who live on the shores of Lake Superior, feel the power of The Long-Shining Waters. Lake Superior reflects a strong mysterious presence on the women as they travel through the individual days of their lives. Nora owns a bar and when her livelihood is destroyed she finds herself on a journey around the Lake. Berit lives an isolated life in 1902 and has a love/hate relationship with Lake Superior. Grey Rabbit is an Ojibwe woman in 1622 who has powerful dreams that affect her waking life. All three of these women are connected through time and place.

The theme of connection is powerful. As Nora drives around the largest lake in the world, the readers makes connections to the three women and their influence on each other. The past and present converge in The Long-Shining Waters to create a timeless, meaningful piece of literature.

Lake Superior is a character unto itself that demands respect. The water is cold, heartless and holds its secrets and spirits deep within. The sky above moves and dances like the spirits of the northern lights. The imagery is beautiful and draws the reader in, like the lake draws people to it shores.

Each woman in the story is faced with a personal tragedy that she will struggle to overcome. Each of them struggles to understand the crossroads in their life. Each woman makes a journey around the lake. Each woman is powerful, reserved and respects the power of The Long-Shining Waters.

The Long-Shining Waters is up for the Minnesota Book Award on April 14, 2012.
It gets my vote.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetically written and beautifully structured (in a way meant to evoke the lapping and overlapping of waves), this book tells the stories of three women living along the shores of Lake Superior at different points in history, and it also includes the voice of a mysterious fourth character, who/which exists in what the author has called "lake-time." Loss is a major theme in the book, which makes it feel dark at times, but every main character also experiences love and demonstrates strength. I would have liked a bit more resolution to some of the stories, but then, life doesn't work that way, does it -- so why should literature?

[Yolo Yearwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject matter was interesting, but the characters were unreachable because of the author's use of telling rather than showing. And don't get me started on all of the one word "sentences." Dead. Cold. Blue. Bear. Dragonfly. Combine that with the random free verse poetry in italics from an unidentified speaker and it made for some painful reading. Experimental and lyrical, and for readers who have visited the lake then memorable. For the rest of us, it's a struggle to identify.

[christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s 1622, It’s 1902, It’s 2000 in Danielle Sosin’s debut novel “The Long-Shining Waters,” the story of three women living on Lake Superior.

Grey Rabbit lives with her two sons, husband and mother-in-law in the winter of 1622 on the shore of Lake Superior and it’s been rough hunting and everyone is starving. Meanwhile, she’s having wicked dreams starring dead children and it’s messing with her psyche. She’s waking at odd times, wandering around, being extra protective of her younger son Little Cedar. Eventually she will consult with her mother-in-law, prays and offers up gifts to the lake.

Berit and her husband live up the shore in relative isolation. Gunnar is a fisherman. Their relationship has been rocky, what with their inability to conceive. But suddenly there is a turnaround, Gunnar is doing his darndest to revive the relationship and it’s really taking. Berit spends the time between gardening and bread baking in a post-coital flush. What she doesn’t know is that Gunnar found a dead body in his nets. It was a man with a wedding ring and when Gunnar considers the family that is waiting at home for this man to return, it sparks a change in his own relationship. Unfortunately, the lake is a bitch and one day in 1902 Gunnar doesn’t come home.

Nora is a widow in her mid-50s and owns a nautical-themed bar in Superior, Wis. There is the comfort of regulars, including an older woman who lives in the apartment upstairs and plays piano in the middle of the night. When the bar burns down, Nora spends some time restlessly considering her options. It’s her granddaughter who comes up with idea to road trip around the lake.

In between the stories there are slices of prose poetry, seemingly the voice of the lake itself. This is a super visual novel about the power of the lake and the way it attracts people and affects dreams and can be both so beautiful and giving and oh-so cruel.

None of these stories really have a finale or come to a resolution, any more than Nora deciding that she doesn’t want to be a cake decorator when she returns from her journey. So this is very slice of life-y, just peeking in the window and catching the stories of three women who are about to experience something life-changing. A lot of the things I thought would happen didn’t, but isn’t to say those things won’t happen off the page. Sosin leaves plenty of room for post-read fan fiction.

Part of the fun of this book is reading something set on my home turf written by someone who has regularly walked on this turf and spent plenty of time looking around. It feels well-researched and considered, though that does get in the way occasionally when the facts detract from the inner stories of the women. It seems like maybe Sosin, who reportedly took nine years to write this book, spent her time really living in the character’s heads -- if not actually setting up a camp along the shore and living as Berit or Grey Rabbit for awhile, or taking a drive around the lake. Regardless, her version of Northeastern Minnesota is a nice reprieve from the generic Duluth that sometimes makes a cameo in fiction about another place. Sosin also serves as a historical guide, giving a face a voice to the lives of people who were here before us -- the lake as a unifying factor.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long-Shining Waters is the perfect book to read on a cold Minnesota evening - evokes the smell of ice, the bleached-out color of rock and tree, the particular push-pull of the wind. There's something mesmerizing about the way Lake Superior ties together the stories of the three women at the heart of this book, separated by a span of several hundred years. For each, the Lake holds stories and knowledge that they're not exactly looking for; for each, their fortune and that of their families is tied to the water, what it gives, and what it takes. I found Grey Rabbit's story the most compelling - when I realized what her dreams meant, I was gut-punched. Nora's was, to me, the least absorbing story, perhaps because I had no real sense of where she came from, or what made her - Grey Rabbit's opposite.

The stories of the women are beautiful, stirring, and fascinating. What didn't work for me so well were the single-page interjections of an italicized narrator. It's hard to fathom that narrator's purpose before finding out whose voice we're listening to, and once we know, it's hard to imagine that person speaking that way. I'd have found the book just as - if not more - absorbing without it.

[Kathleen Ernst · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book unfolds primarily through the eyes of three women who live on the shores of Lake Superior: Grey Rabbit, in 1622; Berit, in 1902; and Nora, in 2000. The main character in this book, however, is the lake itself. The author has an uncanny ability to describe its every mood and nuance. The lake also emerges as a living entity itself, holding centuries of secrets and souls.

I enjoyed the alternating points of view, the strong sense of place, and the intimate portrait painted of a brief period in each woman's life. The ending of each woman's narrative leaves lots of room for interpretation and discussion. At times I found the frequent use of sentence fragments and occasional lack of transition between thoughts a bit distracting, but that's a minor quibble. I recommend this novel to anyone who loves, or is curious about, the lake and its human history.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I met Danielle Sosin at a reading and book signing and had high hopes for this novel.

However, it took me quite awhile to get into this book; I probably would have put the novel down earlier if I hadn't owned a signed copy. By the middle of the book, though, the story started to pick up speed. Berit and Gunnar's storyline was definitely my favorite, so I was a bit disappointed that Berit's story sort of tapered off in the novel--I wanted to see more of what might happen to her (as well as the others). I found myself connecting with different scenes in each of the three story lines, while also feeling distant from others.

That said, the writing itself is beautiful: very lyrical and poetic in many places. I enjoyed her writing style, even if the plot did not grip me as much as I had hoped.

[Nan Gaunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a book group I'm in...I suggested it, because I went into a bookstore in Munising & the owner suggested it to me. I wanted to read a book about Lake Superior & this fit the bill. I read it once...went to the group to discuss it and found there were only 2 other people who had read it and the didn't like/understand it. The general consensus was that everyone felt frustrated.
I liked something about it. I liked the mystical sense of it, but, was unable to discuss it. So, I went home & read it again.
And, I loved it. I feel she caught the experience of living near Lake Superior for a woman. I felt it was a story about Nora, who lived in the 2000 period. As she travelled on her journey, she learned history, which led her back to her home & family, more able to deal with recent tragedy.

[Mark Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, following the tragedies and challenges faced by three women living on the shores of Lake Superior – one in 1622, one in 1902, and one in 2000. The story of each is powerful, and the strands that interweave, especially the lake, made it even more powerful. Each woman sees her face reflected in the Big Lake, which is “always changing, always wholly receptive.” Read on vacation at Cobblestone Cabins, on the shores of “the long shining waters.” Good writing, insights, moving passages are found throughout the book.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danielle Sosin used to live down the hall from me, so I always meant to read this book. In 2013, it was chosen as the "One Book South Dakota" and I STILL didn't get on the bandwagon, but I finally got around to it two years late.

The book follows three stories taking place in three different time periods on Lake Superior: a Native American story in the 1600s, a pioneer story in the 1800s, and a modern (year 2000) story. Sosin pays a great deal of attention to the quiet moments in life and the writing is often beautiful. The book strikes a good balance between the three stories so that it is never too jarring to move from one to the next. I "enjoyed" the modern story most because it required the least work -- I had lived in the area around that time, and my best friend and I did a "circle tour" around the Great Lakes very similar to the one Nora takes. But I think the pioneer story was the one that will most stick with me, as it was incredibly haunting and I just kept hoping it would end differently than it did.

My biggest gripe about this book was its ending -- or lack thereof. I'm used to literary fiction being fairly open-ended and I'm more comfortable with ambiguous endings than most people are (probably because I'm guilty of writing them.) But I just felt that these three stories were TOO unresolved, especially the Native American storyline. I also wondered whether someone who did not have a personal connection with Lake Superior would find this book as evocative as a "local" -- although the descriptions are so vivid that a reader could probably finish feeling as she had lived there, too.

Man, I miss Duluth.

[Jan Kellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Long-Shining Waters is a celebration of Lake Superior. Three story lines, in three different centuries, are tied together by setting. Lake Superior has been here for eons, and will remain long after we're all gone. The stories in this book relate Superior's beauty, her strength and her fierce moods.

In 1622, an Indian settlement along Superior's shores survives various accidents and visions. In 1902, a young married couple homesteads on a remote beach. In 2000, a bar burns down, forcing the owner to take stock of her own life and propelling her to journey around Lake Superior, viewing her from all sides. The three stories are interspersed with mysterious poem-like snippets, as if told by Lake Superior herself.

The book is engrossing, each story line related with great attention to detail and with powerful language that compels the reader to visit Lake Superior and pay homage. If you haven't seen Lake Superior yourself, it's time to make the journey. Read the book and plan your trip.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are certain things I like about the book--the inter-connectedness of the stories of the three women, the descriptions of Lake Superior, and the thematic unity of loss and recovery. But I found the fourth voice in the book (those pesky italicized sections) to be largely confusing and annoying. The author, in her discussion of the book at the SD Festival of the Book, said that the 4th voice is the voice of the dead Norwegian husband which expands to be the "voice of the lake" by the novel's end. That voice never worked well for me, and I found myself just wanting to skip over those parts.

Even so, I had to finish the book and see what happens to Nora and the other two women from the past. For me, the book was ultimately hopeful that despite loss, these three women would find a way to move on and rebuild their lives. I probably liked the story of the Norwegian immigrant woman the best.

[Valerie]

my adopted Mom took me to the reading/signing event at Common Good Books in St Paul last night and gave me a copy of the book. there's a character in it named Gunnar, so the author signed it "to Gunnar" (my son, 11) and my Gunnar is so pleased. I'm in love with all of it--the mystical gorgeously written book, the author, who looks like a younger Cher without all the plastic & makeup, the bookstore where I wanted everything starting with the poetry section (Leonard Cohen collected poems/songs! Billy Collins' "Horoscopes for the Dead"!), the stone building it's in that has a green underground fountain like Gollum's pool, the Selby-Dale neighborhood and all the people who watched me parallel park in a space that was just a lil bit too small. and most of all my darling Mom, whose brilliance makes every moment extraordinary. I love her and this book.

[WM Rine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Long-Shining Waters is one of the most unusual novels I have ever read, where a magical place, Lake Superior, becomes a central character in a novel spanning nearly four centuries via the loosely interlocking narratives of three women living along its shores -- Grey Rabbit, an Ojibwe woman living in the seventeenth century, Berit, a Scandianvian immigrant, and Nora, from the present day. Hardships, dreams, geography all weave their disparate experiences into a single story. Sosin's lyrical prose makes this a rich read. Although on one hand I never wanted to put it down, after reading a few short sections each night I always wanted to stop and savor it, as if I had just enjoyed a feast and wanted to make sure I remembered each bit of it before I went off to something else. An amazing effort for a first novel.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the high side of 3 stars. In telling 3 stories of women living near Lake Superior in different centuries, Sosin varies her style nicely according to the individual subject. I was captivated by the setting, having grown up in Superior and spent time around the lake. The sense of its history was strong, and I appreciated the shared themes of loss and searching for personal identity among the three stories. I did not relate as positively to the 4th voice - one could say it was the voice of one or more people whose lives had been claimed by the lake - which was more mysterious. The two stories from earlier centuries were done before I realized it, and none really had a resolution, but that seemed appropriate.

[Carol E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three women who live along Lake Superior, during three different centuries. Their stories are told concurrently, one chapter about one woman, the next about another woman, then chapters bounce between them. That style, while it could be a little jolting, helped the reader see the ties between the women, the location, the lake, and how each woman deals with a crisis/tragedy in her life.

A fun book that mentions many familiar places and landmarks. I liked all three characters; my least favorite of the three grew on me so that by the end I felt that I understood her and liked her better than the other two! Maybe because she is older and closer to my age, I felt an affinity for her.

[Deidre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written story about three women living hundreds of years apart – Grey Rabbit, 1622; Berit, 1902; and Nora, 2000. They are united by Lake Superior. Writing among the centuries could be tough but Sosin accomplishes it without being contrived. All three women deal with loss and transition and the author successfully engaged me in their stories. Since I think I’ll post my comment on Good Reads, I don’t think I’ll write much more.

[Cass 10e · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it four stars because I kept comin back for more, and made it through this book in pretty good time considering I'm a new mama nursing a newborn! I was a little disappointed with the ending simply because I felt that Grey Rabbit and Berit were a bit missing from it. I see what she (the author) felt was closure for those characters, but i wanted more! However, isnt that the mark of a great novel? Indeed it was fresh and beautifully written. Well done.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful descriptive writing of life on Lake Superior in three different time periods. Each story line separate yet connected by place and human experience in a search for meaning. Then there is another voice that speaks in free verse that is woven around, intertwined, with the others. I want to soak, bathe in this story, and share a beautiful experience of Lake Superior life. Perfect read for In Cahoots weekend at the lighthouse.

[Cc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book.. Sosin tells the story of 3 women who lived along Lake Superior. One Ojibway in 1622, one Norwegian in 1902, one woman in 2000. They all were dealing with tragedy in their lives, had dreams they were not sure of their meanings and witnessed the every changing lake.

The descriptions of the seasons, the woods, animals, roads, and especially of Lake Superior were more like painting than reading. But none of the stories really resolved themselves..

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was beautiful. Just stunning. It follows the stories of three distinct women, living along the shores of Lake Superior. They go through different disasters; they feel loved; they feel lonely and isolated. And the thing that binds them together is transitory - the lake is nurturing and heartless all at once.

I love Lake Superior and I loved this book.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anything about Lake Superior interests me. I loved being forced to imagine different time periods and women's lives. I found the characters interesting but wanted to know more about each especially at the end. The contemporary character i felt most close to probably for obvious reasons...i am contemporary and the author could be more convincing about a time she lives in. I especially found some quotable quotes...."

“The sediment rests in layers, grey matter from the south and red matter from the north, one era’s story deposited over the next. All this is somehow mine, my own story to which I hold.” Danielle Sosin

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps my brain just wasn't in order, or maybe I don't really know enough about the lake, but I think that a lot of this book flew right over my head. The beautiful description and realistic characters pulled me in. I loved the poetic transitions, but became lost in the plot as the stories of three women were told, all centering around the lake. I kept expecting some tie (other than the lake) to unify the three stories set centuries apart. Perhaps I missed the tie, like I said earlier, because my mind wasn't in the proper order. All that aside, I did enjoy the read. The style, description, and characters kept me going.

[West Hartford Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last lines of the wonderful poem , Exiled, by Edna St. Vincent Millay read:" I am too long away from the water. I have a need of water near." This year's winner of the Milkweed National Fiction prize tells the stories of three women, living at very different points in time, on the shores of the greatest of the Great Lakes, Superior.
Grey Rabbit, an Ojibway, is haunted by disturbing dreams that seem foretell the end of the life she and her people have known. Berit, the wife of a fisherman, finds her life shattered and then restored by the waters of the lake. Finally, there is Nora whose journey of discovery leads her away from home and back again.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three different narratives, three different times, all set on Lake Superior. Danielle Sosin was inspired to write this as she considered that Lake Superior holds its history. Due to the temperature of the Lake, much of what sunk is preserved in its depths. The writing is poetic, and I often felt as though I were missing some hidden meaning.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those "place as character" novels. Anyone who has been intrigued by the mysteries of Lake Superior and likes stories from multiple eras and characters will enjoy this deceivingly gentle but deep novel (hmmm...kind of like Superior itself...).

[Kristen Luppino · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lives of three women from different centuries on Lake Superior. Well told, some of it was just hard to follow and not my style.

[Sandra The Old Woman in a Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year since I took up an annual 50-states reading challenge I’ve happened on books that have been overlooked by most readers. It’s one of the best outcomes of pushing outside of my reading comfort zone.

The Long-Standing Waters is one of those books. The central character is massive Lake Superior. I wish I was driving around the lake as I read. Because of this book I know I’ll head out some day for such a journey. Sosin’s novel features three women from three eras, each moving through a life changing trauma. This is one of the best uses of a multiple perspectives I’ve encountered. Each story is unique, but also intertwined.

I’m not a poetry fan in general, but Sosin intersperses short chapters of poetry throughout the book and these are magical additions.

The writing in this book evokes one of the strongest, most enveloping sense of place experiences I’ve had from reading. The lyrical beauty of the author’s language reminds me of another favorite author, Paulette Jiles and her book, The Color Of Lightning.

If you enjoy being transported into new and intriguing world, if you “travel” through reading, if you enjoy daydreaming about the layers of humanity walking the same ground you tread now, then I predict you’ll enjoy this book. I loved it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with this a bit in the first third or so, as it's so poetically written to the point that what's happening and how the characters feel about it is obscured in the language. But once I stopped reading it as a character driven novel and started seeing it as a place driven novel, less about personal losses and joys and more about what the lake takes and gives, I felt it much more strongly and found more to love in it. Certainly a different reading experience that took some work to get into, and also one that will leave some intense images in my mind.