Crow Lake (by Mary Lawson) really took me by surprise. The story takes place mainly in the heart of the Canadian Shield, in farm country, where the houses are few, the land rough and isolating. I started it because, after the convoluted events in The Theory of Relativity, I thought it would be good to read some lighter fare. At first Crow Lake reads simple, in a straightforward manner, direct, to the point, almost child-like from a child’s point of view. But in the end, the accumulated insights and self-discoveries are very profound and magical.
The landscape of the Morrison family—two parents and four children between the ages of two and seventeen—is dramatically changed after a devastating automobile accident, killing the parents and leaving the children orphaned. The story is told in first person, from the point of view of the third child, a girl, Kate, who is very close to her second oldest brother. Yet as they grow older, her expectations for him color her ability to see him as he is and causes stress in all her relationships.
In her family the Eleventh Commandment was: Thou Shalt Not Emote. Realizing the necessity to accept, embrace, express her emotions becomes Kate’s story. The prose is spare and direct and totally engaging. This is definitely one of those books that I am glad to have known.
Posted by leya at December 6, 2004 07:47 PM