Thursday, May 9, 2013

Lake People; Abi Maxwell



Title: Lake People
Author: Abi Maxwell
Publication Year:  2013
Publisher: Knopf
Edition: ARC and eGalley
Source: Amazon Vine and Edelweiss
Setting: New Hampshire
Date Completed: May - 2013
Rating: 3/5 
Recommended: ?



Lake People drew me in from the very beginning with the following opening:
1982 
 
" IN THE COLD and windy days after I was born, I was deposited into an old canoe on the big lake.  I have recently discovered this.  I like to think my birth parents believed that this lake would hold me safe, but I don't see how that could possibly be true, for it turns out I come from a long line of people swallowed by these waters.  My name is Alice, and by the time I was born, unwanted, the belief that there were places in the lake where the floor of the world either dropped out or was never put in and had settled itself deep into my blood."
but, then something happened-----

In a nutshell, Alice Thornton is a woman who is eager to learn details about her early life. She grew up in Kettleborough, New Hampshire (fictional town) with her father-- her mother had taken off early on. She later learns that it was she who was abandoned, found, and then adopted.  She is eager to find out about about her ancestors and her roots. 

The novel begins and ends in 1982 when Alice was 24 year's old, yet the story itself spans a period of over seventy-five years. Covering such a long period and so many different people from some of the town's earliest inhabitants, and trying to piece how they fit into Alice's story proved difficult for me. Thank goodness each new chapter was dated, but it was still a chore at times to stay interested and to keep everyone's story straight. 

It wasn't all negative for me, I did like the air of mystery, the setting, and most of the characters.  It wasn't even the somber tone that bothered me, it's just that before long, it started to feel like one too many short stories were being crammed into what was intended to be a novel, and the writing style just never seemed consistent.

15 comments:

  1. Hmm yeah, I see what you mean. The premise sounds promising but I'm already turned off by the first person perspective, which I'm getting a little tired of as there just seems to be so much of it out there nowadays. I probably won't be adding this to my TBR shelf any time soon . . .

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  2. A good premise for a novel but too bad it didn't follow through.

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  3. I'll have to think about this one.

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  4. Sounds like the lake people might sink.

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  5. The excerpt makes me want to read it. Will see if the library has it!

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  6. I appreciate your honest review, Diane.

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  7. The premise reminds me a little of Light Between Oceans.

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  8. Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts about this one, Diane.

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  9. I've read books like these before where it feels like just too many threads going on and not enough attention to a main story. The opening is catchy!!

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  10. I believe it is her first book, so she may get better as time goes along.

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  11. A shame this one didn't live up to its fantastic beginning...

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  12. I hate it when I get mixed up with the timeline.

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  13. Another great review Diane. At the moment I have my head stuck in a book about Middleburg written by two ladies I met the other day. It's a history of the town.

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  14. The cover looks fantastic. But it sounds like there are too many people in this book. Not sure I could appreciate it.

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  15. As always I love your reviews and I'm pretty sure this is one that I will just bypass!

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