Crow Lake

I too loved this book. My mom's book club read it and she recommended it to me. Thanks for your comments Katie, connecting it with The Kite Runner. I had realized how similar in structure the books were until you tied them together- both hinge on one life altering decision made in childhood, both end with hope but not a complete resolution, both are fictional biographies. Their settings and characters were so different that I hadn't connected them but really in the humanity of their tales they are very connected.

I think Marie gets a bad rap from Kate. Kate sees her as purely horrible but that's because she is the one who takes away her brother and hero from her. She is so jealous of Marie that she can't see Matt's true feelings for her. I'm not sure that Matt didn't love Marie(though I'm not sure that he did either- he was definitely in a vulnerable position). He certainly acted like it- He burnt down the barn and filled in the quarry that held such terrible memories for her. He couldn't take her away from it completely but he gave her as much of a clean slate as he could. I imagine that he adjusted to the situation pretty fast. He was a smart enough guy to make the best of it too. He may not have gotten to study biology like Kate but he got to live immersed in it everyday. It seems that he was a man to surround himself with learning whether in school or not. He didn't teach Kate from books- he taught her from life. His only failing was in Kate's eyes not in real life. I was sad that they didn't seem to have anymore kids.

I loved Luke too and I had hoped that he would marry once his siblings were grown. I was happy that he became very successful. I loved the way that the author brought you up to date on everyone's lives at the end with out it being a summary epilogue. The way she did it was necessary for the plot and perfect for the ending of the book. I just like that we got to see all of our favorite characters one last time- in the present and it made sense in the context of the book to do that. Hope I make sense- I've got mommy brain. :)

I wish that I could find out what happened to the other Pyes that walked off of the farm. I wonder if they stopped the cycle of abuse. Maybe the cycle only continued with the one that stayed behind because the one that stayed was the one who wasn't brave enough or was too greedy to leave. They also endured the most abuse because they stayed. The story of the one Pye who ran away after falling into the pond terrrified me. I kept expecting her to say that they found his body somewhere when the snow thawed in the spring. When she didn't I had hope that maybe he made it to somewhere... So sad to think of an 11 year old boy journeying off in the snow soaking wet. I hope he had somewhere to go to warm up first...

I loved their community and the way that they banded to keep their little family together and safe. I loved the lady who came over to cook/clean/and babysit. I can't remember her name at the moment. She was amazing. I love that all charity to them had to be given in a certain way in order for the boys to be willing to accept it. They still had to have some control and while they needed help and accepted help it was on their own terms. I wished that the Pyes had had more of that community interference. I think that because they were a successful and seemingly whole family, people respected their privacy and kept their distance. They were the real tragedy.

It is interesting the assumptions we make about ourselves and the way that they lock us into place. Kate assumed that she could never love anyone. She assumed that she needed to go away to school to be a success for the family. She assumed that she had to lock herself away from people so that she wouldn't hurt again. Daniel made her see that she could love. She was a success and she loved what she studied but she also let it remove her from her family. She let that prize divide her from her love. Finally she realized in the end that her hurting was caused by locking herself away. I am thankful for the surprises in life that knock us out of our assumptions and help us to open up.

Crow Lake

I'm finally getting around to posting on a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I believe that everyone else does such a fantastic job of sharing their views and thoughts about the books that we read, that I usually only want to comment on what others have written. I'm such a lazy bum.

I too must admit that Luke was my favorite character. I related to and admired his optimism that everything would turn out all right. He never seemed to doubt, or get overly anxious about the future. My mother is a true optimist, and having married into a somewhat pessimistic family, I'm so grateful that that quality that my mother possessed became and integral part of my personality. It make the trials easier to bear. I wonder, though, about his decision to sacrifice his opportunity to go to teachers college in order to keep the family together. Was it a purely selfless act, or was it really not much of a sacrifice? How much did he really want to become a teacher? The fact that he was so young makes me wonder if he really understood what was involved in providing physical and emotional support to children. I in no way want to insinuate that his sacrifice was insignificant in any way considering that I'm not sure that I would have been selfless enough to choose to take charge of my 2 year old sister at the age of 18. I just wonder if his choice was a bit naive or perhaps an attempt to make up for the distress that he had caused his parents through his moments of rebellion. I was saddened that he had not married and had his own children, but happy that he had found a skill that he was good at (furniture making) that provided him with a sense of accomplishment, and self satisfaction.

I spent most of the book wondering why Kate should have such a big chip on her shoulder. It did cause me to do some self evaluating and soul searching to find the personal demons that keep me from the more meaningful relationships that I could be enjoying with my friends and family members.

With Matt I was reminded of how life altering one pivotal moment can be. In a split second he made a decision that forever changed the path his life would take. I wondered if he would somehow find a way to take Marie with him and still attend school. I'm sure that in that day and age (What era was it anyway? I wondered that the whole book. Did it ever say?), and under the circumstances, that was nearly impossible.

I really thought that Laurie would eventually kill his father, they'd destroy all evidence, and the Pyes would somehow work things out. I wasn't worried about jail time for Laurie mostly because it just wouldn't be fair to be punished for ridding the world of such rubbish. My guess is though, that Laurie may have eventually grown and continued the cycle with his own son. The author really did know the best way to resolve the Pye dilemma.

Thanks for such a good book choice!

Crow Lake

What a great book! I really enjoyed reading something set in Canada (part of my curriculum). I am very glad it was our June selection! I think Katie did a great job of discussing the turning points in the book, so I have decided to focus on the growth of the main character, Kate, and the beauty of the ending to the story.

I think the most telling line for me was on page 149 when Daniel asks her, "Does the word empathy mean anything to you, Kate?" I think there is a great deal of justification for her lack of empathy: her age when her parents are killed; the lack of discussion of feelings in her family / community; the fact that she is raised by brothers who really don't have a handle on their own emotions, let alone hers; and the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps and move on" era / society in which she was raised.

She reminds me of a PTSD (post-traumatic-stress-disorder) Vietnam veteran. It's as if her emotional development is stopped at the time of the accident and she is frozen until her conversation with Marie finally gets her to break loose and see things from a different perspective. That is the beauty of the ending of the book. The healing process has been going on for years for the others, and finally the healing process begins for Kate.

I, like Katie, thought that Laurie was going to kill his father and go to prison for it. I could only see doom and gloom in the Pye family future. I thought Lawson's ending was so much better than that! It was almost poetic. Calvin Pye had been destroying everyone around him for years. I know he was also a victim, but his final self-destructive act ended the cycle of abuse and allowed Matt and Marie a chance to have a decent life together. Because they inherited the farm without anyone there to drag them back into the pain of the past, their son, Simon, has a life full of love and future full of promise.

Thanks again for the opportunity to read a thought provoking book!

Crow Lake

Crow Lake deftly illustrates how a single choice can change the direction of not only an individual’s life, but the lives surrounding that individual as well.

The Pye men choose to hate their children (but keep having them?). Weird. I understand there is a cycle of abuse, and that a person tends to adopt the behaviors of those around them, but wouldn’t an abused child – knowing how it feels to be abused – want to stop the abuse rather than perpetuate it? SPOILER ALERT I was sure that Laurie Pye was going to kill his father, not the other way around. That took me by surprise. I think it was all the references to the fact that Laurie wouldn’t take crap from his father, that he stood up to him, etc. that led me to believe that Laurie would be the one to do harm - "As a child, Laure too had burned bright with swallowed rage, but when he was older, he did answer back. Oh, definitely, he did answer back," (page 117). "Calvin had never stood up to his own father, according to Miss Vernon. Laurie did. Laurie would not be cowed," (page 203). The choices of the Pye men led Marie to be in the vulnerable situation she was in (I think), which then led to Matt’s choice. What a tragic family.

Luke chooses not to go to university in order to keep his siblings together. Regardless of his motivations, this was an honorable, mature choice. I mean, he was what, 17? 18? Maybe he really didn’t want to become a teacher and that motivated him to stay home, but he still took on a lot of responsibility for such a young man. The people of Crow Lake were amazing - rallying around those kids the way they did. And I was impressed by Luke’s faith that everything would work out al right. Luke is also faced with another choice, witnessed by Kate. Sally McLean, that tramp, offered herself to Luke, but he chose to turn her down (compare with Matt’s behavior). And I don’t think it’s because Luke is gay –there were foreshadowings of a relationship between him and Miss Carrington. Amanda and I were talking about the book, and we both decided that, even though the book focused on the relationship between Matt and Kate, Luke was our favorite brother.

Matt chooses not to go to university and accept the consequences of his actions with Marie. That is an honorable choice – and he’s made his peace with it and is happy. Matt loves his son and I think he grew to truly love his wife. I think Matt’s only regret is the effect that his choice had on his relationship with Kate. His choice is the crux of the book – it instigates Kate’s choice.

Kate chooses to see Matt as a failure. She chooses to allow Matt’s choices warp her relationship with her favorite brother. And this choice causes her to shut herself off from any other meaningful relationships (kudos to Daniel for sticking with her). I will admit, when Kate had her epiphany of self-awareness, it prompted a much needed one for me as well. It’s never easy to analyze oneself, to really understand why you behave in a certain way – but it’s even harder to do something to change it, so kudos to Kate, too. Crow Lake ended much like The Kite Runner – not with a perfectly happy-ever-after ending, but with a hopeful ending.

On a lighter note, I love the two extra commandments - Thou Shalt Not Emote and Thou Shalt Not Admit to Being Upset.

Sorry!!!

Ugh! My apologies about the weird post. I have a different personal blog on blogger, and I inadvertently posted the comic entry on the wrong blog! Sorry!

Is this our book club?

I quite like the British sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. It's hilarious - even when I can't quite understand the accent. Anyway, Laurenda recently watched my two favorite episodes, The Handsome Stranger and The Vicar in White, and suggested I post this scene. The premise of the story is that a female vicar arrives at a small English village. Anyway, in The Handsome Stranger, Geraldine (the vicar) starts a village book club. Hilarity ensues.