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!