This is another book I want to put in the hands of every friend I know….who hasn’t taken their turn to read it yet. Crow Lake is a unique (to me) story about a family and the fate of 4 siblings after the tragedy of their parents' early death. Their story is narrated by Kate, one of the siblings, as a young girl and as an adult, and switches seamlessly from past to present. The most important themes are the effects of loss and how choices affect the trajectory of one's life. It's also about (mis)perceptions and survivor guilt. I really liked this book. I love Kate’s voice, as a child and as an adult. Every character is sufficiently developed that I felt as though I knew them well and that I would immediately recognize them if I ever met any of them. I thought the family relationships and the psychology of each character were presented in an authentic and believable way. The writing is lovely too. No complaints about any of the above.

Q. Do you see Kate’s character as being autobiographical to a certain extent and if so, in what ways? So the same day I'm holding my cousin's 14 hour old baby in my arms, and the knowledge that my own mother won't be there when I hold my children in my arms for the first time- or any time- comes searing through my blood, I find this book. Kate thought about how brave she and other people were who dared to live remote from their other fellows in such a vast and silent land”.

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Q. What do you think lies behind the anger and resentment between the two brothers, Matt and Luke, which results in violence?

Thanks to Goodreaders Esil and Zoeytron for recommending Crow Lake in their comments about my review of Road Ends. I've found a new favorite writer.Location: the harsh Canadian nature of "Crow Lake" is strikingly different from the warm humid tropical swamps of Louisiana. The Crow Lake community opened its arms wide to the Morrison children after their parents were killed. How does this generosity conflict with the community' collective reaction to Laurie Pye' disappearance? Why is this? There was quite a gap between the short story and the novel, and during that time both of my parents died and my children flew the nest. I spent even more time than usual, then, thinking about issues of family, home and childhood, and I have no doubt that that had an influence on the novel.

Kate says that “understatement was the rule in our house. Emotions, even positive ones, were kept firmly under control.” How would you say that this “rule” affected each member of the Morrison family? How did it influence their relationships with each other and with people outside their family? What are some examples? It’s a lovely story filled with hardship and sacrifice also laced with humor and the goodness of a community A.Initially, I based the novel around the ponds purely out of nostalgia. I remember the ponds where I grew up as a source of great delight. They are small worlds, after all, and if there are shelves or shallow places within them you feel as if you are seeing the whole of that world. It changes constantly, and yet it is always the same.

Hawthorn, T. (2020). Crow Lake. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/crow-lake

Like the Morrison siblings in this novel, I come from a family of two boys and two girls, although thankfully our parents are still alive and healthy. Lawson examines with unsettling candor the volatile and sometimes violent dynamics between siblings, even and perhaps ESPECIALLY in families that care deeply about one another.I clearly remember the day that I put my emotions on ice—it was about a year and a half after the funerals and I remember thinking, “I’m so tired of crying.” So I quit. It has taken years to thaw that permafrost and I’m still unsure that the process is finished. Still a bit freezer-burned, I guess.