Rating: 
Summary: Gone Away Lake
Review: I've read a lot of books, but this has got to be the worst of the worst. Its plot is mediocre at best and whenever they make a hint that something exciting may occur it does a complete 180 and does a page long description of a rather ordinary butterfly. Expanding upon the lack an excess of description the book gets into frenzies describing every flower but saying little of a haunted house. This book is unparalelled for worst literary work of all time. I only allowed myself to give this one star because no lower rating is an option.
Rating:
Summary: A gem from the 1950s
Review: "Gone-Away Lake" is a delightful, beautifully written story, just this side of fantasy and filled with interesting, likable characters. A brother and sister from the city take the train to visit their country cousin. The children discover an old, mostly abandoned summer colony of houses near a swamp that used to be a lake. There they meet the most charming people in the book, an elderly sister and brother, Minnehaha Cheever and Pindar Payton, who are living happily in the place where they spent summers as children. The pair wear old-fashioned clothes stored away many years ago by their family, cultivate a variety of gardens, and have chickens, goats, a duck, and a cat named Fatly. Once a month, Pindar cranks up the antique Franklin car and drives into town for supplies. The children are adventuresome and imaginative, and have no need of TV to keep themselves amused. The descriptions of the country are amazingly vivid, and there's plenty of humor too. Don't miss the sequel, "Return to Gone-Away." And Elizabeth Enright's series about the Melendy family is also fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: A gem from the 1950s
Review: "Gone-Away Lake" is a delightful, beautifully written story, just this side of fantasy and filled with interesting, likable characters. A brother and sister from the city take the train to visit their country cousin. The children discover an old, mostly abandoned summer colony of houses near a swamp that used to be a lake. There they meet the most charming people in the book, an elderly sister and brother, Minnehaha Cheever and Pindar Payton, who are living happily in the place where they spent summers as children. The pair wear old-fashioned clothes stored away many years ago by their family, cultivate a variety of gardens, and have chickens, goats, a duck, and a cat named Fatly. Once a month, Pindar cranks up the antique Franklin car and drives into town for supplies. The children are adventuresome and imaginative, and have no need of TV to keep themselves amused. The descriptions of the country are amazingly vivid, and there's plenty of humor too. Don't miss the sequel, "Return to Gone-Away." And Elizabeth Enright's series about the Melendy family is also fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books of all time!
Review: 5 stars is not nearly enough to rate this book. I read it last sumnmer, when my family and I were actually staying at a house on a lake. It's such a magical book, and I wish I could have been part of the story and seen what the characters saw and experienced. I immediately fell in love with the two main characters, Portia and Julian, and their bravery, courage, and spunk. This is a must-read for anyone who loves a magical, beautiful feel-good story about childhood adventures.
Rating:
Summary: Desirous Of Solitude In Tolerable Quarters
Review: A product of late fifties America, Elizabeth Enright's Gone Away Lake (1957) feels, in tone and spirit, more like a reflection of mid-forties America or earlier. Gone Away Lake, a light children's novel, is an excellent showcase for mid - century American manners and mores, the same manners which cynics today like to denigrate or deny ever existed outside of wishful thinking. The story of two cousins who befriend an isolated pair of elderly siblings living happily at a now abandoned but once magnificent lake resort, Gone Away Lake also demonstrates how those children and teenagers of the era lucky enough to escape the spell - binding pull of television entertained themselves. Nature was generally closer and more available to the average child then than it is today, and the novel is composed around the myriad ways in which Portia and her freckled, insect - collecting cousin Julian embrace the majesty and mystery of nature. Luckily, their new friends, Mrs. Minnehaha Cheever and Mr. Pindar Payton, are nature's Edward Carpenter - like custodians: each is a planter, a gardener, and a conservationist, and Mrs. Cheever is an avid canner and pickler. Mutually delighted in one another's company, the two generations meet, mingle, and become beloved friends and companions over the course of a magically described summer. Gone Away Lake also touches on aging, memory, personal history, and the importance of mentoring, as Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Payton delight the cousins with subtly ethical reminiscences and tall tales about the lake's glory days when they were children themselves. Without the slightest hint of calculation, artificiality, or political engineering, Enright also emphasizes healthy balance and tolerance, as both the siblings and the cousins are of opposite genders. In an era when both the sexes and gender roles were sharply divided, Gone Away Lake portrays Julian and Portia not only as best friends, but as never less than equals in insight, courage, stamina, intelligence, and ingenuity. In the same subtle fashion, Enright underscores the importance of family and human interaction in the life of the individual. Spanning the generations, Enright implies, is as easy as extending one's self with honesty, integrity, and faith. Unlike many of today's books written for children, Gone Away Lake is a genuinely warm, spirited, and wholesome book. Framed by ultimately superfluous plot elements such as a mysteriously - carved stone, a pit of quicksand, and a haunted house, Gone Away Lake, a Newberry honorary, will delight readers of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Great,
Review: As a very fussy design engineer, I think this title is great. I enjoyed this title in 1963. If you don't like it - get a life.
Rating:
Summary: Gone Away Lake - Summer Magic
Review: As Portia climbs aboard the train headed to Pork Ferry where she will spend her summer vacation with her cousin, she expects only the normal adventures: bug catching, finding mosses and looking up birds - what they always do. But this summer is different. On the first day of exploring they find themselves in a vast swamp with ruins of ancient houses around its borders. Once this swamp was a beautiful lake, a summer resort. But two people never left, the two people who can tell the story of Gone Away Lake and the many magical summers spent there. It is a thoroughly exciting book you can't put down until finished!!! It is most definitely a must read for all people, young and old.
Rating: 
Summary: Gone Away Lake has a Gone Away Theme
Review: At first the book looks like it will be interesting with numerous twists and turns. Alas, I found myself anticipating some type of conflict to arise between the characters, until the very last page. Nothing happens. The book can be quickly summed up in a few short sentences; Two children go on vacation. Stumble upon two old people who live in the past. The end. I was always taught that a good novel has certain components... and having some type of conflict happen to the characters was one of them. Although the author uses some great writing techniques (excellent metaphors and colorful vocabulary), her plot was doomed from the start.
Rating:
Summary: Gone-Away Lake is never far-away from my heart.
Review: Gone-Away Lake and its sequel were my favorite books as a child, and I have also re-read them frequently over the years. I feel a kinship with the other people who have reviewed this book and love it as I do. I now have introduced it to my 8 year old son, and am so happy that he shares my love for this book. I love escaping to this gone-away place, and wish that I grew up in an era when children could safely wander, explore, and discover during the long lazy days of summer! How much more wonderful than today's summers filled with shopping malls, television, and Nintendo!
Rating: 
Summary: Gone-Away Lake
Review: Gone-Away Lake is about a girl named Portia Blake who goes with her brother Foster to visit their cousin Julian in the country. Every summer they go to Julian and Aunt Hilda and Uncle Jake's house. Portia and Julian always go exploring outdoors. This summer is even more exciting because Julian's family moved into a new house and so they have a new place to explore. On their first day Portia and Julian discover a big rock with a mysterious message written in Latin on it. They keep walking and get lost. They come to a swamp that is choked with reeds and on the other side of it is a ghost town! Or is it really abandoned? They find out that two people live there - Mrs. Minnehaha Cheever and Mr. Pindar Payton. Why are they living all alone on this swamp? To find out why they are there and the history of the swamp, you should read this book that is very good.
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