Rating: 
Summary: Excellent - mysterious, captivating, human, and honest.
Review: This is one of the few books I've read that resonated with me. The book describes in subtle yet exact prose how the past can return, how regret can motivate us as humans, and how the present is only slightly more than the sum of our past events. Furthermore, this is a tale of passionate people in extreme circumstances - circumstances that call their bluffs and force them to put their cards on the table. Friendships and professional relationships are strained to the point of extinction. And the bounds of the marriage bond are pushed. This story will force you to ask challenging questions of yourself, it will leave you unsure of what exactly comprises 'history' and 'truth', but most of all, it will leave you with a sincere desire to better know yourself
Rating:
Summary: Positive
Review: If you thought you knew "Tim O'Brien" after reading his
last novel, "The Things They Carried," now he tells you that it could all be illusion. The hero
of this novel, John Wade, thinks he has erased his presence at the My
Lai massacre. It isn't part of the stories he tells his wife or a part
of his senate campaign. When the truth comes out, his wife finds out
she doesn't know the man she married.
Rating:
Summary: terrific!!!!!!
Review: spellbinding read, very disturbing and wonderfully written
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in a long, long time
Review: Intense...left me speechless. I couldn't put it down, yet at the same time I had to put it down because it was so intense to read
Rating:
Summary: INTENSE--stayed up all night reading!
Review: I can't say anything more. Just read it and have a sleepless night yourself
Rating:
Summary: Unique and Therefore Compelling
Review: This book defys description. Is it a love story? Yes. A mystery? Yes. A thriller? Yes. Fiction? I don't know....and that's what makes it so compelling. This is a book for a reading group because it will elicit so many more questions than there are answers and after you've completed it, believe me, you're going to want to talk about it with someone else who's read it.The construct was terrific and as a result I book 2 more of O'Brien's books immediately. While both were good, neither matched the plot, suspense, and tempo of In the Lake of the Woods. I would recommend this book to anyone, but I especially think Vietnam Vets could really relate. Now, I'm off to try Tomcat in Love. Since O'Brien can write the serious scary stuff that only nightmares are made of, I want to see what he can do with humor and love. What a find. I'm so glad I found this book listed in Bas Bleu because I hadn't seen it hyped anywhere else.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent twist on the mystery genre
Review: I loved "The Things They Carried" Short Story collection by O'Brien, so I decided to try this novel. I was skeptical at first because I am primarily interested in his fiction dealing with the Vietnam War, but this is a large part of "In the Lake of the Woods" Like some of his other writing, O'brien circles around and around events and actions, revealing more and more of what happened. I really liked the chapters of quotations from characters as if questioned by police along with quotations about John Wade and quotations relevant to the novel. O'Brien leaves it up to the reader to decide if Wade really did make his wife disappear or not with hypothetical chapters. It is a twist on on a mystery because it doesn't tie up all the loose ends and right away it is implied no one may ever really know the truth. I think this novel would make an excellent novel to read and discuss as a group or in a class. There is just so much to talk about. If you have never read anything by O'Brien this is a wonderful place to start. If you have read anything else by him, this will not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Virtuosic
Review: I wouldn't hesitate to put this book in O'Brien's top 3, along with The Things they Carried and Going After Cacciato. The story revolves around Minnesota Lieutenant Governor and Senate Candidate John Wade, who loses a brutal race in which it is divulged that he participated in the infamous My Lai massacre 30 years earlier. His political career over and future stalled, he decides to spend a little time with his wife in a small lodge in the wilderness. Before long, she goes missing, and a cloud of suspicion descends over him.
Everything to like about O'Brien is here: his mastery of language and knowledge of humanity. Here, he looks at how secrets can affect us and how devastating denial can be. We all have loose threads in the tapestry of our lives, but if we ignore them, the entire thing can unravel. Plus, this functions as a closer look at the kinds of people you find in government: hopelessly insecure, traumatized, power-hungry. This is not to say that Wade was a bad man, but he did have problems.
As for Wade himself, I found him pitiable. He certainly was not an angel--he spied on his wife, lied to her, lied to everyone, and hurt a lot of people. He didn't want to get into politics to help people, but rather to indulge his own tastes. However, the humiliation heaped upon him is more than anyone should have to bear. I am of the opinion that Wade did not have anything to do with the disappearance, although it is a trick worthy of his magician self--make the lady disappear.
Overall, I found the book very enlightening and enjoyable, far better than The Nuclear Age, the last O'Brien book I read. This marks a return to form for the incomparable Tim O'Brien.
Rating:
Summary: Truth and Memory
Review: I don't read novels about war. If I am attracted to a book by an interesting cover design and I see the words, "Vietnam War," anywhere on the back cover, I immediately put it down. I found this book at a Goodwill and, despite its subject matter, was intrigued by the plethora of glowing reviews. I am thrilled that I ignored my initial instincts and would gladly read any book written by Tim O'Brien, no matter the topic.
From the opening lines, Mr. O'Brien creates an atmosphere of foreboding, of impending horror. His language is spare, yet remarkably poetic. The story of a popular politician who has lost a big election due to the revelation of his involvement in the My Lai massacre plays out slowly, like a mystery. His almost complete denial of his role in the horror illustrates the utter mutability of truth in memory. How we can choose to revise history - our own personal history or the history of a nation. Like the boyhood magician seeking his father's approval, he cultivates a talent for making things conveniently disappear. Even his disillusioned wife -who has either been murdered or, if one chooses to believe the alternative version of her final hours that is presented, has merely drifted away, despairing, into the ether.
This book is, at once, disturbing, heartfelt, beautifully written and deeply moving. Truly rates a full five stars.
Rating:
Summary: "Mr. Wade loved his wife, anybody could see that..."
Review: Where is she? What is his state of mind? Has he gone crazy? Would he really do it? Is she dead or alive...these are questions that go through your mind when reading this novel written by Tim O'Brien.
On a lake deep in the woods, John and Kathy Wade are trying to rekindle their marriage. After a downfall election that John had lost for U.S. Senate, John's life has not been the best. Kathy suffers with him. She always tries to alleviate him or to make him feel confident about himself. He just seems to ignore her. When going more into the story, you find out there is something horribly wrong between them. One night, John got up, somewhat in a sleepwalk, and does various things...he says "Kill Jesus" and he boils water and scorches plants with the water and gets back in his bed, like if nothing happened.
The next morning, he gets up and finds Kathy to be gone, thinking that she has gone for a walk, and he ignores the fact for a few hours. After hours, he gets worried and starts looking for her, not finding her, he goes to his boarders and reports her missing. They find out that the boat is gone. Questions start to arise... did she drown? Is she lost? A massive search starts for Kathy and possibilities get higher and higher. Throughout the book, the reader uncovers many things about John Wade's past. We progressively see that the life of John Wade, " The Sorcerer", has many secrets, and that he is lost inside his own magic.
This book is very suspenseful and it just makes you want to read it more and more. This book has various chapters called Evidence and Hypothesis, which makes this book very unique, compared to other books. Evidence is various chapters which have interviews, articles, and items explained. They go deep into John's life and his past. They talk about how he got into politics, his childhood, his father, and how he met and fell in love with Kathy. Hypothesis is various chapters that go into what could have happened to Kathy. They bring out the different situations that she could be in, why she could have left, and her memories involving John.
I recommend this book to anyone! This is a great book for a mystery lover or someone who likes suspense. Tim O'Brien is a great writer and I would also like to recommend "The Things They Carried" by him.
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