In the Lake of the Woods

I read this book for a class a while ago and I never re read books, but this one is an exception. It's written as a case investigating a mystery and you can decide on a totally different ending depending on your mood and what's going on in your life when you read it.

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.

I first read this book about 5 years ago, and ended up debating it for weeks with folks in my office. I recently picked it up again, & found it just as haunting, compelling & intriguing. I did, though, take away a different feel from the book than I had the first time I read it. It is no spoiler that the author does not solve the book's central mystery: the author tells you that if you want answers, "read another book." Readers can reach different conclusions as to the fate of Kathy Wade. Indeed, if my own experience is any guage, the same reader can reach a different conclusion on subsequent readings. This book will mean different things to different people. For some, it is a mystery; for others, a dark love story; for others, it is a tale of Vietnam. O'Brien's devices - the Evidence & Hypothesis chapters interspersed throughout the book - work fabulously. The Evidence chapters give a variety of outside perspectives which inform, or offer differing views, if not explanations, on the text, which jumps back & forth itself between the present & various points in the past. The Hypothesis chapters propose alternative answers to the central riddle.O'Brien's clear prose is made more interesting, because the reader knows he is only getting one sliver, one part of the whole picture, and may be more or less "true". If you have not read this book, do so. If you have, read it again: you will be amazed, entranced again -- & it may be a whole new experience for you.

Of the four Tim O'brien books I've read, this one was the best. So compelling and shocking that I was forced to put the book down more than once just to get myself together. In his classic style, the reader spends two thirds of the book struggling to piece together what's really going on from what's going on in the character's mind. The book assumes a quality not unlike being suspended between dreaming and awake, a confusing arena where one sees parts of themselves they never knew, or perhaps wished never, existed.Though the book is touted mostly as a "Vietnam" book, it really focuses on the dark side of all of us and only uses the Vietnam card as a starting point for his own personal horrors. The book speaks just as well to anyone who has haunting skeletons in the closet from past adventures and experiences. Creepy. Absolutely compelling story.Where most authors struggle to provide one or two good insights into human nature and the truth of life, O'brien pinpoints at least a dozen zingers. This was perhaps my favorite book of all time.

I bought the hardcover when it was published but it took me five years to actually sit down and read it. I read "If I Die In A Combat Zone" as a high school junior in 1980, and have bought and read Tim O'Brien books ever since. Why did it take so long to read? Reading Tim O'Brien requires concentration and an emotional space where you can reflect on his message. I didn't want to read it when I was in a great mood because I knew it would bring me down. Similarly, I didn't want to read it when I was depressed because I wouldn't be able to appreciate his understated message of hope for the human heart. So I waited until I was on a pretty even keel yet also feeling introspective.This is not a book for anyone seeking easy answers. I am often frustrated reading authors who present one dimensional characters who are entirely predictable and understandable. How many people are really like that? The most interesting people are enigmatic, and this book presents hypothesis rather than solutions. I would have felt let down by a stock dime store ending where the author tied up all the loose ends and left me nothing to reflect upon.Tim O'Brien's message is that the questions he presents the reader are more important than any answer that he might propose. How well does one person truly know another? Why do our loved ones love us? Are we defined by our history, or may we transcend it?Thank you, Tim O'Brien, for not attempting to answer these questions for me. Thank you also for giving me a framework to ponder them.