Review: The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

Hardcover, 377 pages

Published January 4th 2011 by Viking Adult (first published November 23rd 2010) 

 

With revelations that prove as captivating as the deceptions at the heart of her bestselling phenomenon The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards now gives us the story of a woman's homecoming, a family secret, and the old house that holds the key to the true legacy of a family.

At a crossroads in her life, Lucy Jarrett returns home from Japan, only to find herself haunted by her father's unresolved death a decade ago. Old longings stirred up by Keegan Fall, a local glass artist who was once her passionate first love, lead her into the unexpected. Late one night, as she paces the hallways of her family's rambling lakeside house, she discovers, locked in a window seat, a collection of objects that first appear to be useless curiosities, but soon reveal a deeper and more complex family past. As Lucy discovers and explores the traces of her lineage00from an heirloom tapestry and dusty political tracts to a web of allusions depicted in stained-glass windows throughout upstate New York-the family story she has always known is shattered, Lucy's quest for the truth reconfigures her family's history, links her to a unique slice of the suffragette movement, and yields dramatic insights that embolden her to live freely. 


Kristine's review:

  I picked this book up at Chapter's last summer because of the author and also for the fact that it was a "Heather's Pick". Heather's Picks are books that the store guarantees you will like or you get your money back. Let me just say that it is the first time I debated taking a book back. I was extremely disappointed in this book. I found Lucy, the main character, to be selfish, immature, whiny and overall not very likable. Her character lacked any kind of depth and I lost interest in her very quickly. I thought that the book would redeem itself once Lucy started digging into the past and that story started to unfold. At first I was very hopeful as it did keep me reading but then the story of the past turned out to be as anti-climatic as Lucy's story. On top of that, the entire love triangle turned out to be a total bore and I completely disagree with Lucy's choice in the end because the one she didn't choose was the only character that was remotely interesting.

Kristine's rating