Reviews

East Grand Lake by Tim Ryan

ovenbird_reads's review

3.0

There were lots of things I really loved about this book. For one, the children were real. I find that in so many books these days child characters are bizarrely precocious and engage with the world in ways well beyond their years. I appreciated that these kids and pre-teens were very much childish--dealing with the complexity, cruelty, grief, and wonder of childhood. I also loved the setting--the lake acted as this gorgeous pivot point for all the interconnected stories, I could feel the shift in atmosphere that going to the cottage created. It wove a magic that I've definitely experienced in my own life. There was a predictability to the plot--the magic of the cabin helps Shayne to "move on" from his grief and this is where things fell a bit flat. I didn't love the metaphor of setting the ball of grief into a box and setting it aside in order to experience joy. I'm not sure that the grieving can truly put their grief down. It's more and learning to carry it, allowing it to exist side by side with the joy. But there are many ways to grieve and perhaps others experience it differently. I also found that the mothers in this story were particularly broken and more absent than the fathers at the cabin. Fathers are spoken of as the origin of fun and joy and adventure. Mothers seem to take a back seat role in this narrative, either desperately trying to ignore their children, or scolding fathers. It felt a bit unbalanced and not particularly fair. Overall, enjoyed this read enough!

peachyteachy's review

5.0

I really enjoyed this quirky, cottage read! Perfect for Summer; perfect for people who have or want to have a big chaotic family. I loved the flow, although it was hard to follow who was who sometimes.