…on the way back we flew very low over northern Ontario…I was staggered by the vastness of it. The emptiness. We flew over miles and miles of nothing, of rocks and trees, and lakes, beautiful and desolate are remote as the moon. And then below us I suddenly say a thin gray-white like, weaving about in the middle of all that nothingness, finding its way around lakes and swamps and granite outcrops. And up ahead, as if it were a balloon and that fragile line a piece of string attached to it, a small clearing appeared at the side of a lake. There were fields marked out in the clearing, and a scattering of houses and several more gray-white lines knitting them all together. More or less at the center, identifiable by its squat little spire and by the neat square of graveyard surrounding it, was the church and beside that, in the middle of a battered patch of playground, the school.
It wasn’t Crow Lake, but it might as well have been. I thought, Home.
And then I thought, Weren’t we brave! I didn’t mean us in particular; I meant all those who dared to live remote from their fellows in such a vast and silent land. (pgs. 93-94)
Kate Morrison, one of the four Morrison children, is an Assistant Professor of Biology at a Canadian University. She has just received an invitation to her nephew’s eighteenth birthday party back home, in Crow Lake. She is also a seven year old girl, barely coping with the death of her parents. Mary Lawson’s debut novel, Crow Lake, alternates between the present-day Kate and the Kate of that first year after the death of her parents.
My mother suggested I read this book, with its strong depiction of place, its account of the aftermath of a tragedy and the effect of that tragedy on the four Morrison children. I found the beginning very difficult to read because my mother was orphaned – my grandparents died when my mother was four; her two sisters were ten and sixteen. So the family response, the discussions of what to do with the children hit home with me – far more so than with my mother who explained to me that she didn’t have much angst over the issue. Unlike my mother’s family, the Morrison children convince their family to let them stay together, at home, in Crow Lake: Luke at nineteen, Matt at seventeen, Kate at seven, and Bo at one and a-half.
Each child is hit with the brunt of what they are dealing with in different ways and it affects them differently as well. Mary Lawson explores those differences subtly, painting a picture of a family that has been taught to not show emotions or to even explain why they feel the way they do. The very small and isolate community surrounds the children with support bringing seemingly endless amounts of hams, roasts, and stews in what seems to be a loosely set-up rotation. However, the stress the children feel (particularly Luke and Matt who have a relationship that borders on serious rivalry) has a toll on each of them, particularly Kate.
Present-day Kate has a new relationship with a fellow professor, a relationship that has caught her somewhat off guard.
You must understand: I had never thought I would love anyone. It hadn’t been on the cards as far as I was concerned. To be honest, I had thought that such intensity of feeling was beyond me. When I “discovered” Daniel, if I can put it like that, I think I was somewhat dazed by the mere fact of existence. I did not analyze my feelings, or let myself agonize about his, maybe, because I was afraid that if I found I loved and needed him too much, he would be bound to disappear. People I love and need have a habit of disappearing from my life. (pg. 89)
Daniel has also been asking Kate about her upbringing, wanting to get to know all about her. This has unsettled her – how can she explain her story, her family, the guilt she feels? This tension from Kate coupled with quiet language describing this year of grief pulls the story forward, giving the reader a look into a struggling family. As Kate works toward some sort of reconciliation, the reader is given a portrait of a small community, of family violence entrenched through the generations, of the clash between what is possible and what is real.
Mary Lawson has composed an excellent first novel. I felt it the author over used foreshadowing – in culinary terms, the dish was a little salty. And while the ending made sense, I have a feeling it was a little abrupt – the meat wasn’t allowed to rest quite long enough. I did wonder if there was another book that Mary Lawson had in mind – I got the feeling that the rivalry between Luke and Matt was on her mind and I have since found out her second novel does explore a sibling rivalry. I look forward to reading itnot only because of the author’s excellent prose, but also her ability to look at relationships and translate those relationships to the reader in a way that both enlightens as well as entertains.
I liked this book a lot when I read on a beach vacation several years ago…….weird but I can almost always recall where I was when I read a particular book….LOL
[…] Crow Lake by Mary Lawson […]
This sounds very good as well. I like the quotes. She writes beautifully.
It’s interesting that you had a much stronger reaction than your mother.
It sounds like a great first novels but still with some of the flaws which can come with first novel. It’s interesting as well that you already sensed the next story coming.