Flashback Friday: "Gone Away Lake"

Gone Away Lake
by Elizabeth Enright
Genre: Children's Fiction/Vintage
Rating 5/5

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Since I recently wrote about one of Enright's other books, "Thimble Summer" I thought I would write a review of a book I first read 23 years ago. I might make this a regular thing, reviewing my favorite books every Friday.

I love this book.  This book spawned my first-ever attempt at fanfiction even before I decided I wanted to become a writer when I grew up.  Like "Thimble Summer" its about a summer of adventures. This time it takes place in the 1950's and two kids, Portia and & Julian, discover an abandoned Victorian resort on the edge of the swamp.  The swamp used to be a lake and there are two residents--a pair of elderly siblings who grew up at the resort in the 1890's.  They become fast friends with the kids and many adventures are had. This is peppered with the adventures of Portia, Julian & friends, as well as flackbacks to the 1890's.

This book has so much going on it can make you dizzy, and it's paired with wonderful busy illustrations that you can look at for hours, always finding something new.

I have a great love of dilapidation so the book's background of crumbling Victorian mansions thrilled me as much when I was a kid as it does now, and the old car in it is excellent because my family has always had old cars. (My father has two Model A's: the one he bought as a project car when he was a teen (still not finished) and my grandfather's, which is beautiful and perfect.)

Enright's girl characters are always as bold and strong as the boys, even when writing in a time when women were seen as nothing more than housewives. I really connected with Portia when I was a kid in the early 90's, even though she was written into existence the same year my father was born.

There is mystery and some scares in this, which make it a bit more exciting than "Thimble Summer." Everything about it is beautiful and perfect.  Recommended for kids and adults.

A Cold Day for Murder

A Cold Day for Murder
by Dana Stabenow
Genre: thriller/mystery
3/5

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Kate Shugak is a former D.A. in Anchorage who returns to her roots, a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, after a brutal encounter with a child molester. Trying to hide in her cabin, she is called out to find a missing park ranger with ties to a congressman, as well as an FBI agent (and her former lover) who went looking for him.

I liked parts of this book. The setting of an Alaskan wilderness was fascinating, along with learning about the Aleut culture in small-town Alaska.  I liked how it ended, and a lot of the drama among the characters. A lot of the characters were really cool too.

I didn't like a few things too. It was slow. Even though this is the first book in the series it feels like it needs an entire book before it to flesh out Kate's back story.  I feel like there's a lot of telling vs. showing in that respect.  And Kate seems to have slept with half the men in the book, which isn't exactly a turn-off, but introducing 3? 4? former/current lovers seems a bit over-kill to me. I'm assuming this was to build up tension for later books.

I liked it, but I didn't love it enough to get the next book in the series. It did win an Edgar Award though (and the author's forward about winning the award was pretty funny), so it must have something to it that big mystery readers find important and amazing.

"Thimble Summer"

Thimble Summer
by Elizabeth Enright
Genre: Children's/Vintage
Rating: 4/5

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I bought this book because I was thinking about how much I loved one of Enright's other books, "Gone Away Lake."  This book was written very early in her career in the 1930's.  I love older books because you always learn something of historical significance.  Did you know in the 30's the word 'cookie' was spelled 'cooky'?  I saw it in 2 different publications from the 30's just this week.

"Thimble Summer" is a simple 'slice of life' style story about a farm girl named Garnet. She has a summer full of adventures, from getting locked in the library to befriending a hobo 13 yr old boy to running away from home without anyone noticing.  Her family worries about bills (this takes place in the tail end of the depression) and drought. Throughout the story she raises a runt pig and shows him at the county fair (this is pre-Charlotte's Web), and has many many adventures.

Thimble Summer isn't quite as good as Gone Away Lake, but they're very similar stories.  It's charming, amusing, and fun.  I liked it as an adult very much, but I'm not sure how modern kids would feel about reading it.  Maybe the the complete alien concept of a depression era farm would interest them.

It's a simple string of short stories with a few themes following all the way through. If you don't like books without a lot of plot you won't like it.  Would be really great to read aloud to your kids one chapter a night though.