My Rating: 3.5 stars
This was an interesting read, one that I felt was quite a departure from the traditional thrillers I'm used to reading. Right off the bat, we know that a death has occurred, a woman's body found at the bottom of a fountain, the titular "lady in the lake" from whose first person perspective it seems the story will be told. But then, the story switches to that of another woman, Madeleine "Maddie" Schwartz, a housewife who seemingly has the perfect life, but is actually restless and bored and is thinking about leaving her marriage. Determined to be a reporter, Maddie takes up a job at the local newspaper, but because she is a woman with no media experience to speak of, she is assigned to do menial, seemingly unimportant tasks. At first, it is hard to figure out what the connection is between Maddie's story and that of the dead woman — a connection made more difficult to understand as alternating chapters are narrated by each of the different characters that Maddie encounters throughout the story. Some of the characters who "speak" seem to have nothing to do with the story, while others actually provide insight into the life — and death — of the woman in the fountain, whom we learn is an African-American woman named Cleo Sherwood. In a slow-burning but well-written narrative, we bear witness to Maddie's journey of "self-discovery" as she grows to understand what it is she truly wants in life and, in her attempts to achieve her goals, how her actions impact those around her. Along the way, more of the mystery surrounding Cleo's death is revealed bit by bit, culminating in us (as readers) eventually learning the truth as the two story arcs converge.
Overall, I enjoyed this book well enough, though the structure of the story did take some time to get into, not just because of the many characters that shared in the narration of the story, but also the general slow pace of the plot, which, for me at least, made it not work too well as a mystery / thriller. In a way, this book would also fit into other genres such as historical fiction, as the story actually took place in the 1960s and in addition to addressing some of the societal issues prevalent during that time period (such as segregation and racial prejudice against African-Americans as well as women's rights and their roles in society), some of the events in the story were also based on real-life events (which the author talks about in her author's note at the end of the book). While the story did sustain my interest throughout (for the most part), some sections did drag a little — given these aspects, plus the "unique" format of the narrative, I can understand why the reviews for this book have been a mixed bag. For me, this is my first time reading one of Laura Lippman's works and I ended up liking this one enough that I would definitely consider reading her other works, whether new or backlist.
This was an interesting read, one that I felt was quite a departure from the traditional thrillers I'm used to reading. Right off the bat, we know that a death has occurred, a woman's body found at the bottom of a fountain, the titular "lady in the lake" from whose first person perspective it seems the story will be told. But then, the story switches to that of another woman, Madeleine "Maddie" Schwartz, a housewife who seemingly has the perfect life, but is actually restless and bored and is thinking about leaving her marriage. Determined to be a reporter, Maddie takes up a job at the local newspaper, but because she is a woman with no media experience to speak of, she is assigned to do menial, seemingly unimportant tasks. At first, it is hard to figure out what the connection is between Maddie's story and that of the dead woman — a connection made more difficult to understand as alternating chapters are narrated by each of the different characters that Maddie encounters throughout the story. Some of the characters who "speak" seem to have nothing to do with the story, while others actually provide insight into the life — and death — of the woman in the fountain, whom we learn is an African-American woman named Cleo Sherwood. In a slow-burning but well-written narrative, we bear witness to Maddie's journey of "self-discovery" as she grows to understand what it is she truly wants in life and, in her attempts to achieve her goals, how her actions impact those around her. Along the way, more of the mystery surrounding Cleo's death is revealed bit by bit, culminating in us (as readers) eventually learning the truth as the two story arcs converge.
Overall, I enjoyed this book well enough, though the structure of the story did take some time to get into, not just because of the many characters that shared in the narration of the story, but also the general slow pace of the plot, which, for me at least, made it not work too well as a mystery / thriller. In a way, this book would also fit into other genres such as historical fiction, as the story actually took place in the 1960s and in addition to addressing some of the societal issues prevalent during that time period (such as segregation and racial prejudice against African-Americans as well as women's rights and their roles in society), some of the events in the story were also based on real-life events (which the author talks about in her author's note at the end of the book). While the story did sustain my interest throughout (for the most part), some sections did drag a little — given these aspects, plus the "unique" format of the narrative, I can understand why the reviews for this book have been a mixed bag. For me, this is my first time reading one of Laura Lippman's works and I ended up liking this one enough that I would definitely consider reading her other works, whether new or backlist.
Received ARC from Faber and Faber via NetGalley.
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