Helpful Score: 19
This book is awful. Let me count the ways...
I hate books where the characters act nothing like real people, and this book is a prime example of that failing. If you lived away from home for five + years and returned for an extended visit, and immediately pissed off your brother (who never left, by the way) by telling your mother that his girlfriend was pregnant after he specifically asked you not to do so, would you call him at 1:00 am when you knew he was sleeping next to the prgenant girlfriend (who now hated you)to tell him that you thought that he was handling his career choice all wrong? Ummm, no, you wouldn't. But this character does.
I also hate books that base their plot on coincidence and unbelievable events. The plot starts with the narrator finding a package of documents in the cupola of the charmingly dilapidated Victorian mansion on a lake where her mother lives (more about the ridiculous descriptions later). By the end of the story, you still do not know why those documents were ever placed there since the person who wrote or collected them never lived in that house. And when she tells her mother about them, her mother says, 'Oh my gosh, I found a baby blanket hidden in the lining of an old trunk in the barn twenty-five years ago, and it has a note with the same hand-writing on it! I never thought to mention that I found this blanket or note to anyone in 25 years, but now let me show you since this will move this ridiculous plot forward another step.' Well, she doesn't say exactly that, but you get my drift. If you found out that a relative committed manslaughter and killed another relative of yours, would you contact the police, or would you vandalize the relative's store? Why, of course, you would start vandalizing immediately!! This way, no one would ever believe you when you later told your family about what your relative said. Yes, it is that stupid.
I also hate books which include flowery descriptions of every minute detail. The water never just laps at the dock - it laps at the dock like the rhythmic rustling of a lady's taffetta skirts as she sweeps across a marbled floor of a grand drawing room. For pete's sake, couldn't it just lap? And when the narrator tells her mother about some documents she found, we need to first hear about the coffee that she made and blueberry muffins she served with the coffee, studded with moist berries that recall to the taste buds those glorious summer days when the warm sun touched each berry in turn ripening them to the peak of their perfection. Arrrggghhh. By the time you get done listening to the description of the muffins, you have forgotten all about the documents which were so all fire important that she had to wake her brother up in the middle of the night. [This raises a point - I listened to this book on CD - I wonder if I would have noticed this so much if I had read the book on paper. I might have skimmed over the descriptions and they might not have annoyed me so much.]
Finally, Do you think it is tacky for an author of a best-seller to have a character in her next book reading the best-seller? Well, I do. In "Lake of Dreams" the narrator notices her mother reading a book with a black cover on which floats the ethereal image of a delicately embroidered baby dress. Why didn't she just say, "Oh, I see you are reading 'The Memory-Keeper's Daughter'?" At least when the narrator asks her mother how she likes the book (!!) her mother says, "Oh, I just started it." But by then the damage to my respect for this author has been ruined.
In conclusion, don't waste your time on this book. Even if you really, really liked "The Memory-Keeper's Daughter" this book is not half as good as that one was. (Incidentally, I thought the MKD was just okay but at least it was not the train wreck this book is.)
I hate books where the characters act nothing like real people, and this book is a prime example of that failing. If you lived away from home for five + years and returned for an extended visit, and immediately pissed off your brother (who never left, by the way) by telling your mother that his girlfriend was pregnant after he specifically asked you not to do so, would you call him at 1:00 am when you knew he was sleeping next to the prgenant girlfriend (who now hated you)to tell him that you thought that he was handling his career choice all wrong? Ummm, no, you wouldn't. But this character does.
I also hate books that base their plot on coincidence and unbelievable events. The plot starts with the narrator finding a package of documents in the cupola of the charmingly dilapidated Victorian mansion on a lake where her mother lives (more about the ridiculous descriptions later). By the end of the story, you still do not know why those documents were ever placed there since the person who wrote or collected them never lived in that house. And when she tells her mother about them, her mother says, 'Oh my gosh, I found a baby blanket hidden in the lining of an old trunk in the barn twenty-five years ago, and it has a note with the same hand-writing on it! I never thought to mention that I found this blanket or note to anyone in 25 years, but now let me show you since this will move this ridiculous plot forward another step.' Well, she doesn't say exactly that, but you get my drift. If you found out that a relative committed manslaughter and killed another relative of yours, would you contact the police, or would you vandalize the relative's store? Why, of course, you would start vandalizing immediately!! This way, no one would ever believe you when you later told your family about what your relative said. Yes, it is that stupid.
I also hate books which include flowery descriptions of every minute detail. The water never just laps at the dock - it laps at the dock like the rhythmic rustling of a lady's taffetta skirts as she sweeps across a marbled floor of a grand drawing room. For pete's sake, couldn't it just lap? And when the narrator tells her mother about some documents she found, we need to first hear about the coffee that she made and blueberry muffins she served with the coffee, studded with moist berries that recall to the taste buds those glorious summer days when the warm sun touched each berry in turn ripening them to the peak of their perfection. Arrrggghhh. By the time you get done listening to the description of the muffins, you have forgotten all about the documents which were so all fire important that she had to wake her brother up in the middle of the night. [This raises a point - I listened to this book on CD - I wonder if I would have noticed this so much if I had read the book on paper. I might have skimmed over the descriptions and they might not have annoyed me so much.]
Finally, Do you think it is tacky for an author of a best-seller to have a character in her next book reading the best-seller? Well, I do. In "Lake of Dreams" the narrator notices her mother reading a book with a black cover on which floats the ethereal image of a delicately embroidered baby dress. Why didn't she just say, "Oh, I see you are reading 'The Memory-Keeper's Daughter'?" At least when the narrator asks her mother how she likes the book (!!) her mother says, "Oh, I just started it." But by then the damage to my respect for this author has been ruined.
In conclusion, don't waste your time on this book. Even if you really, really liked "The Memory-Keeper's Daughter" this book is not half as good as that one was. (Incidentally, I thought the MKD was just okay but at least it was not the train wreck this book is.)
Helpful Score: 4
Afraid I agree with other reviewer - this book not worth trying to trudge through it - waiting for something interesting to happen.
I was very disappointed, since I loved Memory Keeper's Daughter.
I bought it new because I was so anxious to read it and am sorry I wasted my money on it.
I was very disappointed, since I loved Memory Keeper's Daughter.
I bought it new because I was so anxious to read it and am sorry I wasted my money on it.
Helpful Score: 3
This book was written in a reverse order than The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Each deals with a decision that has far reaching implications for a family across many years. The Memory Keeper's Daughter starts with the decision and tells the story of its effects. The Lake of Dreams starts with a family and goes back with gradual revelation of a story and a decision. It ties together when the final piece of the puzzle is revealed towards the end. I enjoyed both books, but overall like the approach of the Memory Keeper's Daughter better.
Helpful Score: 2
Did not like anything about this book. I only got it because I liked "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"....as hard as I tried I just can't say anything very positive about this one.....I was just too disappointed.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was tedious. I bought it new because Edward's The Memory Keeper's Daughter was so good. Kim Edwards writes beautifully but this book suffers because the plot is confusing and not even interesting. Edwards sets up mystery and then employs improbable but convenient devices to solve it. The protagonist is unlikeable - and I don't think that was Edwards' intent - so I found myself slogging through the book hoping something interesting would happen.
