Lost Lake: Stories

Lost Lake: Stories by Mark Slouka is a recommended collection of twelve interconnected stories set in a small Czech community on the shores of Lost Lake.

The stories are all wonderfully descriptive and mainly about fishing. The narrator is a middle-aged man, Mostovsky, who is looking back at his experiences at the family's cabin on Lost Lake in upstate New York and the largely Czech community who vacationed there. As with many childhood memories, many of these have a dream-like nostalgic quality to them. Along with the good memories are other memories that are less than beautiful or not completely understood until viewed at as an adult. Strong emotions from the memories are acknowledged, as are the subtleties among the residents there show more that may be noticed by a child, but, again, only understood as an adult.

The strength in this collection and the reason to read it is the beautiful writing, which is rich in its comparisons and images. That said, this isn't a collection where a whole lot of action takes place or a clear plot is developed. The stories jump back and forth in time as memories and recollections are shared. There are prose includes descriptions of the nature surrounding the lake in the stories and talk about fishing. A whole lot of talk about fishing. In the end it was all the discussion of fishing that overwhelmed me and began to detract from the quality of the writing.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of W.W. Norton & Company.
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I have read Mark Slouka's most recent novel, Brewster, which I thought was excellent. Based on that I thought it was worthwhile to read his earlier works. Lost Lake consists of 12 short stories and is his first published work. It really comes across as more narrative prose poetry than anything else. The stories mostly revolve around a lake in upstate New York and the Chech immigrant community. The writing is beautiful and the stories are subtle. It is a short book and if you like good writing go for it. I strongly recommend Brewster which is a great young adult novel that is fine for we big adults as well.

Too much bla-bla-blah.

It takes about a minute and a half to read, so equally it deserves only a minute and a half review.

This would be a good memoir for one's own life book, but certainly nothing worth publishing.

Fishing and camping and nature; and nature and camping and fishing, without a lot of insight or greater perceptions.

I look to art to be moved: make me think, make me laugh, make me cry, make me angry ... but don't ever, ever make me bored.

Too much bla-bla-blah. Emphasis on "blah".

Short stories. Lyrical prose. Memory pieces.

Short stories. Lyrical prose. Memory pieces.