The Lake Shore Limited

Probably the best Sue Miller I’ve read in a while, this follows the lives, loves and inter-relationships of four middle aged people – Leslie, Billy, Rafe and Sam. Two are women, but frankly with names like those you would be forgiven for assuming they were all men.

The novel’s plot revolves around the death of of the partner of one of the characters on 9/11, but the story isn’t really about 9/11, it’s more an examination of the nature of relationships, in particular imperfect relationships. I was struck by how readily the people who populate the book give up on their relationships out of boredom. Are we really so lacking in any kind of staying power? And yet with the divorce rate so high, maybe Sue Miller is simply telling it show more like it is. She certainly shows how the course of love is as rocky in your forties and fifties as it is in your teens.

I liked the tone of this book, the measured way in which all the characters were introduced, and given space in which to come to life. We see them from their point of view and from others’, we delve into their past, we analyse their deepest thoughts. As long as you’re interested in them (and I was) this is a fascinating read. show less

This is an interesting treatment of issues of guilt, grief and marriage. Also deals with the push and pull and give and take of personal relationships between parents and children, or spouses. Also deals honestly with unbalanced pairs in close relationships: the chronically ill, terminally ill, and the care giver or healthy partner; and when one person adores and cherishes the other while the object of that attention feels a lot less strongly about the relationship.

What detracts from the book are overdone and unnecessary sexual scenes and repeated political comments that were irrelevant to the story and annoying because I couldn't care less what Ms Miller thinks about the 2008 election. Her remarks about the war in Iraq were in a show more similar vain. That wasn't what the story was about, so what is that junk doing in there?? show less

In addition to being a very fine novel, The Lake Shore Limited is a study of grief, loss, love, and the persistence of hope. Four lengthy sections sketch out each of the four main characters. Leslie, a fifty-ish real estate agent, is still reeling from the loss of her much younger brother, Gus, who was on one the highjacked planes at the heart of the 9/11 tragedy. She worries about Billy, Gus's fiancée, a playwright who seems to have withdrawn into her own grief. The truth is that Billy is weighed down by her conflicted feelings: she had decided to break off with Gus right before the tragedy, and her latest play, 'The Lake Shore Limited,' focuses on Gabriel, a character in a similar conflict. Neither one can reconcile their thoughts show more with their feelings or with feelings 'appropriate' to their circumstances. Similarly, Rafe, the actor who plays Gabriel, is dealing with the fact that his wife is slowly dying from ALS. And then there is Sam, whose first wife died of cancer and whose second divorced him. These four come together when Leslie and her husband invite Sam to attend a preview of the play and have a drink with the playwright, Billy, afterwards.

As the characters' stories develop and intersect, Miller reminds us that life is never easy and that feelings are rarely black or white. Nor are they usually isolated. There are times when it is possible to hate what you love and and to love what you hate; to be both hopeful and fearful at the same time; to feel simultaneously empty and satisfied. That's the nature of being human, and Miller explores it in depth. As the novel draws near it's close, Miller returns to her section-per-character structure, only this time the sections are very brief, showing us the characters beginning to move past their moments of personal crisis. In the end, I was left thinking of Samuel Beckett's line, "I can't go on, I'll go on."

Like the characters, The Lake Shore Limited was often funny, more often a little sad, but always human. It kept me wanting to read further (and took me away from other things I needed to be doing), which is always the sign of a well-structured plot and interesting, believable characters. Miller is obviously adept at delving into the human psyche. A satisfying (it's hard to say "enjoyable" about a book where the characters are often in pain) read, highly recommended. I will be looking for more of Miller's fiction. show less

I was quite surprised to read this book has gotten negative reviews - to me it was nearly a perfect novel: beautifully written, and especially the structure.

The four main characters, Leslie, Billy, Rafe, and Sam, are explored through a play written by Billy. Gus, brother of Leslie and lover of Billy, was killed on 9/11; Billy, who was about to break up with him, writes a play about a woman who may have been killed in a train explosion, whose husband, played by Rafe, has a lover and isn't sure if he wants his wife to have been killed or to return.

We first learn about the play, and her feelings about Gus and Billy, through Leslie's eyes, as she goes to it with Sam, whom she's fixing up with Billy.

Then we see the play in a new way, show more through its writer's eyes, and learn the truth about her relationship with Gus - which she's exploring in the play.

And then Rafe, who plays the lead, gives new perspective on the play, on Billy, and on his own tragedy - his wife's illness.

(Sam was a bit extraneous for me, and more tangential to the central tragedy.)

It's amazing to me how Miller can so convincingly portray such different characters - their interior lives, how they talk, what they do. show less

At first, I avoided this book because I thought it was about 9/11. But it was really just a whisper of 9/11, and handled in a rather original way. I'd recommend this novel to anyone who liked Sue Miller's other books, or is looking for a quiet, thoughtful, contemplative story with interesting characters. It's the story of Billy, a playwright; Leslie, her ex-lover's sister; Sam, who used to be in love with Leslie and is now drawn to Billy; and Rafe, the principal actor in Billy's newest play.

This is an interesting book exploring a person’s reaction to tragedy, depending on the vantage point from which one comes to it, at the time it occurs. Explicitly, the story revolves around the terrorist attack of 9/11, although it is about an imaginary attack on a train; it is about the conflicting emotions it engendered in everyone involved, and everyone was involved since 9/11 hit at the core of every American’s heart.

A couple, Leslie and Pierce, are visiting Boston for the opening of a show written by Billy, former lover of Leslie’s brother Gus who was murdered in a plane crash on 9/11. The show, titled The Lake Shore Limited, is not supposed to be about 9/11, but it definitely evokes thoughts about it, especially for Leslie. show more As Leslie witnesses the actor’s portrayal of characteristics which seem to be taken from her brother Gus and his former lover’s feelings about their family and sundry life events, she becomes aware of a bit of the personal life and problems that must have existed between her brother and Billy, upsetting problems she was unaware of until she saw the play.

On stage, the story, on the surface, is about a couple, Gabriel and Elizabeth. Elizabeth has had thoughts questioning their future together and has gone off to think. Gabriel has also questioned their relationship and has been restless and unfaithful. The train returning her home was involved in a terrorist attack and whether or not she survives, and the reaction to that possibility, is the crux of the story. The circle of people this tragedy involves extends out like tentacles, from those who are immediately affected by it, to those peripherally touched. Their secrets are exposed; they cause pain, and ultimately, renewal, in some cases, even offering some a second chance at life.

There are many parallels in the lives of the actors on stage and those of the audience, particularly to Leslie and her friend Sam, whom she has invited to meet Billy, and to Billy and Gus. Viewing the play causes conflict in Leslie and somewhat of an epiphany in Sam, regarding his past relationships. The main actor, Gabriel (Rafe), brings his own grief and suffering to the part he plays, which makes his performance even more real to the audience and inspires him to rethink his life and change his ways. The play itself raises many questions which the audience appreciates and investigates long after it is over.

The question of how one would feel if they were suddenly faced with the loss of their partner hovers over everyone. Would your response be appropriate in the eyes of your loved ones: would you be relieved, thinking a new life was opening up for you, an escape hatch; would you think your life was shutting down and ending; would you go on with renewed hope, would it confirm your desire to leave your former lifestyle; would it give you a second chance to show remorse for broken promises; would your true feelings be exposed to the world, against your will; could you hide your true feelings when they became conflicted? All of these different reactions would depend on the point from which your memories began and from which your life was lived, happily or unhappily; all of the reactions would depend on how you would wish to go forward afterwards. The book examines the idea of fate, in our daily lives. Do some things occur to point us in one direction or another or do we march along willy-nilly, reacting to things by chance. Are some things inevitable? No matter what the event, tragic or joyous, no matter how we think we cannot go on, we all do, somehow; we all continue, some crippled with guilt, some overwhelmed by fear, some with hope.

The book is about guilt and with it the appropriate expression of sorrow. It is about feelings of obligation, about accepting what life presents and how we eventually deal with it; it is about relationships, how they change, wither or grow, and it is about what causes theses alterations in behavior. It is about what draws people together, what outside forces are at work, and it is about what tears them apart, in some instances. It is about inappropriate reactions when faced with a dilemma and the consequences of all of our actions when faced with incontrovertible tragedy.

I listened to the narrative which was read by the author. She did an admirable job but might have been better served by a professional reader with a more resonant, expressive voice, rather than hers which was a bit scratchy. Still, it was a good reading of the book. Also, if the too explicit, unseemly sexual descriptions had been left out and the insensitive and unwarranted political points of view had been deleted, I would have given the book four stars, instead of three. These two issues, so superciliously expressed, detracted me so much from the main theme of the story, however, that I could not. Both had nothing to do with the theme of the story, did not enhance it, and simply served to allow her to use her bully pulpit to spread her liberal ideas to a wider audience, even contested points of view. I resent when an author foists her unrequested political views upon her readers, often views they may not share, when they are not pertinent to the substance of the novel. It is for this reason that I dialed back my rating on the book.

I read about how the author recognized the value of a play when it caused the viewers to explore their own feelings and lives, as a result of seeing it. In much the same way, I think a book impacts the reader’s life, when the readers use the experience to examine the lives they lead. Perhaps this is such a book. show less

I like Sue Miller very much! The characters in her stories are well fleshed out and completely believable as people. The theme of this story, painful loss and how people choose to deal with it is searing. The way we see a situation, our own situation, how we privately think about it both as it is happening and in retrospect, how all these elements balance often on chance, we see through the eyes of the four main characters. This is a story about people, flawed and very human. If you need more action in a story then you should look elsewhere. Sue Miller has a talent for making the characters that inhabit her stories as real as anyone you might know, yet she allows you the privilege of hearing their most intimate thoughts which adds show more unmeasurable depth to her stories, to this story! You have only to listen and observe and learn from their experience. This is a solemn look into the reactions of four people who's lives overlap during the production of a play "The Lake Shore Limited". If you are patient, reflective, there is much insight to be taken from this lovely story! show less