- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Signet (TRD); Trade PB 1st pr edition (Jun 15 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0451203739
- ISBN-13: 978-0451203731
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.5 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 113 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #997,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling thriller writer Thayer changes gears this time out with a semi-autobiographical novel about three generations of one family. If there is an undertone of therapeutic exercise in this book, it is because that is how the novel came about. As the author explains in an epilogue a letter to Thayer's deceased father he was told to write a letter to his dead father to help overcome a bout of depression. Instead, Thayer wrote from his home in Lake Elmo, Minn., to a fictional, biracial daughter named Angela who "began writing back" from Los Angeles. Along with his letters and Angela's diary entries, Thayer spliced in edited excerpts from his father's diary; the compiled assemblage forms the book. While there is a fair amount of dialogue and plot development in the various missives, the author is hemmed in by the format. Letters and diaries do not allow for the kind of rich narrative and vivid character interactions that we have come to expect from Thayer, who in earlier works has shown himself to be an accomplished storyteller. The contrivance of the format keeps the characters and their viewpoints separate, resulting in an overall flatness to the unfolding story about a man who scarcely knew his father and abandoned his daughter. Occasional scenes involving the daughter's abusive grandmother and a chilling description of sickle cell anemia, which killed Angela's mother, are well constructed. Thayer does a decent job of capturing three distinct voices here the innocence of one who fought in WWII as he tries to understand the dissolution of his marriage; the tribulations of a baby boomer who has lost the love of his life; and an interracial pre-adolescent searching for her identity but one longs for a more compelling and thorough examination of their lives.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something to think about!,
By
This review is from: Moon Over Lake Elmo (Paperback)
The diary style used in this book is not new. Other good books have been diaries and the relationship between the three main characters gives the reader something to think about. Several reviewers mentioned problems with the shift in times and characters but that is the way real life is. We all experience memories and thoughts of the future while experiencing the present. Steve Thayer helps the reader out by using different fonts for each character. This is a short novel that weaves the stories of three lives and how they intertwine. It also raises issues that are of importance. It is hard to tell a good story in 150 pages, but this author does it. As for missing details, I feel that is for the reader to fill in. A willingness to create a relationship with this novel rather than to simply read the words is a key part of the experience. The author invites the reader to think and connect the dots. I liked that!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Minnesota POV,
By
This review is from: Moon Over Lake Elmo (Paperback)
Lake Elmo is a place of solace for me, so when I saw this book, I had to pick it up. I live about 15 minutes from there and go walking and running at the Lake Elmo park reserve. The book struck a nerve in me because Steve's dad grew up in northern Wisconsin not too far from where I did, and I have always been fascinated with life during and post WWII. These diaries/letter were from three extremely different people, but yet, they were all so similar. The diaries talked of happy times in the past, the current dread they were going through, and the hope for a better future. Just to read some of those passages broke my heart. I wish my grandparents had kept a diary so I could know what they've been through. I did wish for more, though. I wanted to know more and more about these people, but there's only so much you can do with a journal. You can't go back and find out more if the person is dead. Anyway, a very good book, and if you live in St. Paul or are from NW Wisconsin, there are a lot of areas and landmarks mentioned!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Regarding Publisher's Weekly Review,
By Rafael Torrealba (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Moon Over Lake Elmo (Paperback)
I agree with Publisher's Weekly review's opinion that the format of the book does not allow Steve Thayer to write in the more exciting way he usually does, but because it is made of letters & diary entries the reader enjoys a more intimate view of each character's feelings and thoughts. That alone, in my opionion, makes up for the relatively basic form of writing used in the book because the story is a very personal documentation of problems within a family, hence better insight is more valuable. I also agree that Thayer did an exceptional job of making some of the more dramatic scenes come to life, like the grandmother's beating of Angela, and the climax of the book when the father and daughter are reunited. While this book may not be a typical Steve Thayer "thriller", it certainly shows that he posesses a great deal of versatility as an author.
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