Reading Response #1- Crow Lake

I am really enjoying this book! I feel that the best part of this book is the characters. I am only a fourth of my way through the book, but already I have a very clear understanding of who Matt, Luke, Kate and Bo are. This book has been hard to put down. I love that it goes back in forth between Kate's life as an adult and her childhood, which I think is very important because she is trying to show the connections between what happened to her as a child and why she is the way she is now. I don't feel as I am reading that Kate sees all these connections herself, and rather that she is making them at the same time as the reader. This book started off with a mention of a tragedy right from page one. It did not try to make the death of their parents, which presumably leads to every other event in the book, suspenseful. However, that does not mean it isn't suspenseful! I have found myself lost in this book trying as fast as I can to connect Kate's past and present and try and figure out what happened in the middle. Mary Lawson is not trying to write a book about a crime story, or a horrible killing. What this book seems to be about is grief and moving on and how certain incidents can shape our lives. Kate is the character I seem to know the best, as she is the narrator and the only character in which we know anything about their present life. The author, however, has managed to teach me a great deal about Luke, Matt and Bo in a very short time period. Luke was clearly changed a lot by the loss of his parents. Kate recalls his behavior changing incredibly when their parents die. I think that many people, when they experience a great disaster, become who they really were all the time. You are forced out of the comfort zone you were hiding in, and you have to become a better person. Luke certainly seems to want to put his siblings first, and seems to develop a very close attachment with Bo. All the siblings grow closer, although Matt and Kate who were very close, now have certain things they can't talk about. They don't want to upset each other, and because of this I feel like Kate isn't quite as close to her brother as she once was. I think that they know that a boundary exists that wasn't there before. I am at the part in the book, when the children have been told, that they must be split up. Bo and Kate will stay together, but Matt and Luke will have to live with different relatives. Kate, and I am sure Bo once she realizes what is happening, is horrified. These children, well certainly close to their parents, have very close bonds between them. Luke and Bo, and Kate and Matt are inseparable. It does not seem fair, that after all they have lost, they must now lose the simple comfort of each other. I can see in Kate's description of these childhood memories, that she was too young to really understand much of what was going on around her. I think a lot of the fear she feels is in not knowing. I understand how she feels as I think knowing that you don't know anything about a situation, or that you have absolutely no power at all, is one of the scariest things you can experience. Luke and Matt I realize, don't want to worry her, but she can sense the fear that they have and it really scares her. Kate is clearly having a hard time understanding the person she has become. Her narration often mentions that she doesn't know why she does certain things. I think Kate knows though, that you can trace everything back to her parents death. Kate seems to be on a mission of self discovery. I understand how Kate feels, because I often do not understand my own tendencies. The logical part of my brain tells me that my behavior is irrational, and yet I can't change it. I think Kate is a really great character, and I can not wait to find out what will happen next.