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Rating:  - Required reading
I purchased this book for my college ENG class as a required text. At first I found some of the language offensive and didn't really like it, but as I continued reading the book was very intriguing and sucked me in. I ended up really liking the book and enjoyed reading it, even if it was required.
Rating:  - A Psychological Study of the Layers that make up a Man
John Wade, Minnesota native and political up and comer has lost his bid for a Senate seat...lost it by a landslide. Now, while on a retreat from politics to the northern woods of Minnesota John has lost his beloved wife Kathleen.
In this brilliant 1994 novel by Tim O'Brien, we see the psychological layers that make up a man; everyone in this book is hiding secrets and no one is who they seem to be. O'Brien uses short, richly developed scenes to describe not only the horrors of war, but the ramifications of holding in secrets that are too dark to reveal. When Senate hopeful John Wade loses the election due to unearthed information linking him to the massacre at My Lai the spider web of deceit that he has woven begins to come apart. The problem is that Wade has become so adept at hiding his secrets that he loses his ability to recognize truth from fantasy...and here in lies the mystery that the reader shares in. We are shown facts, suppositions and viewpoints from multiple angles and are forced to deduce/intuit the truth within the words. We discover that perception and memory are dodgy things at best. This is a brilliantly chilling piece of writing that fully engages both sides of the brain. Like life, there are no pat answers here; no neat endings or perfect closures. This novel asks the reader to look deeply within ourselves to witness our own shadows and to realize that no matter how much we love another it is virtually impossible to fully know them and equally difficult to fully know ourselves.
If you're afraid of some frankly dark images; vivid descriptions of the My Lai massacre and the horror of war, then this may not be your book. But if you're not afraid to look (even within your mind's eye) at the darkness without and by doing so face the darkness within, then "In the Lake of the Woods" is a must read morality play that is ambiguously shaded in greys rather than the moral black and white that is so comforting to us as humans. This is a novel that is destined to be a classic.
Rating: - surprising in a good way
In my english class we had a choice between a few books and i randomly chose this one. when i started reading i actually found myself getting interested in the storyline. i dont remember the last book before this one that i read in a class and actually liked it.
the whole book is one giant question: what happened to the main character's wife? at first it just seems like an entertaining horror/mystery novel but as you read on it gets much more complex. it talks about his experiences in vietnam (and what terrible things he did there), about his abused childhood, and about his odd behavior in college. the story even makes you feel sad when you see how much the main character and his wife used to love eachother.
long story short, this is a great book that will keep you guessing even after you finish it. if you like interesting, thought provoking books, read this one. tim o' brien truely is a great writer.
Rating: - great book
Most books that are required reading for English classes are an absolute bore. Not this one, ever since I opened it I have been unable to put it down. If this is a requirement, you will not dread it. If you are just simply looking for a great read you will not be let down.
Rating: - ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
I don't know what to say... maybe... This book is outstanding! Great! One of a kind!
It's a mix of a war themed book and a mystery book.
Throughout the book the reader is given little bits of the main charactor's life's story in order to try and figure out if he (John) really did killed his wife Kathy or if she just ran away.
There are chapters that tell about John's life in the Vietnam war, His life before the war, and there are also evidence chapters which really add to the plot of the book.
This is really a one-of-a-kind book and a great read.
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