August group read discussion thread

[SusanH]

Here is our discussion thread for The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman. If you haven't finished reading, beware of spoilers.

[Maribeth]

I just finished this yesterday. I don't have time right now to post my thoughts and I still want to think about it, but if you're waffling about reading it, give it a try! It's short and quick reading, and it's not nearly as deep as it could have been so you can breeze through. It's a nice summer read. More later!

[Chelsey]

I liked this book a great deal more than I thought I would. I agree with Maribeth that it's a quick read, but it wasn't fluff. The characters were pretty nuanced, and it had some twists that I didn't expect. Although the ending was very sweet, it didn't have a sickly, implausible feel. Two thumbs up from me.

[SusanH]

I really liked this one too, although I must confess that my favorite part was the first chapter. I'm not sure the rest of the book quite lived up to the promise of the first chapter, but I did enjoy the novel. My second favorite scene was the trip to the Catskills - the dinner conversation was very funny. I liked that the characters were noticeably typed without being stereotyped, which is difficult to do. I recently read a very bad novel in which the Jewish Characters spoke really outlandish dialogue to keep reminding us that they were Jewish, along the lines of, "Oy vey ist mir! That schmuck is noshing on all my gefelte fish!" Lipman was much better at reproducing conversations that sounded realistic for each of her ethnic groups.

I must say the fate of Robin caught me completely off-guard. Did anyone see that coming?

[Chelsey]

I didn't see Robin at all. I don't know if that was due to deft writing, or a good choice on what information to include on the dust flap blurb.

[Lisa Jo]

I liked this too, and Susan's summary here was perfect.

I really liked this one too, although I must confess that my favorite part was the first chapter. I'm not sure the rest of the book quite lived up to the promise of the first chapter, but I did enjoy the novel.

I was really sucked in by the first chapter, and felt the book lost its way a little bit after that. Unlike Susan, I didn't particularly enjoy the dialogue at the Halseeyon. In general, I didn't think dialogue was Lipman's forte. Still, I enjoyed it and thought the happy ending was perfect.

[mom317]

I finally finished it lastnight. I agree with the majority about the first chapter sucking you in. The book flew like the first half, and then it dragged. I didn't like the mushroom poisoning part, thought it was tedious and didn't need to be there.

It was funny though, I am from Newton MA so that was parth of the reason I got so sucken in at first, the characters are so "Newton". I enjoyed those aspects a lot.