In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien

As far as I recall, this book was proposed by Carolyn Housman, when the club met at her home in Rockland, but what matter is that, 14 months later? We read it, we liked it (which, I suppose is true of most of our selections but never guaranteed). In any event, we met on Saturday, March 4, 2023 to discuss it, hosted by Jeanne Ryer and Bill Levin. We shared experiences of us boomers living through the Vietnam War era, which was a time of great change, turmoil and perspectives. Some of us served somewhere in uniform (you know who you are), some of us got lucky with the draft lottery or other means of self-preservation, and some of us watched and waited; all had strong feelings about the ambiguous ending of this novel, which was skillfully done.

Here’s the Goodreads summary:

This riveting novel of love and mystery from the author of The Things They Carried examines the lasting impact of the twentieth century’s legacy of violence and warfare, both at home and abroad. When long-hidden secrets about the atrocities he committed in Vietnam come to light, a candidate for the U.S. Senate retreats with his wife to a lakeside cabin in northern Minnesota. Within days of their arrival, his wife mysteriously vanishes into the watery wilderness.

Tim O’Brien is an American novelist who served as a soldier in the Vietnam War. Much of his writing is about wartime Vietnam, and his work later in life often explores the postwar lives of its veterans.
O’Brien is perhaps best known for his book The Things They Carried (1990), a collection of linked semi-autobiographical stories inspired by his wartime experiences. In 2010, The New York Times described it as “a classic of contemporary war fiction.” O’Brien wrote the war novel, Going After Cacciato (1978), which was awarded the National Book Award. O’Brien taught creative writing, holding the endowed chair at the MFA program of Texas State University–San Marcos every other academic year from 2003 to 2012.