Customer Reviews

Gone Away Lake

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Gone-Away Lake" is a delightful, beautifully written story, just this side of fantasy and filled with interesting, likable characters. A brother and sister from the city take the train to visit their country cousin. The children discover an old, mostly abandoned summer colony of houses near a swamp that used to be a lake. There they meet the most charming people in the book, an elderly sister and brother, Minnehaha Cheever and Pindar Payton, who are living happily in the place where they spent summers as children. The pair wear old-fashioned clothes stored away many years ago by their family, cultivate a variety of gardens, and have chickens, goats, a duck, and a cat named Fatly. Once a month, Pindar cranks up the antique Franklin car and drives into town for supplies. The children are adventuresome and imaginative, and have no need of TV to keep themselves amused. The descriptions of the country are amazingly vivid, and there's plenty of humor too. Don't miss the sequel, "Return to Gone-Away." And Elizabeth Enright's series about the Melendy family is also fun to read.

I'm 12 and just finished the book today and was totally SHOCKED at the bad reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have read Miracles at Maple Hill and I loved it and these books are very similar but in a good way, a very good way! I am convinced that all of the people who disliked this book were either disappointed because they rather idiotically judged the book by it's mysterious cover or they just plain old don't like to read happy books with happy endings or just don't like to read at ALL (which is beyond my imagination)!! I was supposed to read this for school but I started it early having nothing else to read and finished LONG before the date i was supposed to START it!

So it's not a horror or a thriller, SO?!?!?! So it's not violent or action packed, WHO CARES?!?!?! It's sweet and fun and I read it for hours! It is one of the few books I could read again!

These books made me wish I'd had this perfect summer adventure. Two children come across a group of old houses, mysteriously vacant and abandoned on the shore of a swampy lake. Somebody has been there -- there's a warning and an inscription carved into a rock. Can the children keep their find a secret? Who left the houses and where did they go? What's lurking in the lake?

A terrific story -- the main characters are a boy and girl who are good friends, interesting people, and respectful of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

It was one of my husband's favorite books and it has become one of mine after we read it aloud to our daughter. The sequel is just as good (Return to Gone-Away). If you enjoyed Enright's books about the Melendy children ("The Saturdays" "Four-Story Mistake", etc.) you'll love these.

A product of late fifties America, Elizabeth Enright's Gone Away Lake (1957) feels, in tone and spirit, more like a reflection of mid-forties America or earlier. Gone Away Lake, a light children's novel, is an excellent showcase for mid - century American manners and mores, the same manners which cynics today like to denigrate or deny ever existed outside of wishful thinking.

The story of two cousins who befriend an isolated pair of elderly siblings living happily at a now abandoned but once magnificent lake resort, Gone Away Lake also demonstrates how those children and teenagers of the era lucky enough to escape the spell - binding pull of television entertained themselves. Nature was generally closer and more available to the average child then than it is today, and the novel is composed around the myriad ways in which Portia and her freckled, insect - collecting cousin Julian embrace the majesty and mystery of nature. Luckily, their new friends, Mrs. Minnehaha Cheever and Mr. Pindar Payton, are nature's Edward Carpenter - like custodians: each is a planter, a gardener, and a conservationist, and Mrs. Cheever is an avid canner and pickler. Mutually delighted in one another's company, the two generations meet, mingle, and become beloved friends and companions over the course of a magically described summer.

Gone Away Lake also touches on aging, memory, personal history, and the importance of mentoring, as Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Payton delight the cousins with subtly ethical reminiscences and tall tales about the lake's glory days when they were children themselves. Without the slightest hint of calculation, artificiality, or political engineering, Enright also emphasizes healthy balance and tolerance, as both the siblings and the cousins are of opposite genders. In an era when both the sexes and gender roles were sharply divided, Gone Away Lake portrays Julian and Portia not only as best friends, but as never less than equals in insight, courage, stamina, intelligence, and ingenuity. In the same subtle fashion, Enright underscores the importance of family and human interaction in the life of the individual. Spanning the generations, Enright implies, is as easy as extending one's self with honesty, integrity, and faith.

Unlike many of today's books written for children, Gone Away Lake is a genuinely warm, spirited, and wholesome book. Framed by ultimately superfluous plot elements such as a mysteriously - carved stone, a pit of quicksand, and a haunted house, Gone Away Lake, a Newberry honorary, will delight readers of all ages.

How disturbing to read the negative reviews of this gentle classic. Their key complaint? A pleasant tone and a lack of "plot." This good-natured novel is filled with rich descriptive vocabulary and a subtlety of storytelling that should be admired rather than criticized.

The plot? Not much, really. Just a few noble thoughts. Value the past and learn its lessons. Coexist with nature and reap its rewards. Treasure your elders, and find out about the fascinating experiences they have had.

Probably not as exciting as novels heavy on conventional "plot" formulas, but skillful and eloquent writing, and enriching reading for those who are prepared to enjoy it's subtleties.

Highly recommended--but not for the cynical.

I read this book as a child and fell in love with it. The characters--cousins Portia and Julian-- are introduced to eccentric older people when they discover 'Gone Away Lake' and learn to love and revere them for their wisdom and humor. The eccentric older people--Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pindar--treat the cousins and their friends like real people not like children.

There is real magic in finding a place that has long since been forgotten, and then learning to appreciate its present beauty while learning about its history. Like another reviewer, I have never ceased to want to move to 'Gone Away Lake'. Somehow, I was fortunate enough, too, to have a copy of the sequel (many years old).

READ IT! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

This was an enchanting book. It is an "I-can't-put-it-down" kind of book. It is so descriptive that you feel like you're really there. You can really picture it in your mind. We can't wait to read "Return to Gone-Away Lake!" We know you'll enjoy this book very very VERY MUCH!!!!!!!

Gone-Away Lake and its sequel were my favorite books as a child, and I have also re-read them frequently over the years. I feel a kinship with the other people who have reviewed this book and love it as I do. I now have introduced it to my 8 year old son, and am so happy that he shares my love for this book. I love escaping to this gone-away place, and wish that I grew up in an era when children could safely wander, explore, and discover during the long lazy days of summer! How much more wonderful than today's summers filled with shopping malls, television, and Nintendo!

Gone-Away Lake is an amazing, well-written, mysterious, exciting, suspenseful, and funny book.

It all starts when 10-year-old Portia and her 6-year-old brother, Foster, set off on a train to their Aunt Hilda, Uncle Jake, and cousin Julian's house. (Julian is the same age as Portia) They are spending two months there that summer, as usual, but this time, without their parents because they are on a seperate trip. When they arrive at the house they find that it is a new house and are very excited.

Just a couple of days later, Julian and Portia do some exploring. Aunt Hilda had packed the two children a picnic lunch, so, they have to find the perfect spot to eat. They soon come upon a HUGE boulder covered in moss, ants, and vines. So, of course, they have their picnic there. After a while, they find a mysterious message on the boulder...

After finishing their lunch, they keep on walking deeper and deeper into the woods. suddenly they come upon a rowboat in the middle of a swamp. Hmmmmm......... Julian climbs up onto the rowboat, and what he sees amazes him. Portia looks with him.... A GHOST-TOWN!!!!!!

The children have several amazing adventures throughout the whole book, and I, personally, couldn't put in down. I finished it in 3 days, and the very ending left me so very anxious to get my hands on the sequel, RETURN TO GONE-AWAY. This is an amazing book that is a must-read!!!!!!

Plot Summary

In this book a girl named Portia and her cousin julian discover a dried out swampish lake called Gone Away Lake. There are many broken down houses at gone away. Two houses are being lived in by a brother and sister named Mrs. Cheever and Mr.payton who decide to give Julian and Portia a house of their own. Julian and Portia turn the atic of one of the houses into a club and have many adventures throughout the story.

Plot High Point

The high point of the story is when they discover another broken down house that Portias parents liked. Portias parents decide thatif it didn't cost to much they would by the house fix it up and use it as a summer house.

Main Characters

The main charecters in this story are Portia, Julian, Mrs.Cheever and Mr.Payton.

Setting

The setting of the story is in a swamp area surrounded by over grown forests.

Personal Opinion

I would give this story 5 stars. I really liked this story a lot and am looking forward to reading return to Gone Away Lake.