Lake (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Frank D. Gilroy (Author)

Book Description

It was 46 years ago that Frank D. Gilroy won the Pulitzer Prize for his play "The Subject Was Roses," and 43 years since he began work on "Lake." In the vein of Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology," Gilroy tells the story of a summer vacation community in Northern New Jersey over the course of 25 years, the early 1920's through the late '40's. Each chapter is the voice of another character; some are monologues, some more interior than that. The story works its way around the lake, catching a vignette/snapshot/moment from each turn of the wheel. It's a remarkable read from an 86-year-old writer, still at the top of his game.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank Gilroy's Kindle Single introduces a dizzying array of characters that make up the "Lake" community--a summer retreat by (poor) design. Shallow water pipes in many of the properties don't allow running water in the winter months, an architectural quirk that a clever real-estate agent uses to his advantage: "Year round water would invite year round residence by people who are..." "not our kind," one prospective buyer finishes. This, as it turns out, is a selling point, which hints at the prejudices of the part-time populace. Indeed, much of the first half of Lake reads like a G-rated Desperate Housewives. It's only with the help of a blink-and-you-miss cameo from Mae West, and an offhanded mention of John Dillinger, that you realize the tenuous time in history in which the Lake residents inhabit, and that soon World War II will encroach upon their more or less carefree lives, exposing their petty predispositions. Gilroy's subtle tale takes its time, but Lake is ultimately a poignant reminder to cherish simple pleasures. You never know when life will send you a draft notice--and change the world as you know it, forever. --Erin Kodicek

Product Details

• File Size: 121 KB
• Print Length: 62 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0062QWQ5I
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,796 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #64 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lake, a place that surprises with subtlety and insight November 3, 2011

By Rett01 TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This Kindle Short by Frank Gilroy has more drama, humor, orgiastic sex ("and then at his touch, EXPLOSION!"), pathos and above all poignancy than a big brick of a novel five times its length, and "Lake," I'll go out on a limb here, stands beside "Our Town" in its perception and in the way it succeeds in evoking another time, a different place.

It's a story of a New Jersey summer community on the shores of a lake, a fully realized anecdotal account that spans a generation beginning in the 1920s. In a relatively few number of pages, "Lake" manages to be sprawling in its very large cast of characters.

Told in vignettes, "Lake" is a collection of sketches that could as easily be performed as read. We get glimpses into the lives of summer and year-round residents, including a fetching snippet of Mae West who is seen being rowed around the lake by her secretary to the delight of the men watching from the shore and docks.

Most of the vignettes, some no longer than a sentence or two, tell a complete story. Some in a single paragraph capture the arc of an entire life. For instance, Fanny prefers her proper name but can't escape the flighty persona the nickname implies. "When I married Walter Church and signed the register `Frances' I felt a great relief. By the time I realized it was Fanny he loved, we had a child. As Fanny I have what actors covet: a role to my dying day."

Well into the story, draft notices start arriving in mailboxes and the tone shifts to somber and even plaintive as the war clouds roll in over the Lake.

Mrs. David had a habit of blowing a whistle - twice long, once short - to call her boy home. Even though he was teased by the other children, he always obeyed his mother's summons.... A small, frail kid with trusting eyes, no one thought he was eighteen until he was drafted.

She stills blows the whistle and she realizes everyone thinks it's because she can't admit he's dead, killed in the war. She continues to blow the whistle, she tells us, to remind everyone an innocent "was slaughtered."

Gilroy describes the Lake community as a place existing in the hammock of time between the stock market crash and WWII. The place, he says, is "like a roll of film developed long after it was shot, it surprises." Not only does "Lake" surprise, it downright delights in its subtlety and insight. Read more ›

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Surprise November 5, 2011

By Wilkie

Format:Kindle Edition

Was trolling singles to get my feet wet and ordered this on a whim. We had a three hour flight and I opened it on the plane. What a surprise. I loved it and I am not sure if I've ever read anything quite like it. Handing it off to my brother for a second opinion to make sure it's as affecting and precise as I as thought. It's like a soul census of someplace that feels very real and unreal at the same time. I am not sure how to describe it so I won't, but will say this, it took me there all the way and when we landed I felt like I had travelled much farther than San Diego.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost poetry November 6, 2011

By dawnsong

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is historical fiction set in the years before WWII at a lake in New Jersey that has a summer community. The story is told in many brief vignettes that average about a page in length. The writing style is spare and evocative, almost like poetry. I truly enjoyed the book - possibly because I live on a lake with a similar history.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW November 18, 2011

By YMAR

Format:Kindle Edition

This is a BEAUTIFULLY written book. I too was just looking around for something to pass the time, and was lucky enough to come by this incredible author and unforgettable story. I feel like I've won the lottery....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A journey through time at the Lake February 21, 2012

By S. Warfield TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Frank D. Gilroy's "Lake" is a wonderful tale of a New Jersey vacation community at a lake, and spans 25 years from the 1920's through World War II. It is written in a series of vignettes which are short, and tell about a lake resident or something that happens, or a short piece where one of the summer residents "speaks." The lake community has no water in the winter because the Property Owners Association doesn't want just anyone living there year round.

The Kindle Single follows the residents who are there mainly from Memorial Day to Labor Day and we are fortunate to listen in at the Poetry Club meetings as well as some private conversations. Throughout the story, we hear from each person at the Lake, and share in their lives and especially their summers.

There is a lot of humor in "Lake" as well as sadness and unfulfilled dreams and the consequences of war. It's a very good look at the characters who make up the summer lake community.

The writing is superb and Frank D. Gilroy is a Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning author. "Lake" makes for very enjoyable reading.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars pretentious and self-indulgent May 10, 2012

By Phoebe M.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Gilroy has some potentially interesting characters but he obscures their stories with a pretentious and self-conscious style that gets in the way at every turn. Cannot understand the 5s for this pap.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not finished reading this one yet. May 22, 2013

By SUSAN J. BORDONARO

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I haven't finished reading this one yet so I really don't have too much to say about it. Let you know more when I am finished.

3.0 out of 5 stars A diary about summer on a lake. March 31, 2013

By Charles Spratt

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book was for light reading, not much in the way of deep thoughts, just a story about social status differences that exist around a popular summer getaway which is in decline. I got the impression that the "elite" were trapped into maintaining images of bygone years and customs. Been there and done that but kind of liked being reminded of from what I escaped.

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