Customer Reviews

Lost Lake: Stories

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection of essays and short stories is poignant. My eyes frequently teared over. It is rare, I think, to find lovely, melancholy tales that question love and sense of place and are written in a male voice from a male perspective. "Lost Lake", due to the finely crafted writing and the emotional chords it struck, has now been placed in a section of a bookcase where I safely guard two dozen books that are very important to me. Highly recommended for all readers, but particularly for men who see the world with a sensitive perspective, and who search to provide themselves with an emotional sense of time and place.

I was disappointed at first to see that these stories are loosely bound to a 'theme': one locale ("forty acres of water") one family (started in Czechoslavakia, emigrated to NY), and some ... fishing. I needn't have worried, because there is a world of experience and observation in these, along with masterful, thrifty use of language, attention to detail - and much love, yearning, and compassion. The voice is constant and consistent; the stories are told meticulously and with great clarity. "The Woodcarver's Tale," centered on the narrator's father, is heartbreaking. In "Equinox" Slouka combines the mundane and the tragic - seamlessly. A very satisfying collection of stories.

This book brought me more reading enjoyment than any I have read in a number of years. Slouka has a talent which only some short story writers possess--the ability to pull you into the narrative with the first sentence or two. The character insights are first-rate and each story is a polished jewel.

A great read!

Mr. Slouka is a fine writer. His words are beautifully strung together, his vision of the world elevates the mundane into poetry. For this reader, such writing is much like a fancy cake or bonbon ~ the gorgeous product of excellent talent and grand effort. Best read in small, savored bits. Recommended.

The book was good but would have been better if the stories were not so disjointed. The common denominator was the Lake and the stories were interlinked because of those who lived there or where they originated from.

Not much to add to the reviews below, aside from the fact that I agree with them completely.

Slouka's writing approaches poetry in its effect. Beautiful.