I really enjoyed this
book where fact and fiction sidle past each other until it is
difficult to know what is fact and what is fiction. The story begins
with John Wade, an up-and-coming politician, failing to be elected to
the American senate. He and his wife, Kathy, then retreat to their cabin by
the lake in the woods to avoid the relentless media and to try to
work out what actually happened. Damaging rumours about John's time
in Vietnam have been circulating, and it is certainly these rumours
that have lost him the senate position.
As the story unfolds, we
learn of John's childhood with an abusive father, with whom John
desperately wanted contact, and of John's attraction to the world of
magic. Through flashbacks, we see how John meets Kathy at college, is
drafted into the Vietnam War and, on his return to America, pursues a
career in politics. His ambition to succeed is so great that
everything else - even having a family - must take second place. John
is plagued by nightmares, and as the flashbacks begin to merge, it
becomes apparent as to what may be causing the nightmares. While John
and Kathy are at the cabin, something happens which is pivotal to the
entire story.
As I mentioned at the
beginning of this review, In the Lake of the Woods is
an intrinsic mixture of both fact and fiction. The connection to
Vietnam and the My Lai massacre is part of the factual material, but
at times, these accounts take on a fictional feeling while John and
Kathy Wade's experiences by the lake, although fictional, begin to
seem completely real. O'Brien's use of quotes from different
investigations (My Lai), characters in the story and even other
authors gives a strangely authoritative feel to the novel as a whole.
The reader is presented with the information, both factual and
fictional, and then it is up to him/her to make a decision.
Like all magic, there is
the reality and the illusion, and it is the reader's job to sort the
one from the other. Beautifully written and completely suspenseful
from the first to the very last page, I would definitely recommend
this book.