Reviews

The Girl of the Lake: Stories by Bill Roorbach

seahorsesister's review against another edition

4.0

Original-- both in the telling and in the content. Each one a surprise wrapped in unvarnished characters revealing their worst while remaining if not likable, oddly relatable and totally foreign. The unifying thread in these short stories is the slice of life slow that eases the reader into a sense of the ordinary before the lightning speed of the characters trajectory takes over, often leaving both characters and readers awash in an ugly truth.

mindfullibrarian's review against another edition

4.0

This collection of ten stories is a wonderful literary homage to relationships, with each story being incredibly unique and in some way a statement on the human condition. Roorbach hits a vast array of topics, from a young child exploring Russian history with an elderly neighbor to a lustful online dating encounter between a farmer and a former member of the clergy, among many others. Regardless of the topic of each story, they are all hopeful and thought-provoking shorts - in my reading life, they were perfect as palate cleansers between longer novels.

My favorite story in the collection is the title story, "The Girl on the Lake" which takes readers to a lake cabin with the 17-year-old narrator as he spends the summer with his widowed grandmother. It instantly made me reminisce for the lake cabin of my own childhood and I fell in love with Chick, his grandmother and the entire lake property.

Thanks to Algonquin for the advance review copy of this title - all opinions are my own.

turnip11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book was in the vein of many male authors who write stories about men who lust after younger women, sometimes literal children. I didn’t hate every part of but I did hate large portions of it. This book contains a lot of death and a lot of sex (often between an older man and a much younger woman, or at least a woman described physically in what I find to be, frankly, creepy language) and honestly if you’re a woman and/or not white and/or not rich this book may not be for you. It certainly wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Sexual content

alsmilesalot's review against another edition

4.0

My first time reading Roorbach-- rich, fully-realized characters. The first story is perfection, though I really liked all stories in this collection.

toryhallelujah's review against another edition

5.0

This is the kind of writing that makes me happy to be alive: the kind that makes you feel grateful to get to experience it. I was nothing but beautiful, enchanted goosebumps all over at the ends of "Harbinger Hall," "Murder Cottage," and the title story, "The Girl of the Lake"; there is absolutely luminous prose in "Some Should." This is a book I feel richer for having read. I'd never heard of Bill Roorbach before now, but I will be seeking out everything else he has to offer. Bravo, times a million.


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Edit after reading it again 3 years later -- still quite good but I'd probably downgrade to 4 stars this read-around. It was truly a 5 star book on my first read though!

amy_harboredinpages's review

4.0

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. Some more than others. I truely related to the final story which is also the title of the book. I teared up. I had strong feels there.

ochutchinson's review

4.0

I loved this. ‘The Tragedies of King Lear’ was (of course) my favourite, and the rest at turns lovely and unsettling. I literally said “oh that’s wonderful” upon finishing ‘Murder Cottage’ on the subway. His style of giving quick “and they would live happily ever after” wrapups to the end of many of them was not something I ever expected, and I’m still torn on whether they struck me as too easy or as something I appreciated. Definitely want to read his other stuff.