In her second novel, Lisa Vice takes us to Preacher's Lake, a small town in Maine. What I like the best about Ms. Vice's writing is her ability to make each scene resemble a photo album. She gently weaves the stories of individuals around the connections between the characters, while taking us back and forth between their lives quickly and easily. About the time I am hooked into one person or family, she jumps to another concurrent story. This works well for Ms. Vice because she never leaves us anywhere long enough to forget about the other characters. I took my time reading this book because the characters became so alive to me, I didn't want the story to end. According to her bio, Ms. Vice lived in Maine working with disadvantaged people at one time. The quirky characters make it obvious that Ms. Vice has personal knowledge about that part of the country. I enjoyed getting to know each person, and laughed and cried with them as their fortunes changed for the better, and sometimes for the worse. Ms. Vice is an up and coming writer with a great deal of talent, and I will be waiting eagerly for her next novel.

Sometimes a novel has such a dramatic, suspenseful plot that you want to race through it to the end. But reading Preacher's Lake, I found myself taking my time, savoring the delicious descriptions of place and character, losing myself to the vivid fictional world Ms. Vice has so lovingly crafted. I didn't want to race to the end because I didn't want this book to end! I felt as if I had become a part of the lives of these characters - Slim, Janesta, Crystal, Rita - witnessing their quirks, their fears, their struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning. Indeed, the characters are so finely drawn that they may very well become as much a part of the fabric of your memory as the real people in your life.

When I began reading Preacher's Lake, I realized I was going to have to stop everything else in my life so that I would have time to sit and read this wonderful book. Within the first few pages, I was totally caught up in the lives of the beautifully drawn characters. I quickly became involved in the stories of the gawky, childlike Slim who runs the town dump and Carol, the artist from New York who is grieving over the senseless death of her lover Annie. I watched as the seemingly disparate lives of these and other people became interwoven, falling into place like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Preacher's Lake is my vote for the best read of 1998.

This book is amazing. It deals with incredibly complex subjects, yet is so simple to read that one doesn't put it down! The author tells it like it is, very direct English, and then lets our mind do the rest. The story is really tragic; the heroine conquers like all children do - by coping, rather than by conquering. The book raised a big question in my mind - everyone appears to blame the father for the family's tragic existence, but the contribution of the mother - to me, appears no less than the father. Ruth, the mother, could have made a very positive influence on her husband's self esteem and outlook on life - but instead, she helps him deteriorate mentally and emotionally! Was her contribution as great, or even greater, to the family's plight than the father's tragic mistakes? One undercurrent of the book is the care of each family member for each other - consciously, it wasn't love; but unconsciously, each member cared a lot about other - each individual had many chances to simply walk away - but it just doesn't happen like that. Instead, each seems to assume "this is the way it is and must be", and each deals with the issues of their lives, and shares part of their life with the other members. Another undercurrent of the book is the sense of helplessness that these small town parents feel - both Ruth and her "old man"; and how this feeling destroyed their lives. They were so blind! Others in the town made much more of their lives with the same resources and environment. I obviously enjoyed reading this book.

I fist read this book shortly after it was first published, and like few books published within my lifetime, I continue to read it every few years or so and each time take away something different. The story haunts me and calls me to reread it, searching for another level.

The story takes place from the perspective of little Lana. At first her narrative is unfocused, but as she grows so does her perception of her surroundings and her family. This novel is a comment on smalltown life and tells of personally of the sad reality of children living in a fallen world.

I can't say how long it has been since I read a book that I could not put down! Lisa took me back into my own chilhood. I went through every emotion. It is simple, funny, haunting and most of all moving! I can't wait to read her next book!