From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nest and Good Company comes a wry and tender portrait of two families forever changed by one lovestruck decision that will reverberate for decades.
It’s 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York, a place long fueled by the booming fortunes of Kodak and Xerox and, for some, the mores of the Catholic church. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly nonexistent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a prominent neighbor brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible—but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara’s world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.
Years later, Clara, now a successful food stylist in New York City, has never been able to move past the long-ago scandal. Drawn back home by the pull of a family wedding and wrestling with her own demons, she makes a pivotal decision that turns her life upside down. Written with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature humor and insight, Lake Effect is a wise and probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.
My Thoughts After Reading:
Lake Effect’s prologue is one of my favorites ever read. I wish the author had given us more Bess but, alas, we only get 3 glorious pages.
Sweeney creates characters who feel completely real. Every family member has their own perspective, strengths, and shortcomings, making it impossible to see anyone as simply the hero or the villain. Instead, we are invited to understand each person’s choices, even when we disagree with them. What’s interesting is that Nina, as the adulterer, is the most likely character to disapprove with but I felt for her the most.
This isn’t a fast-paced thriller or a page-turning mystery but I was taken by surprise multiple times. Lake Effect lingers with its’ complex characters/relationships – meeting them where they are at a specific moment (slice of life style). Because of this, it might be hard for some readers to stay connected. For instance, Sweeney doesn’t write about the secret trysts – it’s all focused on the aftermath. Regardless, it is a thoughfully layered book with some surprise laughs.
-Michelle
