Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Kendra has written a very popular semi-autobiographical novel. Unfortunately, it's not nearly "semi" enough for at least two people: Tyler, the antogonist of the story behind the novel, and a Very Disappointed Reader who writes Kendra a letter calling her out for not being fair in her retelling of the past. The letter sends Kendra back to her grandfather's house on the lake, the scene of the crime, to see if she can overcome the writer's block the letter had engendered.
This is a book that can't decide what it's about. Is it about Kendra's attempt to find out who wrote the letter, and why? Is it about her attempt to come to terms with Tyler? Or is it about what happens between her and the her German translator who unexpectedly (and implausibly) shows up at her cabin to complete the translation work? Or about what happened to Cami, Tyler's sister and Kendra's childhood best friend, after their last summer on the lake together? Or about what happened to the families on the lake before Kendra was born?
The book tries to be about all of these things, and Bartels does manage to answer all the questions and tie up all the loose threads by the end. The result is more than readable, if not terribly satisfying, and, one hopes, cathartic for Bartels.
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
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