I would say Loon Lake is the best E.L. Doctorow novel I have read thus far (I even hazard to say Loon Lake is the superior of Ragtime). Others have called it confusing, difficult, compromised by bad poetry, etc., but I found the out-of-chronological order and first-person-narrative jumping exciting. The use of verse to reprise the prose was a way of angling the story slightly differently so the reader can admire the way the light strikes it on different facets. Doctorow's occasional decision to present the verse version ahead of the narrative version has the cinematic/musical effect of rushing the reader down a wormhole into the scene or leaping into a new verse on a backward cymbal hit. This, along with the riveting stream-of-consciousness vignettes, give Loon Lake a rhythmic quality unlikely to appear in a straightforward, linear story. The stream-of-consciousness segments are what truly make Loon Lake the success it is. In the past, I've had trouble with stream-of-consciousness prose, chiefly because the authors themselves were too eccentric in their own consciousness and decided to imbue their subjects with the same inscrutability (Joyce, Wolfe, Dos Passos). Doctorow writes such accessible, plausible characters that their streams of consciousness are logical and feel like natural motions, like being masterfully led in a dance. And - I realize this sounds cheap and corny - the fact that Loon Lake has a relatively ( but plausibly) happy ending gives the book a clean finish. The novel's horrific scenes make the reader apprehensive that Loon Lake will play out like a Coen Brothers movie (of the Fargo, No Country for Old Men variety) by the end. Don't think of this as a spoiler; consider it reassurance: Loon Lake is not a crushing despair. It's a great novel, one any Doctorow fan should seek out.
I picked this up at a book recycling stall in a shopping centre some years ago and only got round to reading it now. I had no idea who the author was or what the book would be about - there wasn't even a background blurb - which was a rather refreshing way to start reading a novel. But even if I had had expectations, I doubt I would have been disappointed.The writing seemed effortless, which is not a given with experimental or stream-of-consciousness styles, and was generally a pleasure to read. (apart from when the content was not so pleasant, naturally, but that's rather different.) Not everything was explained and no doubt I missed some finer points and/or connections, but the book didn't need explanations or assurances of the significance of any given scene. If I have to analyze it, I'd say its method was flowing rather than making arguments.(Plus I have a soft point for American 20th-century hopelessness.)I was not quite sure whether the poems thrown in here and there were intended to be bad, written in the character Warren Penfield's name as they were, but either way they had their moments, and even in their less-of-a-moments managed to provide a spark and a change of pace, rather than being a mandatory bore inbetween the prose.While writing this review, I had to change my rating from 3 to 4 stars, because I only just realized that I did "really like" this novel.
What do You think about Loon Lake (1996)?
Con verdadero placer he leido por tercera vez esta inclasificable novela donde la historia real de una España convulsa y una Barcelona en pleno desarrollo industrial entre las dos exposiciones universales, se mezcla y confunde con la increible fábula de Onofre Bouvila pobre pícaro sin malicia pero con inteligencia convertido al final, en un ganster sin moral ni escrúpulos políticos o sociales que traba conocimientos de la índole de Alfonso XIII o Rasputín y todo bañado del sin par humor negro y ácido del mejor Mendoza. Sin duda, muy recomendable.
—Concha Marcos
This was a somewhat challenging book to read. Doctorow used various writing styles throughout the book going from 1st person to 3rd person narration, then including a stream of consciousness style (similar to Faulkner) where the narration goes on for several pages without punctuation or clear sentences, he then also includes some passages in poetry. But if you can get through all that, the story is quite interesting about a young man (Joe) during the depression of the 1930s who works as a carnival roustabout (some scenes here are quite harrowing) and then finds his way to Loon Lake which is owned by a rich eccentric who entertains the rich and famous there (similar to Hearst castle). Joe meets a failed poet at the lake who encourages him along the way, he falls in love, and then moves on to a town in Indiana where he gets involved in union intrigue at an auto plant owned by the rich eccentric of Loon Lake. I have read other Doctorow novels that I really enjoyed but in this one, I think he was trying too hard to use too many different literary techniques which I felt distracted from the story. In some places these techniques made me feel like I had lost my way in the story. Overall, a mild recommendation.
—Frank
At first, I was very surprised with Loon Lake because I didn´t expect it to be as much experimental as it was - good thing that I like such novels. Despite many of the not-so-positive reviews here and despite the fact that they are actually spot-on and true in some statements, I´m gonna have to go with the 5* rating anyways. Reason one: I like experimenting both in form and content, as long as it is not for the sake of the story itself (like it happened in Barthelme´s Dead Father), so this innovative approach is all right by me. Secondly, I like complicated books. Simple statement. I like solving the story as if it was a one big puzzle and like to do my own intepretations of events inside the book. I have got plenty of that from Loon Lake. Moreover, I got somewhat of a soft spot for picturesque images and unusual characters, thus I was really enjoying the circus parts and even Penfield´s stream-of-consciousness passages even though they got tiring at some point. I value experimentation really highly and if the author manages to maintain some kind of a unity and cohesiveness of his own text despite the fact that its very nature is not unified and cohesive AT ALL, it´s just another big plus. In a nutshell, so to speak, these are the reasons why I am giving it the full rating although there were some weak spots for me as well. I am, however, willing to turn a blind eye for them this time.
—Toolshed
