Title: Eden Lake
Author: Jane Roper
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: (from Goodreads) When the visionary director of a nontraditional children’s summer camp in Maine dies unexpectedly, his adult children are left to sort out the future of the camp and, in so doing, their own lives. Family dynamics and long-buried secrets, love affairs, and the day-to-day antics of Eden Lake’s campers intertwine and overlap during the course of the summer in this engaging debut novel.
My brief take: Eden Lake is a novel about a summer camp in Maine and the family who run it. The camp was founded in 1969 on the ideal of spreading peace and love. As the years passed the founders Clay and Carol, parents of the main characters, found that life gets messy and people can change.
“…sometimes that the two of you, you and Dad, could be such idealists – the way you created this place and wanted to change the world – and at the same time be so …”
“So human?”
“Yeah,” Abe said. “Yeah, I guess that’s right.”
“I’m sorry,” his mother said. “I hope you can forgive us.”
“I can,” he said. “I mean, I will. Eventually.”
Set in the ’90s Eden Lake is not exactly a light-hearted read. It addresses the effects adults’ actions can have on children – specifically the adult children of the camp owners.
There are also some laugh-out-loud moments.If you’ve ever gone to a summer camp you may find that reading Eden Lake will make you feel nostalgia for those good old days. It brought back a few good memories for me.
Source: I bought it.
Bookfan 