Lake Effect

by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

Lake Effect by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney felt uneven to me, with moments of real tenderness but not enough cohesion to make the novel fully satisfying. I found some scenes genuinely touching, and the author occasionally finds an emotional thread worth following, but too much of the book left me oddly perplexed for no clear reason, as though the story was wandering without earning its detours. I could see the potential in the characters and relationships, yet I often felt the novel withheld depth rather than building toward it. While the ending landed with more feeling than much of what came before it, that final emotional note did not make up for what I felt was missing in the rest of the book.