Blog 12 – Thoughts of “In the Lake of the Woods”

I found this text, as a whole, to be a very exciting and intriguing piece. Tim O’Brien did an excellent job keeping me as a reading constantly revising my own theories of Kathy’s disappearance as well as making me think about philosophical subjects such as “What is happiness?” Though this book tackles the subjects of Vietnam and life as a politician, I think O’Brien’s words can easily translate to most any topic. Truth, happiness, and the desire to feel love and acceptance are relevant in everyones life and are things that people are forever trying to understand.

The ending of O’Brien’s novel was slightly chilling. The fact that Kathy is never found nor John’s whereabouts known creates a very mysterious and inconclusive ending. Though part of me wishes O’Brien would have provided an ending with answers, another part of me appreciates his leaving it to be interpreted by the reader. Truly I feel John completely lost his mind at the end, especially when he began his radio broadcasts.

There certainly are a lot of lingering questions left behind from this novel. First and foremost, there is the question of what happened to both Kathy and John. But beyond that, I have a questions on Claude’s involvement. There were times where it seemed like Clause knew more than he was letting on, possibly things that John may have told him that we as the readers were never informed of. The conversation the two had on page 281-282 was alarming to me. On page 282, John says that he didn’t hurt her (Kathy) in which Claude replies, “Now there’s a fact”. John continues to deny hurting Kathy and Claude laughs and says, “Better late than never.”  What does Clause mean by this?

I’m also curious of some of O’Brien’s choices. I understand why O’Brien chose to sometimes call John “John” and why other times he used “Sorcerer”. It had to deal with the identity in which John Wade saw himself, either his civilized self or his war self. But why did O’Brien decided to sometimes call John solely by his last name, “Wade”? On pg. 230, O’Brien first refers to his main character as “John” but later on in the page as “Wade”. I’m trying to see the motivation and/or the significance behind this choice, but I haven’t been able to come up with any.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading this book. O’Brien’s style was completely unique to any other style I have read before, which kept the novel interesting. The fact that the story is told through a narrator investing the case only makes it even more interesting!

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