The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman

The Edgewood Branch of Harford County Public Library has three book clubs – one that meets in the branch on the second Thursday of each month, one that meets at the senior center on the fourth Tuesday, and one that also meets on the fourth Tuesday in the branch, but features books by African American authors. Recently, the senior group and the Thursday group both read and discussed the same book: Elinor Lipman’s The Inn at Lake Devine.

I would be delighted if one or two of the Edgewood group members would add their comments to this post. How did you enjoy the book? Did anyone else at the discussion influence how you now think of the book?

Below is a short description of The Inn at Lake Devine, and then one or two discussion points that I hope will tempt new readers to try it.

The Inn at lake Devine was first published in 1998 and has become a classic example of Elinor Lipman’s gentle and romantic social commentaries. The story starts in 1962 and is a portrait of the social upheaval and prejudice of the 1960s and 1970s. The story deals with the serious subject of anti-Semitism, though Ms. Lipman handles it with a light touch: one reviewer called the book, “delightful,” and, “both entertaining and thought-provoking.” In fact, there is considerable humor in the book as well as some distinctly eccentric characters.

The main character, Natalie Marx is a sharp, sensitive teenager growing up in a tight-knit Jewish family. She is shocked, when in response to a query, her mother receives a note from a Vermont inn saying more or less that Jews are not welcome to stay there. Natalie becomes fixated on the people who could say such things, and she does all she can to see them face to face. She and her father use an assumed name and visit the inn from their vacation house the other side of the lake. Another year, Natalie enveigles an invitation to stay there with a friend, blending in as one of her family. A good ten years later, when Natalie is invited to her friend’s wedding at the inn, she can finally infiltrate the bastions as herself. Her professional and romantic life become hopelessly entangled with the rigidly prejudiced proprietor and her two sons when, despite a tragedy, Natalie falls in love. Will love triumph and put prejudice to rout?

Different reviewers have said the following things about The Inn at Lake Devine. Would you agree or disagree?...

“Skillfully interweaving the bittersweet narrative with threads of both tragedy and comedy, Lipman displays a healthy amount of empathy and affection for her flawed and slightly eccentric cast of characters.”

“…this very funny novel…”

“…skewering of assimilation and cultural diversity…”

“Natalie's search for answers to unanswerable questions…”

For more information about Edgewood branch book groups, please call 410-612-1600.