The Lake was an intense and evocative coming of age story.

The story follows Nami, who is raised by his grandparents in a dystopian post-Soviet landscape. After the death of his grandparents, Nami goes on a journey to track down his mother.

The language was quite strong and I found the writing blunt at times - but overall a really interesting read.

3/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

1.5 I think is what I’m going with. This was very much not for me. While the premise is very interesting, I thought it would center much more around the lake and uncovering what was causing it to have such an effect on the lives of the villagers. I thought we would go up against the people and the pollution behind it, I thought it would feel much more dystopian.

While technically a coming of age story, there is no real conclusion our main character comes to, no real problem solved or overcame. Things at the end of the book are worse than when we started.

The writing was very dry and I struggled to maintain the attention to finish, even though this is incredibly short.

ARC copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review!

I read this book over a few days. It's incredibly intense and I found myself captivated by this slightly dystopian landscape and by the characters. It is quite dark at times but has some light and humourous elements to. Utterly compelling.

The Lake by Bianca Bellova (translated by Alex Zuker) is bleak. Telling the story of Nami, from a childhood to young adulthood, it follows him through a series of hardships, from the death of his grandparents, the loss of his home to the “kolkhoz chairman,” to a journey that sees him travelling around and then far from the lake that borders his home town. The lake is a character of its own; with the villagers relying on it for lively hood which inevitably dries up with the water. They revere “the spirit of the lake”, honouring it with their dead and dying. The lake is spectral, and I like that blend of folklore and alternate reality dystopia.

The story is episodic, with each part of Nami’s story populated with its own characters. Only the image of “the woman” – his mother – really stays with him through every part of the story. And maybe because of this, despite Nami travelling far and wide, I still found the story to have a parochial quality to it.

Bellova creates a world which is, for me, absolutely lacking in colour. That’s not to say it’s bland, but more literally drab. When reading I could almost imagine it in black and white, or maybe sepia tones. Even when Nami is rescued by a woman we know only as The Old Dame, he’s fed a colourless drink of warm almond milk with honey.

The Lake is a quietly dystopian. Dystopian in tone as much as actual content. Bellova’s storytelling is straightforward to a fault, with her characters slipping in and out of each other’s lives quickly. I found the story slow to start, but I did become invested in Nami’s journey, wanting more after the last page. Ultimately, for me, the novel was just too unrelenting.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story if us (‘transl. Nami)

Sometimes a book transports you to a place you can travel to from the comfort of your home, but not even for all the gold in the world daren’t I travel to where Nami resides…

On the surface, this is a subtle coming of age story about a boy Nami, who grows up with his grandparents. They live in a small fishing village. The men fish and drink wodka, the women cook and whine, the children go to school, play football and scratch - their skins itching from chronic eczema, while a statue of The Statesman pointing at the sky is watching over them.

Since this starts where it all began - I. the embryo stage - short and simple language is used, interspersed with the coarse, bawdy language of the men. The stench of diesel, booze, decay and the smell of rotting meat and fish, unclean underwear and cheap tobacco is everywhere.

When his grandfather doesn’t return from the lake one day, and when his grandma soon after is handed over to the ‘Spirit of the Lake’ after a mere hip fracture, Nami leaves for the big city. He tries to earn a few bucks by working in the sulfur mining and as an asphalt worker, before being transported to the more quiet and richer part of town as houseboy for boss Johnny - the incarnate of a trigger-happy and coke-sniffing American working in ‘oil.’

For the ignorant reader, who as yet may not have a clue about the underlaying idea of this layered novel, Johnny’s plan to visit ‘an island to shoot animals with friends ‘ will - hopefully - put the story in a completely different light.

The novel is packed with references of embryogenesis (of insects), metamorphosis (deformities in babies (extra/missing limbs), symbolism, and biblical plagues (cockroaches,); on top, this is also quite a sensorial reading experience, abundant with references to noise, stench, flowers, mint, rot, fish, diesel, smell, colors, et&, albeit, at times, even ‘the air is clear, as though it contained nothing at all.. {..}’

At first glance this may seem like a dystopian, coming of age novel, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Sadly, this is a true account of humanity’s biggest fuck-up.
Welcome to the proverbial hell on earth, the Aral Sea, - the most nuked place in the world -, and vozrozhdeniya island, a deadly biohazardous zone where anthrax, smallpox, and bio warfare were tested in open air. US army has since cleaned up 200 tons (!) of anthrax since then, but it remains a dead zone up to today.

The numerous references to stomach pain, blood, vile, spit, itching, and people dropping like flies is not merely fabricated from imagination. The Aral Sea is almost dried up due to the irrigation of cotton production, - water for t-shirts- resulting in a total ecological collapse, with toxic dust storms, and extreme high fatality rates in the local population. The people remain, despite the absence of a normal life, since for them there is no alternative.
Like Nami - as a nymphaea - he too is returning to Boros, to the lake where his life began…

This came as an ARC via Netgalley - I read it before in Dutch (“Het Meer’), and later in the German translation (“Am See’). Coming April an English translation will be available for an even larger audience. The Lake won the Czech National Magnesia Litera Book of the Year Award, and won the EU Literature prize 2017. Since then, the novel has been translated in 20+ languages, the English translation - by Alex Zucker - will hit the shops in April 2022.

If you want to read a really good book this year, then please let it be the Lake. Despite the raw and explicit scenes and descriptions, this book will stay with you for a long time.
****** (6 stars).

This book is an intense and bleak coming of age-story. In a way it is just the way I like my books, but then it sometimes is too straight-forward even for me. I also think I would have liked it even better if it was written from Zaza's perspective. That all insults seemed to be sexualised cheapened the reading experience a bit too - I am sure Bellová could have come with something better than 'I slept with ... (your mom/your wife/your girlfriend/your whomever). No I did not, she was too ugly.', right? Despite this, the grittiness of the story really got to me and I started rooting for Nami from the moment his granddad threw him into the lake on a hot summer day.

The Lake, ( original title; Jezero ) was originally published in Czech in 2016 and won the EU Prize for Literature and the Czech Magnesia Litera Book of the Year award. It has now been translated into English by Alex Zucker. It is a short, linear novel, charting the story of orphan Nami from age about 5 to 17 years old. At the start of the book Nami lives with his grandparents in a nameless fishing village. When they die he sets off to travel to the 'capital' in search of his mother. He has a very hard life suffering poverty, hunger and physical and emotional abuse. All around him are suffering from the after effects of a long-standing Russian occupation and a serious pollution and climate disaster. The setting of The Lake is not made explicit and I swithered between thinking of it as an Eastern European country or perhaps Afghanistan. I can not say that I enjoyed this novel as I found it unremittingly bleak. However it is very well written with very detailed imagery of the location and, in addition to Nami, there are some interesting characters from whom Nami learns about life and survival.
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read a complimentary ARC of this book, via Net Galley, in return for an honest review.

I found this quite beautiful to read, if challenging. The language matches the brutal landscape, and the open-ended nature of the narrative strands just adds to the sense of discomfort. That's impressive work, if not a particularly 'happy' reading experience!

I really enjoyed the only-slightly-dystopian nature of the environment - I find worlds which are basically ours but slightly 'off' very compelling.

My thanks to Parthian Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for the story arc in return for an honest review.

The Lake is a coming of age novel originally written in Lithuanian. It’s set in a dystopian society. This is a grim story that lacked depth to me. The writing style is a bit more on edge than what I originally expected, I’m not sure if this was a translation issue or if that’s just the culture that the author is in.

Nami is the protagonist who is traumatized and goes from one bad situation to the other. I didn’t get any on the conclusions I needed for his path. No one is nice, society as a whole is just terrible. It’s very dark and I didn’t really care for the plot line – it didn’t really make sense to me.

Nonetheless, Nami embarks on his journey of trying to find his role in life. He decides he has to sail across and walk around the lake until he finally dives to the bottom. I thought the lake was a much more surreal narrative – from my understanding the lake represents the dead and the harsh living that this society has experience. It reminded me a lot about the coming of age novels I read as a kid, with Nami’s hardships. It was nostalgic. It’s not the story I pictured when reading the synopsis and judging the book by its cover.

I rated this book 2 stars - it just wasn't the right fit for me.

This book was so intense, but I feel that was the authors intention.

I didn’t fully realise the dystopian element of it until about 1/4 of the way in. It’s a short book so not everything is given to the reader on a plate, it has to be read slowly and purposefully so that we understand the environment that Nami is in.

There is an abundance of harsh language and it’s probably not for the faint hearted. However, I read it as a young boy trying to act more than his age. Swearing and talking openly about sex, and then seeing that he is actually very young and naive. Nami realises this too at certain points, like the rape scene and the animals being shot at.

It’s a sad book about a boy trying to find his place in the world, trying to find love and happiness, and the ending doesn’t even give that to him.

I felt like this book was meant to be shocking and uncomfortable, it’s about a world westerners are so far removed from that it is completely outside of our realm of understanding. But some topics like the Russians taking over are actually not too far from the truth for some places in the world.

For me, I wouldn’t read again, I think once is enough. Reading is an escape for many and I don’t think this book offers that. It’s an important read for sure, and I do think that it should be read, but I feel like I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

I also think there should be some potential content warnings because I imagine it will be triggering for some. It wasn’t the book I expected when I read the blurb, and I was disappointed it ended before we saw what was under the lake.

A dystopian page-turner about the coming of age of a young hero, which won the 2017 EU Prize for Literature. A fishing village at the end of the world. A lake that is drying up and, ominously, pushing out its banks. The men have vodka, the women's troubles, the children eczema to scratch at. Born into this unforgiving environment, Nami, a young boy, embarks on a journey with nothing but a bundle of nerves, a coat that was once his grandfather’s, and the vague idea of searching for his mother, who disappeared from his life at a young age. To uncover the greatest mystery of his life, he must sail across and walk around the lake and finally dive to its bottom. The Lake is a raw account of life in a devastated land and the harsh, primitive circumstances under which people fight to survive.

Unfortunately I have not been able to finish this book. I found the "dystopian" description a little misleading and the language used by children aged between 9/10 quite uncomfortable.

As I would feel unfair to give it a rating as I did not finish, but I do have to give one here - I'll put 3 stars.

Thought this an excellent book. Charts the story of Nami, a boy growing up with his grandparents beside a lake that is slowing dying and drying up.

Once his grandmother dies, he leaves his hometown in search of meaning in the capital. Although he gets answers, they aren’t what he expected.

Overall this book talks about what happens in places where unregulated environmental issues cause human problems.

I enjoyed the portrayal of dystopian ex soviet world in this book The book is beautifully written and sensitively translated and I was immediately invested in the life of the unlucky narrator .
The novel tells of a country with similarities to modern ex soviet states but with the effects of climate change and pollution more extreme , as the boy looses both his grandparents in quick succession the novel essentially is a journey taken with him as he searches for his long lost mother and gradually learns her story
it is mot a long novel and is a compact well put together story which is ultimaly a story of survival and of the kindness of fellow humans

DNF at 56%.
My first foray into Czech literature turned out to be a bust. This book, described as a coming of age dystopian, read a lot like Oliver Twist to me. The grim, rural setting of the protagonist hometown, which then turns into the industrial, smoke-filled, violent city that Dickens was known for recreating. The well-known orphan journey: a single beloved relative, who, in a series of tragedies, leaves said orphan alone in the world, in search of someone, anyone, to take him in. The want for love, shelter, for a maternal figure. Those are common, well-loved themes in literature, but I felt them lacking in depth when it came to The Lake.
The bluntness of the writing style was jarring at first, and then never grew on me. Maybe it was the cover, which seems very innocent, but the violence and grime of the author's style surprised me, and for some reason I could never get adjusted to it. As Nami grew, I found myself rooting less and less for him, his motives flimsy and his wants never acted upon.
This book is categorized as dystopian. I don't get it? It could be mainly because of my lack of knowledge on Czech culture and history, but this book didn't read like that. Sure, in the first half, it was passable as a distant future, but in the second, while Nami is living with Johnny, Adidas is randomly named. It completely pulled me out of the story and left me so confused.
I'm sad to DNF this, but at this point I just can't be bothered with it anymore. The synopsis sounded to interesting to me, and right up my alley, but unfortunely Bellová and I don't match.

“The Lake” by award-winning Czech writer Bianca Bellová (translated by Alex Zucker) is a fascinating look at an end-game world featuring an unlikely boy protagonist named Nami. Nami, his grandparents, and other fishing families are struggling to survive in a dying village on the edge of a lake ruined by industrial development, mineral extraction, commercial fishing and processing, and military experiments in chemical warfare. Nami’s journey takes him from his lakeside fishing village to a degenerating eastern bloc city and back as he struggles to survive, come of age, and meet his mother.

The setting is a dystopian world featuring sub-plots about oppression, rebellion, and survival. The characters are many and wonderfully developed, with each having a part in Nami’s quest. The tone is dark, but the author cleverly weaves an ironically uplifting story from the narrative’s dark strands featuring Nami’s unquenchable thirst for family and his own spirit’s survival, all culminating in a subtly climatic final scene that ties all the strands together as only the lake could do. Four stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Parthian Books, for granting this writer the opportunity to read an Advance Reader Copy of, "The Lake” (ISBN-13: 9781913640521), prior to publication, and thanks to NetGalley for helping to make that possible.

Bianca Bellová’s Jezero won the 2017 EU Prize for Literature and is now being published in English as The Lake, in a translation from the Czech by Alex Zucker for Parthian Books.

The novel is set in a dystopian world which is, alas, not too far from removed from present realities. Indeed, the backdrop to the story is easily recognisable as a decaying, post-Soviet landscape, dotted with rural settlements, ambitious but crumbling Russian edifices, and pompous monuments to “The Statesman”. Russian platoons still police the area, occasionally indulging in senseless violence and rape. An added nightmarish element is provided by the threats of pollution and climate change. The eponymous lake is possibly radioactive – a swim guarantees vomiting and the intensification of the eczema which plagues the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. It rarely rains, and the fishing industry which used to guarantee a meagre living to the fishermen in the area is dying out. The future holds little hope – even babies are born with serious malformations and mutations. The men drown their sorrows in vodka, the woman indulge in uneasy friendships plagued by envy and betrayals.

The novel’s protagonist, Nami, is born and raised by his grandparents in this forbidding environment. He has no idea of his father’s identity, and only a vague recollection of his absent mother. Following the death of his grandparents, he sets off on a journey of discovery with the elusive and distant aim of eventually finding his mother and reconciling himself with his hidden past.

I can understand the critical acclaim received by the novel. Through its theme of the “personal Odyssey”, it taps into the reserves of myth and legend which give gravitas to this coming-of-age story. At the same time, the dystopian elements and reference to climate change give The Lake a gritty, contemporary edge. Yet, it is a novel which I found difficult to actually “like”. It is unremittingly, uncompromisingly bleak and confronts the protagonist (and reader) with all sorts of tragedies and degrading situations. I’ve read countless horror stories which are jollier than this. Although the ending vaguely suggests the possibility of hope, this remains a distant glimmer. None of the characters is perfect (not least Nami himself) although possibly some of the stronger female characters, Zaza in particular, come close.

A well-written novel then and, in its own dark way, an unforgettable experience but one which should be approached in the right mood, and with full understanding that this will be no comfort read.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-lake-by-bianca-bellova.html

I blitzed through this book over the weekend as I just could not get enough. Light and witty I enjoyed every second. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Lake is a raw account of life in a devastated land and the harsh, primitive circumstances under which people fight to survive." This describes The Lake perfectly - the writing style is excellent, and clearly the author speaks from painful past experiences. It's a well written but depressing book, and it was a bit hard to read sometimes. The characters could be more developed, as some things needed a bit more clarity. Overall I really enjoyed this book though, and feel haunted afterward.

This book is in evocative coming of age story with a strong female lead. I enjoyed the story immensely and was completely mesmerized by its spell. I highly recommend this book.