The Inn at Lake Devine

by Elinor Lipman

Book Overview

This "tale of delicious revenge" (USA Today) is also "a punchy little comedy of manners.... Think Jane Austen in the Catskills" (Chicago Tribune).

It's 1962 and all across America barriers are collapsing. But when Natalie Marx's mother inquires about summer accommodations in Vermont, she gets the following reply: The Inn at Lake Devine is a family-owned resort, which has been in continuous operation since 1922. Our guests...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037570485X
• ISBN13: 9780375704857
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Charming

I fell madly, totally, and completely in love with the heroine of Elinor Lipman's The Inn at Lake Devine. Natalie Marx is around twelve when the short novel opens, and her family has just received a politely worded rejection letter from the proprietor of the Inn at Lake Devine: there are no rooms at the inn for people with Jewish names. The first half of the book recounts Natalie's comic attempts to visit the inn, her real but limited success, and the interesting people she encounters along the way. The second half of the book concerns the twenty-five-year-old Natalie's re-introduction to the inn and her romance with the innkeepers' son. As always, Lipman's characters are quirky, yet true to life. They respond to real life situations in real ways, yet Lipman's compassionate eye for the comic shines through.

Sorry To See It End

What a great book! I enthusaistically read through this in two (seemingly short) sittings. The story consistently kept me wondering what would happen next and how the various realtionships would evolve. I became especially attached to Natalie and the Berry brothers. By blending the topic of anti-semitism with elements of friendship, loss, love and ultimately acceptance, Ms. Lipman is able to capture the reader without seeming preachy or melodramatic. I just recently finished the book and I already miss it!

Wonderful book- I couldn't put it down

The Inn at Lake Devine is a wonderful book. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. I read most of the book in one sitting. The book is funny, humorous, lighthearted and romantic. There is also some vicarious enjoyment in the revenge tactics employed by the main character Natalie. It is a pleasure to watch the characters age and to see how everyone's viewpoints change. Highly recommend!

a serious sujbect effectively treated with a comic touch

I started laughing out loud in the first chapter when Natalie began her retaliations against the anti-Semitic Mrs. Berry at the Inn. I found myself alternately laughing and crying with the characters throughout the comic and tragic events of Natalie's life. Brains are not Mrs. Berry's long suit, as is apparent from the first offensive letter she sends Natalie's mother; but though she is more stupid than evil, she still has the power to hurt people, including herself. Natalie finds, however, that her Jewish relatives are hardly free from prejudice against others, when they boycott her sister's wedding to an Irish Catholic, nor even among themselves (Natalie's grandmother disdains her future son-in-law because he drives a fruit truck, at which point her husband recalls that she herself is the daughter of a rag dealer.)Mrs. Berry never does quite get it. Despite the older generation and some real tragic events, the book builds to a wonderful finish and makes you want to see all the kids of Natalie's (and my) generation succeed all the way.

Jewish versus Gentile - a love story

As a society we are divided by class, religion and color. Whenever we try to intermingle any of these differences in personal relationships it is, often times, met with disapproving attitudes by others. And eventhough we may be reminded, justifiably so, by the holocaust or by slavery our nation still discriminates, still judges. Elinor Lipman in her novel, "The Inn at Lake Devine" writes with great wit and humor about the great divide between Jews and Gentiles. Ms. Lipman's story centers around a hotel in Vermont in the 60's that flatly states they do not accept Jews as guests. The main character, Natalie Marx, challenges the hotels policy and after meeting a gentile friend at summer camp, whose family spends each summer at the Inn, invites herself to vacation there with her friends family (as that is the only way she can "legally" get into the Inn). Natalie's eyes are widened even further after witnessing the owners and their family during that vacation. Years later she returns to the Inn to attend the wedding of her summer camp friend where unforeseen circustances occur and relationships develope between Natalie and the innkeepers 2 sons. Interestingly, Ms. Lipman takes the action to the Catskills, where the tables are now turned as the Jews talk about the Gentiles. All of this is done with great style and wit by Ms. Lipman and she never judges anyone so that we dislike them. Instead, Ms. Lipman allows us to observe the inner-workings of our society and how we, as a whole, can improve all our lives together. What happens to Natalie, the owners 2 sons and the Inn will have to be discovered by the reader. In the meantime, buy Ms. Lipman's novel - she addressess a subject worth writing about and delivers it humorously and professionally.