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The Lake of Dead Languages

by Carol Goodman (Goodreads Author)

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 5,233 ratings · 554 reviews

In the evocative tradition of Donna Tartt’s first novel, The Secret History, comes this accomplished debut of youthful innocence drowned by dark sins. Twenty years ago, Jane Hudson left the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy. Now she has returned to the placid, isolated shores of the lakeside school as a Latin teacher, recently separate...more

ebook, 358 pages

Published December 27th 2005 by Ballantine Books (first published January 1st 2002)

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Feb 22, 2013 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites

I really loved this book. Yes, it was a bit predictable, I figured out who it was pretty quickly. But I loved the setting at an all girls' school, isolation, ice and silence. And Goodman knows something about teachers, she picks up on the nuances. She knows about girls who cut themselves and wonders why? I have sent some of my own students to the counselor with cuttings, scarrings done with pens, pins, erasers and paper clips. why, I want to ask them. This author gets that. I know it's a good bo...more

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Oct 08, 2007 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hmm. One of those books you want to be done with but have to finish to see how it ends. Kind of a thriller, kind of a mystery, the narrator is a former student of all-girls school Heart Lake who comes back to teach Latin as an adult. In her time there as a student, both of her roommates committed suicide, and now someone is seemingly recreating this past aggressively and accusatorily (I may have made this word up; if not, I spelled it wrong). The protagonist seemed either really dumb or really i...more

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Oct 27, 2007 Molly rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am always drawn to any aisle with books, and I've often scanned the titles at Target, remembering bits of titles for the library or for the independent bookstore in town.

And it began fine, with that ghostly tone, but quickly took a predictable turn, and even worse--certain instances within the book seemed to be explained to the reader, as if the reader weren't smart enough to catch symbol, metaphor, theme. This became less about language (so early) and easily about faulty twists. I agree with...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Darren L. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm only about 20% into this novel, but I'm already impressed by the seemingly effortless but genuinely elegant prose. This lady can write. Several of the characters (in both the past and in the present) reach their hands up from the page and become spooky real. I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't fall apart as I go farther.

***Okay, finished it. Interestingly enough, there were so many people who compared this to The Secret History that I read it too. Oddly enough, I liked Carol Goodman's Th...more

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Mar 02, 2009 Sabine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For someone who hates first person present tense, I sure am picking up a lot of books lately written in it, and surprisingly liking them enough to not let the writing style bother me too much.
This is the story of a Latin teacher who after splitting up with her husband goes back to teach at the private girls school that she had attended. The same school where her two roommates had committed suicide their senior year. Now back, she finds the events of her schooldays replaying themselves through t...more

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Feb 09, 2009 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, places-i-have-been, taught-me-something

An okay, but somewhat transparent mystery-ish novel, that was written in a nice readable style. I can't say there was anything particularly surprising about it or anything revealed that I hadn't already cottoned to, but I did like sitting curled up in my chair on a glum Saturday afternoon and escaping into the book. I also liked the descriptions of winter on the lake. Even though I went to university in Upstate New York (though a few years earlier than Jane went to Vassar), I kept picturing Hear...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Alisea rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Il lago delle lingue morte

Nel nord-est degli Stati Uniti, fra i monti dell’Adirondack, vicino alla cittadina di Corinth, c’è un lago: Heart Lake. D'inverno la sua superficie si cristallizza completamente, tra gemiti e stridori delle molecole dell’acqua che diventano ghiaccio. Su una delle sue sponde sorge una villa. Un tempo era abitata dalla famiglia dei “signori” del luogo, i Cravecoeur, ma poi la loro figlia minore era morta in seguito ad una brutta influenza causata da una caduta in acqua, e...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Suzanna Tempesta rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book that starts off really good, and ends up...just bad.
Voice and Overall
I really liked the hook of the Latin classes, and I thought the beginning was good also. But after the introduction of all the characters, there was a big, and I mean big, downturn in the quality of the book.
At some point I felt like I was reading a chick-flick; with all that nonsense about hiding her diary and being worried about what Myra Todd (I think that's what her name was) would say. Another big thing I didn't li...more A book that starts off really good, and ends up...just bad.
Voice and Overall
I really liked the hook of the Latin classes, and I thought the beginning was good also. But after the introduction of all the characters, there was a big, and I mean big, downturn in the quality of the book.
At some point I felt like I was reading a chick-flick; with all that nonsense about hiding her diary and being worried about what Myra Todd (I think that's what her name was) would say. Another big thing I didn't like was that she was divorced and had a child, but the divorcee or the child didn't really come into the book that much, they seemed like an afterthought or filler. Why put something there that you're not going to use?
Characters
The characters were cliche and boring, and not one of them had any depth. The main character sounded like she was still a teenager; in the middle of the book she seemed that she had forgotten she had a daughter. The repetition of the lake and it's frozen-ness was boring after the first few times, and the authors pathetic attempts to make her sound like 'one of the wild kids' by adding her drug use was random. She's reminiscing about her childhood and then talks about her friends' 'exquisitely rolled joints'. If you don't intend for the material to relate to the story, don't put it in there. Her longtime obsession with that woman was...weird...
The girls of the school sounded very stereotypical goth, depressed type. It's hard for me to believe that all the girls were that way. The main character talked about their eye makeup more than anything else, and that was very annoying. The 'cheap teenage symbolism' was just that, and that weird thing about one of the girls sneaking bits of the main characters diary into her homework didn't make sense, although I suppose it shouldn't have. I hated how she called them by their Latin names (even though it sort of related to that ritual thing), but it got confusing when the counselor called them by their real names... The 'rituals' and the 'three sisters legend' were intriguing, but it felt immature.
The teachers that were described were one dimensional, and the fact that they were described made the book even more chick-flick-y. The best character was the counselor, she made sense.
Setting
The name of the school 'Heart Lake Academy' sounded like something out of a badly-written teenage romance novel. The three sisters legend was interesting, but overworked. The lake was a nice touch, but it wasn't as deeply metaphorically used as it could be. I felt, as a reader, that the metaphor of the lake was explained to me, when I could have actually figured it out myself; that's the whole point of a good writer, to leave the reader wondering but content. I didn't finish the whole book, but I didn't really like how everything was explained.
Dialogue
The dialogue sounded so cliche and stinted. It felt like the author just picked phrases from soap-operas and put them in there.
Flow, Tone, and Voice
The only thing I really enjoyed about the book was how well it read. It was, for the most part, paced very well and written with nice flow (although some parts seemed boring and to drag on, but not a lot). The tone seemed to change from 'badly written teenage novel' to 'chick-lit' to 'mystery'. The voice at times could seem very mature and then also very immature.
Overall
I give this one start because of the nice flow and beginning. Everything else was just badly written. It had nice potential, but it was squandered. I didn't finish it because, honestly, I didn't find it worth my time.(less)

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Jan 10, 2013 Bernadette Robinson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book. Carol Goodman has been able to draw on her own experiences as a Latin teacher when writing this book. This is a truly engaging story that keeps you gripped as you turn the pages.

History appears to be repeating itself for Jane Hudson's pupils and they appear to be living out Jane's past. Secrets never lie buried for ever and as the story progresses we find out the secrets hidden in Jane's past.

The book is well written and at it's heart is the mystery that surrounds events in...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nope-just-can-t-go-there, not-sure-i-am-a-believer

Oh, wow...where to begin. There were elements of this book that I wanted to give 5 stars. The story, the plot, the intertwining of characters and their histories. A nice reveal at the end (although it was very predictable). The problem was the pacing. I felt like I was reading the book f...o...r...e...v...e...r. At one point I actually stared at the page number, 287, and could not believe there were STILL 100 more pages to go. Too much detail and description when it was way beyond the need for s...more Oh, wow...where to begin. There were elements of this book that I wanted to give 5 stars. The story, the plot, the intertwining of characters and their histories. A nice reveal at the end (although it was very predictable). The problem was the pacing. I felt like I was reading the book f...o...r...e...v...e...r. At one point I actually stared at the page number, 287, and could not believe there were STILL 100 more pages to go. Too much detail and description when it was way beyond the need for such. I could deal with the retelling of the story...it had kind-of a I'm going to tell-you-what-we-think-happened but now we are going to tell you what really happened.

If it had been a better edited and shortened book when you find out the big who-done-it it would have been okay but by that point you have been clobbered with excess that you already figured it out and can't figure out why the main character can't figure it out.

Also...the ice. And the freezing ice. And the snow and walking through the snow and the storms of snow. And the storms of snow and ice. And the frost. And the ice. And the frost and snow and ice and fog. And the rain. The rain that turns to ice. On top of snow that is covered in ice. That moans. And creaks. And growls. And cracks. And creaks while cracking and growling and moaning.

So...what should every character do at every turn? Why, let's walk on the ice...and snow...and rock...and ice...on the lake and on the trails...and on the new ice...and the old ice. And at the precipice of the ice and rock and snow and cliff in the middle of the night over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. It's like the movie Titanic...stop going to the bottom or the boat that has the same cold water on the outside of the boat where hypothermia sets in at about 2 minutes.

With that being said, I finished the book so I give it 3 stars because 2.5 isn't an option. (I'd give it 1 star for Jane's relationship with her daughter. As the parent of young children you would not just simply dismiss ***SPOILER: that you think somebody took your child out on a lake in a boat and deposited her on a rock!!!!!!!)

Oh snap...seems I have given this book more of my time.(less)

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Aug 28, 2011 Blake rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the first of this author's that I had read- and I loved it. It had all the elements of what makes a good eerie mystery novel- for women. I can't really see myself recommending this to a man. That's not being sexist but it's easy to explain. Lead female character flees with 4 year old child to former boarding school set in brooding frozen upper New York isolated country to teach LATIN (of all things) in hot house atmosphere of teenage girls performing fake Goddess rituals that involve cu...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Dardenitaaa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An all girls’ school. A Latin Class. A troubled magistra with a shady alumna past. Students writing Latin phrases on their arms and razor-slicing their wrists open. Stolen Diaries. Secret Pregnancies. Taboo Love. Suicide on ice, water and dorm rooms. Academic Pressures. Friendships gone wrong. Ghost lakes and tragic folklore. History Repeating itself.

Relax, I’m not spoiling the entire book yet. If you’re a fan of mysteries with gothic touches, and thought the themes I just listed above sounded e...more An all girls’ school. A Latin Class. A troubled magistra with a shady alumna past. Students writing Latin phrases on their arms and razor-slicing their wrists open. Stolen Diaries. Secret Pregnancies. Taboo Love. Suicide on ice, water and dorm rooms. Academic Pressures. Friendships gone wrong. Ghost lakes and tragic folklore. History Repeating itself.

Relax, I’m not spoiling the entire book yet. If you’re a fan of mysteries with gothic touches, and thought the themes I just listed above sounded extremely catchy, I’m pretty sure you’ll find lots to love in Carol Goodman’s Lake of Dead Languages—an almost mythological-esque thriller exploring the edges of adolescent woes and high-school horrors, richly glazed with controversial socio-feministic truths. Just a caveat though: plot became sort of predictable half-way through. Or maybe it’s my inner crankypants again. Goodman makes up for it though by ironing the creases out of her narrative with wonderfully, tragically wounded heroines and yes, even villains, too. Like standing on a glass floor of ice, there’s plenty amount of chills, fragility, nostalgia and clarity in these pages that will oh-so-easily propel you deeper towards its secrets and mysteries.

This is Heart Lake School for Girls. Come Hither.

I’ve always been vocal about my love of layers. This novel has gazillions of it, and yes, most of it were effectively and intricately plotted within an interchanging series of present-day musings and flashbacks. The focal point is the story’s heroine and narrator, Jane Hudson, an alumna who returns to Heart Lake to teach Latin to a class of girls with whom she sees and identifies similarities to herself and her best friends during their time. It’s a mirror of events and identities, tugging at each other; Repetitions almost blending as one, as if staged by someone who premeditatedly wants to torture her. And the sameness of the tragedies evokes a certain paranoia on Jane—who knew all too well the patterns and the first-hand details of what happened in the past.

In it there’s a central, recurring concept of salvaging wrong decisions made and finding truth in all the deceit and confusion blurred frozen by time. I like how bits and pieces of Jane’ high school diary became a device in giving glimpses of their past, particularly on the tragedies whose only remaining witness alive was her. Dun Dun Dun Dun.

It’s a page-turner, but I thought some of the major revelations weren’t as shriek-worthy as I wanted it to be, having seen a twist a couple of pages before it gets affirmed. Okay, so maybe I’m just too engrossed wanting to find out who’s the culprit behind everything that I immediately guessed who it was, but still. I love layers, but I’m very particular about execution too. It’s a little pointless dragging a time-bomb longer than it’s supposed to be, just saying.

Nevertheless, this book has a lot of good points that shouldn’t be overlooked. In all fairness, the themes incorporated here were all relatively heavy for a coming-of-age story and I thought it honestly captured all the pain and tragedies of high-school’s darker side. I especially adore how everyone in the class gets their own Latin Name according to preferences to ditch their boring, generic names. And since it was a Latin Class, I was able to pick up a couple of Latin words and phrases, Cor Te Reducit being my favourite. It means: The heart leads you back.

And like Heart Lake itself, the story delves deeper and murkier as you read on. Heart: it gets to the core of what happened to Jane to make sense of what’s haunting her in the present. It’s somewhat became the conflict with which she will come to peace with her guilt-imbued self. And secondly, Lake: because as you swim further you say farewell to the shores of safety too, for you to put your own bravery to test towards profound depths your feet won’t touch.

All in all, the Lake of Dead Languages has been a beautiful albeit scary memoir; It’s piercing and pensive in ways that will ironically make you miss the one phase of your life you’re grateful you’re done with—High School.

This book will make you remember how it’s not always sunlit and cheery, but will also tell you, as if in whisper: The heart will always, lead you back.(less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I appreciated this book. It didnt fall into every cliche that I thought it would. I am very very good at predicting the endings of novels, but she made it impossible to predict the ending until about 3/4ths of the book- kept my mind reeling. I loved that!

Her prose is languid and beautiful but I have to admit sometimes I got a little frustrated at with it. She seemed to kind of get caught up in the description of things that didnt really matter- but it wasnt enough to really make me want to put...more

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May 10, 2011 Barbara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don’t know why I picked up this book, but it must have been based on a bookseller’s recommendations. I had no idea what to expect, but the book quickly drew me in. The protagonist, Jane Hudson, has taken refuge from her failed marriage by returning to her former boarding school in upstate New York. Pieces of the journal she kept during her senior year start appearing, reminding her of the tragedies 20 years ago – her roommate’s suicide, and then the other roommate and her brother drowning in t...more I don’t know why I picked up this book, but it must have been based on a bookseller’s recommendations. I had no idea what to expect, but the book quickly drew me in. The protagonist, Jane Hudson, has taken refuge from her failed marriage by returning to her former boarding school in upstate New York. Pieces of the journal she kept during her senior year start appearing, reminding her of the tragedies 20 years ago – her roommate’s suicide, and then the other roommate and her brother drowning in the frozen lake. The three girls had an odd, close relationship with their Latin teacher, who left after the inquiry. And now Jane’s the Latin teacher and strange things are happening to several of the girls in her class. And it all ties into the school legend, about the deaths of founder’s daughters, and the three rocks in the lake named for the sisters, and how the lake draws in girls in threes…..

The stage was all set for a cozy gothic and although it’s not my favorite genre, I was in. And then, just as in the story, it all started sinking slowly, inexorably, downwards. The author used heavy foreshadowing, including parallels from the classic tragedies they’re reading in class, so there are great big arrows pointing to the ‘mysteries’ and who’s behind them. Then the story line drops into the past, and you are shown every single detail of what happened. And then, you’re back in the present, and the narrator goes back over it again, and realizes, oh, that means… Yes dear, we were there 100 pages ago.

Whenever necessary to make things Absolutely Clear, the protagonist recalls exact dialogue from earlier in the story. “You won’t let me fall in, will you Jane?” The redundancy of the plot reminded me of the tendency in Hollywood thrillers to sum up all the ‘twists’ - Just in Case the People in the Back Row Didn’t Get It. There were several points I was tempted to throw the book across the room.

It seemed to me not entirely the author’s fault - this book appeared really very badly under-edited. I could possibly accept the overly heavy imagery was intentional. Ice in the river, the frozen lake, paths in the snow, the colors black, white, and red, sweating in the snow, the steam heat in the dormitory, people turning pale or blushing. Enough, please.

But there were also many examples where the same text, or a close variation, appears at multiple points in the story. For example, the explanation of how a lake freezes (from the surface down) was repeated three times. I’ve heard rumors but didn’t believe it - have publishers really gotten rid of all their editors?

The first third of the book had been good enough that I slogged through the frustrating remainder, while at the same time I berated myself for wasting time. If it were radically edited to half the current length it would be taut gothic suspense. With all the extra words, it’s frustrating and trite.
(less)

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May 01, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'd heard this book recommended somewhere and got it from the library to give it a try. The story takes place at a boarding school in New England, where the narrator has returned many years after her own schooling there to become the Latin teacher. The book gradually reveals a sinister mystery regarding the death of the narrator's two roommates while they were students, and ties these deaths into events that are happening at the school in the present day. I figured out the mystery a while before...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

Goodman, Carol. THE LAKE OF DEAD LANGUAGES. (2002). ***. This is a novel that deals with memory, loss, and the phenomenon of suicide among young girls. The heroine of the novel, Jane Hudson, left the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy. The week before her graduation from that secluded center of learning, three lives were taken – all victims of suicide. Now Jane has returned to the school as a Latin teacher, recently separated from her husband, and with her yo...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Silentchelsea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read this book when I was about 14. it was freshman yr. of High School. A good friend, not to talk her down, she was not much of a reader. When we would have the same reading assignments in a class, she'd skim. Or she'd ask me to give her the gist of what the reading was about. She was more of a TV buff.

Anyway books were never her strong point, while I devoured them. When she told me that she got this book and after having the book for only a couple hr.s she was already several chapters in......more

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Sep 14, 2010 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, gothic, northeast

I really enjoyed this gothic page-turner. Goodman is a fantastic, atmospheric writer, even if she does over-rely on a few techniques: characters are constantly paling or blushing; shadows are constantly splitting off from rocks.

In the last few chapters, my attention attenuated a bit, since I'd solved all the mystery elements (thanks to her skilled deployment of dramatic irony) much, much sooner than the narrator, who's, shall we say, not the sharpest tool in the shed.

The ending was a little pat...more

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Jul 18, 2010 Renee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed Goodman's writing, but I had to remove stars because I figured out all of the plot twists before they happened, which made for a bit of an anticlimactic ending. I spent the second half of the book wanting to shake Jane and say "REALLY?! This is painfully obvious!!!" I really can't say if this predictability is due to Goodman's inadequacies or my teenage tendency to read V.C. Andrews books. Things that Goodman seems to consider shocking were really pretty tame compared to what An...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Oroboros72 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first Carol Goodman book that I read, and despite myself I read two of her others even after being so irritated with this one. And I felt the exact same way about all of them. They all have great symbolism, exciting twists, interesting layers of metaphor and intertwined stories. And they are all utterly ruined by Goodman not giving her reader any credit whatsoever. When you almost have that satisfied 'Ah, I have figured something out' or 'ah, that symbol has reappeared here' She slam...more

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Apr 12, 2010 Cate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this over my spring break senior year of Kenyon, so perhaps I have fond memories of that time, all alone on campus except for a few other people who couldn't pull their comps together. When I'd made especially good progress researching and writing, I'd go to the bookstore (alas--best bookstore in the world done to death by new corportate college president who removed the kiddie tower, the used books, and the fairy tale character banners!) and read The Lake of Dead Languages.
Basically, I...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Shainna rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The Latin drew me in. The main character made me want to leave.

Despite all the obvious hints given to the main character, somehow Jane Hudson misses them all. The villain(s) (I think there were at least three, but all the reviews I've read only indicate one) were fairly easy to spot and there wasn't anything really unusual about their characterization that would indicate otherwise.

At times the writing was almost equivalent to that of a YA book and Jane Hudson was about as aware of her surroundin...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Doreen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Really, this book deserves 3.5 stars, and if I weren't such a hardcore mystery aficionado, it would have earned 4. Carol Goodman writes with elegance, working in her plot twists with exquisite timing, lacing her narrative with just enough misdirection to make you second-guess your assumptions. Her plotting is Gothic and literate, and were I newer to mysteries or crime, I am sure I would have loved this book as opposed to merely liking it. Alas, and as is always detrimental to my appreciation of...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Daria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-before-2012, read-in-english

«Мертвый язык озера» представляет собой изящно написанное произведение, главной героиней которого является учительница латинского языка, Джейн Хадсон. Действие книги разворачивается вокруг загадочной трагедии, произошедшей 20 лет назад в этой самой школе, где теперь преподает Джейн. Автор, Кэрол Гудман, строит композицию сразу в двух плоскостях, прошлое-настоящее, связующим звеном которых является дневник юной Джейн. Будучи школьницей, Джейн именно с дневником откровенно делится своей историей п...more «Мертвый язык озера» представляет собой изящно написанное произведение, главной героиней которого является учительница латинского языка, Джейн Хадсон. Действие книги разворачивается вокруг загадочной трагедии, произошедшей 20 лет назад в этой самой школе, где теперь преподает Джейн. Автор, Кэрол Гудман, строит композицию сразу в двух плоскостях, прошлое-настоящее, связующим звеном которых является дневник юной Джейн. Будучи школьницей, Джейн именно с дневником откровенно делится своей историей подростковой драмы, которая начинает приобретать масштабы настоящей катастрофы.
Теперь же дневник заставляет Джейн Хадсон заново переживать давно забытую трагедию. Кошмарная история начинает обрамляться все большим количеством деталей, по мере того как Джейн вместе с читателем путешествует по страницам своего дневника. Ей удается не только вспомнить малейшие подробности, но и взглянуть на ситуацию по-новому, глазами взрослого, проанализировать и принять обескураживающую правду о самой себе, от которой она пыталась бежать так долго.
Размеренное повествование книги в начале стремительно набирает обороты с каждой страницей, полностью поглощая читателя, не давая отвлечься до самого конца. Автор не скупится на детали, представляя глубоко проработанных героев, она смело удивляет, интригует читателя многочисленными хитросплетениями сюжета.
При этом Кэрол раскрывается перед читателем не только как хороший рассказчик, но и как тонкий психолог, способный передать атмосферу трагизма и нависшей опасности. Поначалу читатель обнаруживает себя в состоянии угнетающей неопределенности, затем на него выплескивается, словно струя холодной воды, череда шокирующих обстоятельств, после чего ему не остается ничего кроме как тонуть вместе с героями книги в озере обреченности. Даю три звездочки потому что не мой жанр, книга для тех кто любит детективы и интриги.(less)

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Oct 18, 2011 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, upstate-ny-setting-moment-idea

This mystery was chosen by an online book group in which I participate for its location: the Adirondacks; specifically, a private girls’ school in Adirondack Park. Jane Hudson graduated from there after two of her classmates died in their senior year. Grown up, divorced, she has returned to the school to be the Latin teacher. The school, once a mansion, is on Heart Lake and its motto is Cor te reducit or, the heart leads you back. From the first there seems to be something fishy about the school...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Robyn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: given-away, mystery

My sister gave me this to read in hospital after one of my surgeries years ago. It was ok, but not fantastic. Setting was well-drawn, characters were not too one-dimensional, but the denouement was fairly predictable. It was a good book for the purpose, which was escaping into something else for awhile and not needing to think while I did it.

The book was definitely better before I read one of Goodman's others, The Drowning Tree. I know the standard advice is "write what you know" but reading th...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Eileen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, read-2011, mystery

This is one of those books I wanted to be done with, but I also wanted to find out the truth behind the events. It's an eerie and cold mystery novel that deals with memories, death, loss and guilt. Not a book I would have chosen for myself to read, but I always like a challenge.I want to thank my Goodreads friend Jen for trying to broaden my horizons by giving me this book and sharing a book with me that she obviously enjoyed reading.

During our senior year Lucy Toller was sent to the infirmary...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Jaemi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mystery fans; anyone who likes a good suspense/thriller

Shelves: adult-fiction, mysteries

Jane Hudson's early life was one of much tribulation and loneliness. She had no real friends, and try as she might, she could never please her mother. But all that changed in High School, when she met and was taken in by the Toller siblings. Matt & Lucy are the world to Jane, and when they take her under her wing, helping her to prepare for the the Iris Scholarship - a full ride to the local Boarding School to the girl who scores highest in Latin - she starts to have some hope for her life.

N...more

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Sep 20, 2007 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My friend Geeta often recommends and lends to me the kinds of books that once started, must be read through in 48 hours or less, no matter what else I should be doing. This is one of those well plotted, "I knew it!"; "wait, I didn't think of *that*!" books. Not a great literary, mystery, but a good, page-turning one with plenty of intrigue about what goes on among girls and women who must keep, discover, and resdiscover one another's secrets.

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Jan 31, 2012 Lindsay Heller rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, academia, strange-familial-relations, we-really-want-to-be-secret-history

Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way; this book was trying really hard to be 'The Secret History'. All the elements were there: group of students under the tutelage of an exclusive teacher, mysterious deaths, strange familial relations, and dead languages. And, as many have said before me the comparison does a disservice, since Donna Tartt's novel is one my favorites. But that doesn't mean I can't be objective. I actually really enjoyed this book. It satisfied the soapy, scandal and s...more Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way; this book was trying really hard to be 'The Secret History'. All the elements were there: group of students under the tutelage of an exclusive teacher, mysterious deaths, strange familial relations, and dead languages. And, as many have said before me the comparison does a disservice, since Donna Tartt's novel is one my favorites. But that doesn't mean I can't be objective. I actually really enjoyed this book. It satisfied the soapy, scandal and secret loving girl in me while still maintaining a level of maturity when it comes to language.

'The Lake of Dead Languages' (a title I adore) is about Jane Hudson. At the beginning of the novel Jane has returned to the school she attended years 10 through 12; a formerly elite and now rather downtrodden girls school located in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, as the new Latin teachers. Jane feels as though the lake is calling her back to the school due to a tragedy her senior year which left both her roommates and her best friend's brother dead of suicide. Now, events seem to be repeating themselves and we discover that nothing was ever as it seems.

When I read or watch something I try very hard to not figure out what is going on before we're meant to because I like discovering plot points at the point they are meant to be discovered. With this one there was a lot I saw coming, but it didn't bother me. Probably because there was so many twists and turns that when I thought I had a handle on one aspect there was still another to ponder.

The setting of this book was fairly glorious. I've never been to that region myself, but I felt as if I knew exactly what it was like, how it felt to stand on the edge of the lake and watch it freeze hard enough to skate on. The feeling of cold and foreboding was excellent for this story. I only wish there were more words to use in place of "lake".

Overall, I would definitely recommend this. It was fast paced and satisfying, so long as you're not looking for something that you need to take completely seriously. (less)

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About Carol Goodman

Carol Goodman is the author of The Lake of Dead Languages. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Greensboro Review, Literal Latt, The Midwest Quarterly, and Other Voices. After graduation from Vassar College, where she majored in Latin, she taught Latin for several years in Austin, Texas. She then received an M.F.A. in fiction from the New School University. Goodman currently teaches writi...more

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