I had great fun with this book and I'm not really sure why. There is a bit of a mystery here . . . who really did impregnate Willie's mother? . . . but that's not the point.

There is also a real, traditional "sea" monster in the lake, though the role this creature plays in the novel is hard to pinpoint, more symbolic than factual, if you will. There are murder, mayhem, and scum-bags aplenty, as well. What's not to like?

But at heart this is mainstream fiction, a story about a mother and daughter, two best friends, family history, and small-town life. I mean, Mom was once a hippie who came home from San Fran, pregnant by heaven only knows whom (at least, officially). She's now a born-again Jesus-freak. Daughter comes home pregnant, knowing exactly by whom (and who's wife she tried to run down with a bush plane), while her best friend is suffering with, maybe dying of, lupus back in San Fran.

Could be totally sappy, right? Or so over the top you want to gag. But no. The book is warm and there is plenty of love. But it it saved by such interactions as:

(Mother to Willie & Willie's reflection): " 'I knew you were in there somewhere.' She gazed at me with tenderlovingkindness. There was the stink of burning martyr in the air."

and this one between Willie and Mom's Jesus-freak boyfriend/pastor: " I just said 'Huh,' for the sake of my tired mother . . . And that's all we could find to say to each other--the Bible-beater, the prodigal harlot daughter--until Vi returned with the platter in her hands."

How could you not like such writing? And that's all without getting into the ancestors! Then there is the lake monster. This is great stuff! The family trees were making me nuts until I realized I didn't have to follow them all that closely; they're a huge part of the point, but then again, they really aren't.

If there are huge points being made here, I don't really know what they are. No matter. This doesn't strike me as an "important" book, but it really is just a wonderful story in a low-key, laid-back sort of way.