Parker’s Pages: Lake City

***Editor’s Note: Welcome to Parker’s Pages, a column wherein Parker Dean reviews books by local Puget Sound authors. Enjoy!

Armored with little more than a trusty tote bag and too much caffeine, I entered Third Place Books on Ravenna, searching for a local author to write my first book review about. I found an armful of wonderful tomes and settled on beginning with a novel called Lake City (2019), a fascinating fiction by Thomas Kohnstamm, a born-and-raised Seattleite. 

At the checkout stand, a bookseller promised me that Lake City was a fantastic read, that Kohnstamm’s next novel would be out soon, and that Thomas was a terrific guy and regular at Third Place Books. I was so excited by the enthusiasm from the bookseller that I rushed home to read it that night. 

Kohnstamm’s writing style is superb, effortlessly sensory, and descriptive. The prose immediately scooped me up, and it was near-impossible to put the novel down once I started it. We begin the story with a heartbreak; the main character, Lane Bueche (Bue-shay, as he constantly reminds us), has just separated from his wife in New York and been forced to return to Lake City, an eastern neighborhood of Seattle, where he grew up.

The novel is set in 2001, but there are hints of a Seattle that we might still recognize today, as well as nostalgia for what it was once like. Kohnstamm captures both the beautiful and ugly parts of living in the rainy city, opening his novel with an account of an overworked retail employee, and a brilliant description of the city that anyone who has lived in Seattle for a while can see, feel, and practically smell:

“It’s nowhere, deep Seattle: Lake City. Moss. Lawns matted with decomposing pine needles. Mud-licked streets without sidewalks. The Seattle that fueled the melancholy of what came to be known as grunge…” (p. 3-4)

We follow a perturbed and down-on-his-luck Lane as he investigates his childhood stomping grounds once again, finding himself far out of his depth. Lane’s character is pessimistic and childish, constantly flaunting his (not-yet-finished) philosophy degree and New York style, but even so, Lane keeps us engaged—whether because you hope he might grow up, or that he fails miserably. He begins the novel miserable and without moral compass, finding himself in worse and worse situations as he tries to find a way to win back his estranged wife, lavish apartment, and financial security. 

With no direction and the sense that he is about to lose his very privileged life, Lane enters into a shady deal, forever putting himself between a rock and an even-harder hard place. We wonder if Lane will finally grow a moral backbone or fail spectacularly, and it’s that perfected tension that keeps this book engaging and spellbinding. 

Book cover of Lake City / Thomas Kohnstamm.com

And even better, this novel is funny! Kohnstamm has a great grip on satirical and situational humor. Whether it’s Lane getting punched in the gut by his weed dealer or attending the most unfortunate birthday party ever, Lake City is full of hilarious and unbelievable situations that still manage to feel extremely plausible, if only because of Kohnstamm’s tight hold on the setting and characters, and the ever-beautiful prose throughout.

In the midst of the humor and strange situations, there is still deep introspection to be found. This novel has Lane continuously questioning his place in the world—is he tied to where he’s from in Lake City, or is he the man he has built himself up to be? And what kind of person should he strive to be?

The story overflows with the energy of Seattle; you can feel the heartbeat of the city in every single page. You simply can’t help but be transported to the suburbs and neighborhoods that straddle the many lakes. It’s hard not to be charmed by this novel and to be swung along by its many strange twists and turns. If you want a read that’ll keep you hooked from the very start, look no further than Lake City.