The eleventh commandment, Thou Shalt Not Emote. What Kate’s decisions are based on. This is an example of how Kate was brought up as a child. She grew up by not letting people know when she was upset; she always had to hide her feelings. Even at the toughest times; after her brother was accepted to teaching college (which was highly unusual for people from Crow Lake) their parents decided to drive to town to get him a suitcase. While out, her parents were hit by a logging truck and died. Kate has always tried to keep her memories in an airtight cupboard; she never really liked to talk about what was going on at the time. Her older brothers' Matt and Luke were in charge of all of the funeral planning, the phone calls, and visits from the neighbours.
 

       Thou Shalt Not Admit To Being Upset. When she was caught being upset, she could not control herself. You can feel her real emotions through how she describes it, "the fear and dread, lying inside of me rose up like a river. like a flood." (48) Her feelings are uncontrollable because she is starting to realize that she is about to lose her family, and move away from her two brothers. She was never one to talk about problems in her relationships, even if she was upset. She hated seeing her brother's upset, so she figured she better not show that she is. Which came from, the twelfth commandment because she was taught that she should never let anyone know she was upset, or worse let them know why.

        When Matt asks her what is the matter, and what she is so sad about she is hesitant about her explanation. Thou Shalt on No Account Explain. Ensuring Kate that everything will be alright, Matt did not seem too sure himself. Kate knew that Matt was a little uneasy about the situation because he to, did not want the family to be split up. What was left of their family was about to be abolished. Since their aunt Annie would not be able to afford and take care of four children, so Kate and Bo were to move into Aunt Emily’s' and Matt would work on Aunt Annie’s farm. While Luke goes through with teachers college with the money left from their father and his own earnings.



The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are a set of biblical principles that relate to ethics and worship, it is considered fundamental to Christianity. The Ten Commandments seems significant in Kate’s life because she always refers to what her mother has taught her about them. Thou Shalt Not Emote, is the one thing that really stuck with Kate after her mother’s passing.



Book Choice

The novel I chose to read is called Crow Lake, it is written by the novelist Mary Lawson. It was published by Vintage Canada, in 2003. The paperback edition of the book has 304 pages.


      I chose this book because when reading through the list, Crow Lake stood out to me the most.  Crow Lake seemed most interesting because it was set in a small farming community in Northern Ontario (keeping it close to home is what makes it). It is about a young, successful, academic, girl planning out her future, but is haunted by the events of her past. The death of her parents as a child is what caught my attention the most, and seeing how this will effect her life later down the road. I feel that books that are realistic and have a interesting, thriller like story line are the most addictive. The supernatural is always of interest, and I feel that this book will provide me with a lot of interest.


    I have not yet started reading the book as to i have been working and busy with family, this weekend I plan to finally start reading. Based on the critical comments that have been made by previous readers, I am about to fall inlove with this book. Mary Lawson is an excellent story teller, and I am really looking forward to getting into this book.

"A lot of readers are going to surrender themselves to the magic of Crow Lake."
— The Globe and Mail

      As I have not started reading  this novel, I am unable to answer some of the questions. At the end of each week I plan on reading almost one hundred pages, in order to finish the book within three weeks. This novel has good reviews, and an interesting and capturing story line; I will have no problem getting into this book and finishing it !



Mary Lawson, Author of Crow Lake.