2009 book 142

Vestal McIntyre's Lake Overturn
Kind of a sweeping epic centered in Idaho in the 1980s, this novel manages to bring a wide variety of characters to vivid life, from two single moms in a trailer park to a junior high boy struggling with his sexuality to his older brother, a Mexican raised by rich white foster parents and torn between both worlds to a pair of high school girls desperate to flee their small town. Plus more! The characters are definitely the highlight here, as most of the plot is small-town-family stuff, and things do take a turn for the depressing at the end. The title refers to a phenomenon where a lake gives off CO2 gas and kills people, the subject of s science project by two of the characters. A-/B+.