Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A wry and tender portrait of two families forever changed by one lovestruck decision that will reverberate for decades.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.  A free book was provided for an honest review.

March 2026; Ecco; 978-0063377684
audio, ebook, print (288 pages); family fiction

Lake Effect looks at two suburban families in Rochester, NY, in the years from 1977 to 1998. It follows two families who live across the street from each other - Nina and Sam with daughters Clara (17) and Birdie (15), and Finn and Honey with their son Dune (17) and daughter Fern (14).  Their neighborhood reflects a typical 70s life – husbands work, wives stay at home to take care of kids, and everyone appears happy…but there is a quiet change coming to this neighborhood (and really all of suburbia) as women begin to question their lives and their goals in life.  The author humorously shows the changes that are occurring with copies of Joy of Sex and the women’s feelings about their own sexuality.

Let’s look at each of the two families:

• Finn owns a local supermarket chain.  Since his heart attack, he has become healthy and quite attractive.  His wife, Honey, is very religious and isn’t interested in companionship or sex.  Finn realizes that he’s going to have to look outside of their marriage for happiness, but little does he realize at first that his potential happiness is right across the street.
• Nina was single for a long time and enjoyed her life in the city as a single woman.  When she met Sam, she believed that he would give her a stable life.  Their life was stable but not very exciting – she was in her 40s and interested in a satisfying life, and wanted more intimacy in her life.  She started to admire Finn, and they fell in lust with each other.  Neither wanted to do more than flirt at first, but then they both realized that they needed more.  One day, they snuck off and flew to Santa Domingo, leaving notes behind for their children.  In that country, with 3 days' residency, they could get a divorce and then marry each other the next day. Nina had some doubts but decided to quit worrying about her children and find her own happiness.

When Nina and Finn returned to Rochester and moved into their new apartment, they expected their children to be accepting of their new happiness.  They had no idea of how much the scandal would affect their children, and found quickly that the world, including their children, is not going to be accepting of their new relationship.

All of this takes place very early in the book, and most of the book is spent looking at the repercussions of their decisions on their discarded spouses and mostly how it affected their four children.  Not only does Nina and Finn’s life change dramatically, but the lives of Clara, Birdie, Dune, and Fern will never be the same.   

Lake Effect is a probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.  It’s a look at how one decision can change the trajectory of so many lives and how the effects last for years.

This was an emotional and well-written book about a family on the cusp of change in the lives of women in the 1970s.  It’s about family and love, and questions whether people can ever be forgiven for looking for happiness in their lives without regard for other people.

“Lake effect, in Finn’s understanding, just meant you could never be sure what was coming.” (P 34)

Buy Lake Effect at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.

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