Book Reviews: Lakewood by Reggie Hill

I have another book to show you, also by one of the authors of Sunshine’s Excellent Adventures. For this review, I’m shifting gears from a children’s book to a short collection of family/home-based tales and poems reminiscent of Driving Grandpa by John Redstand. This collection is called Lakewood: Reggie and Anita’s Camelot by Reggie Hill.

We all have that one special place which makes us feel absolutely at peace, the happiest we could ever be. For Reggie and his wife Anita, that place is their lake house, appropriately dubbed Lakewood. Built by Reggie’s grandfather during World War II, Lakewood is Heaven on Earth for this couple. Whether it’s turning a childhood hideaway into a guest house or the joy of spotting two river otters playing the water, Reggie and Anita make the best of every simple pleasure their lakeside home can offer them.

In less than forty pages, Reggie Hill gives readers a slice of this Camelot through several stories and poems, each only a few pages long. As with Hill’s Sunshine’s Excellent Adventures and even Redstand’s Driving Grandpa, there is no single, complete plot to tie together the stories and poems in this collection. Rather, they are connected Lakewood, Reggie and Anita, and a feeling of love and nostalgia which only shines through a narrative when the writer truly loves what he/she is writing about.

I must say that there is a surprising amount of character development spanning these stories and poems, particularly for Reggie. Readers get a clear view not only of Reggie’s family history in relation to Lakewood but also Reggie’s personality. While he is ready and willing to shoot vermin which work to ruin his nirvana, Reggie also has a big heart, as made evident by the fact that he didn’t want to shoot the otters eating their expensive fish. He would have if needed, but fortunately for him—and for me as an animal-loving reader—he didn’t have to.

Of course, Reggie isn’t even my favorite character/person in this collection. No, that title goes to Reggie’s grandmother, Granny Good. A plump, spunky, and adventures elderly woman from a bygone era, she’s the sort of grandmother that every child wishes they had. The joy with which Granny good helps Reggie to launch his homemade missiles warmed my heart and made me laugh; after all, joy is contagious. It’s unfortunate that only one of these stories–albeit probably the longest one–involves Granny Good. I think Hill could have written an entire book about his time with Granny Good alone. Perhaps, one day, he will.

I wish that we could have seen a little more of Anita. It’s probably best that Hill focuses on the location instead as it avoided the stereotypical “growing old together” trope. Still, it would have been nice to see more of Anita as Lakewood means so much to her as well.

While any reader would get some joy out of reading sweet stories about a lakeside home, I think that readers who grew up in small towns and around lakes will have a greater appreciation for Lakewood. The descriptions reminded me a great deal of a lake that my dad and I went to when I was younger. It does not have the same kinds of animals as Hill’s Lakewood, but it is also man-made and both fill me with this “back-in-the-day” feeling. I longed to have the panoramic views of my lake as Reggie had of his and to be able to see nature scurry about as he does. (And I’m not even an outdoorsy person!) My lake is not my Camelot, but Hill helps me to feel that Lakewood truly is Reggie and Anita’s Camelot, and I think that those readers with similar experiences with lakes and less-populated areas will sense this truth more prominently.

In addition to these very short stories, Lakewood also includes some very descriptive and awe-inspiring poetry. Just like the stories, each poem is light-hearted and, sometimes, flat out funny. My favorite in particular has to be “Sunshine Sugarbunny Hill”. This poem illustrates the daily life of one of the resident rabbits of Lakewood in a way which makes the rabbit seem majestic and heroic but also quite the scoundrel.

This verse from “Sunshine Sugarbunny Hill” has especially stuck with me:

He is a thing of beauty but a constant challenge

Behind his golden eyes is a view,

Of an ancient and dangerous world

His fur is like cuddly golden down,

But a timeless beast rests deep in his tiny heart

These lines, to me, capture the tone of the overall collection best. Lakewood is beautiful but changing, a remnant of another time; it is a peaceful sanctuary but, at the same time, it has its own beasts within (just ask the muskrats).

Lakewood: Reggie and Anita’s Camelot by Reggie Hill is not an action-filled collection. The plots for the short stories are simple and, admittedly, sometimes not even true “plots.” Nevertheless, this book is a wonderful memoir of funny tales, beloved memories, and priceless photographs. If you’re looking for stories and poems which will leave you with that warm, fuzzy feeling, as though you’ve finally come home for the first time in years, you’ll want to take a look at Hill’s Lakewood. And at only forty pages, it’s the perfect snack-sized read for boring waiting rooms and tiresome bus rides!

You can buy Lakewood: Reggie and Anita’s Camelot by Reggie Hill as an e-book or in print on Amazon. As with Sunshine’s Excellent Adventures, you’ll want to view the Kindle version on a larger screen for the best reading experience; don’t want to miss out on those beautiful photographs.

Do you know of any books I should read and review? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!