In the Lake of the Woods Chapters 1–3 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapter 1, How Unhappy They Were

John and Kathy Wade, a married couple in their late thirties, have rented a secluded cottage along Lake of the Woods on the border of Canada and the United States. John, the former lieutenant governor of Minnesota, has been decisively beaten in a primary to run for the United States Senate. John and Kathy spend their nights lying on the front porch, never making love but talking about the future they will build after this loss: having children, buying a house, and traveling. John will work as a lawyer, and they will pay off campaign debts. Despite their conversations, however, John knows they are just pretending. He feels humiliation at his defeat as well as a deep rage that he struggles to suppress. On their sixth night at Lake of the Woods, Kathy asks John if he loves her, and John says yes. The next day she will be gone.

Summary: Chapter 2, Evidence

The second chapter presents quotes, or “evidence,” from interviews with family members, law enforcement personnel, and coworkers as well as several unidentified people. The chapter also presents several “exhibits.”

John’s mother, Eleanor, reveals that John was always secretive and loved his father despite his father’s constant teasing. Pat Hood, Kathy’s sister, refuses to comment. Tony Carbo, John’s campaign manager, says John kept something big a secret from his wife and implies that it was scandalous news that sunk the campaign. Art Lux, the county sheriff, explains how hard they searched for Kathy. A waitress named Myra Shaw reports overhearing John and Kathy argue, Ruth Rasmussen believes that Kathy will return, and Bethany Kee, Kathy’s coworker, says Kathy is a good swimmer and probably left her husband. A man named Vinny Pearson says that John killed Kathy, while Richard Thinbill says he remembers the flies.

The exhibits include a teakettle, a missing person’s report for Kathleen Terese Wade, polling data demonstrating that John held a commanding lead earlier in the campaign, and photographs of a motor boat, several dead houseplants, a boathouse, and a cottage.

Summary: Chapter 3, The Nature of Loss

John’s father dies when John is fourteen. This loss makes John feel tremendous rage and even a desire to kill. He attempts to pretend that his father isn’t dead by having conversations with him and imagining himself saving his father’s life. John’s efforts to convince himself always fail.

Analysis: Chapters 1–3

The first chapter of In the Lake of the Woods sets up oppositions that readers will find throughout the novel. John and Kathy are both desperately unhappy, as the book’s opening chapter title states, but they also share a tremendous love. They claim to love one another but are unable to express their love physically through sex. They need solitude, but they also need to be together. John and Kathy are a confused couple facing serious problems, trying to work them out but without having any real idea about how to do so.

In Chapter 1, readers also learn of Kathy’s disappearance, which quickly turns any preconceptions about the subject of the book on their head. This story is now a story of a dissolving marriage rather than simply a marriage in crisis. John and Kathy are not truly a couple anymore but are two pieces of a failed relationship. The words expressing Kathy’s absence are precise without being specific. Kathy “was gone,” but readers don’t know anything about what happened to her or where she went, adding an element of mystery.

If Kathy’s absence alerts the reader to read the rest of the novel looking for clues or an explanation, the idea of Kathy’s disappearance existing as a mystery is reinforced in Chapter 2, which is the first of many chapters titled “Evidence.” The second chapter shifts from a more straightforward narrative structure and instead presents people’s impressions of John, Kathy, and their relationship. These people range from their closest family members to people who have no official affiliation with John or Kathy, such as the waitress at a convenience store. The chapter also presents “exhibits” including photographs, police reports, and data, all of which are intended to prove something that the reader does not yet know about John, including what caused his political defeat and what happened to Kathy. While some people’s statements are simple to understand, like those coming from John’s mother asserting that John would never hurt Kathy, other statements are nonsensical, such as Thinbill’s exclamations about flies. Also, no matter how comprehensible the statements are, the people speaking about John and Kathy are merely sharing their interpretations, not the absolute truth. Chapter 3 gets at the mystery of human relations in a different way, by detailing when and how John started pretending that reality was not the truth he was living, a habit that shapes his entire life.

Next section Chapters 4–6