Description

This touching, yet captivating novel chronicles the interconnected stories of twelve residents of the small fishing town of Desire, Minnesota, after a boating accident takes the life of Elle Ravenwood, the town's most loved resident. Bear, a biker and tattoo artist, has made it his religion to sit on the dock on the shores of Lake Desire every morning to write of the melancholy magic that swept over the town after Elle's death, and gave all of them the power to change their lives. He discovers the stories of love, regret, and the power of forgiveness, of finding self-worth, happiness, and the awareness of our own magnificence. It is the story of recognizing that magic does happen everyday and with it comes the realization that we are all capable of greatness.

Editorial Reviews

Bookreview.com

As I tried to pen a review for Lake Desire by Dāv Kaufman, I realized I have the writer’s equivalent to speechlessness. With a tear stained face and a soaring heart, I keep returning to the word awesome. It seems simplistic to use such a common and overused word, but this book grabbed hold of me and refused to let go. It was one that I hated to put down. It was one that I put off everything else to finish because Kaufman makes you care about the ending and the characters in his story.

The story centers around a small Minnesota town and its residents. After the town's most loved resident is killed in a boating accident, the blossoming of the story is fascinating. This is a story crafted to tell a tale of forgiveness, acceptance and being true to yourself once you have managed to determine who that is. Each resident of Desire has their own cross to bear and the intricacies of their actions are woven together with beautiful details. Lake Desire embraces the human spirit and keeps the reader wanting more.

Fearing that I am becoming overly dramatic about this book, I will simply say that the masterful way Kaufman writes pulls you into the story, makes you part of it and takes your breath away. It is a novel that I will read again soon because it is thought provoking and provides an avenue for introspection. Again, simply awesome.

Ripsaw News, Duluth

Minnesota. Ten thousand lakes spawning ten thousand communities - all of them strangely unique. Dāv Kaufman introduces one more lake, one more unique community and a host of classically Minnesotan characters in his novel, Lake Desire.

The book opens as Desire's most beloved resident, Elle, dies tragically in a boating accident. Her death, while shocking and saddening the residents of Desire, also sets in motion a chain of events that proves to empower 12 people to change their lives. Among them is Bear, a disillusioned poet, biker and tattoo artist looking for a reason to dump his useless girlfriend and finish his second book; Stella, a lonely bookstore owner who vows never to spend another birthday alone; Bret, a former deputy tormented with the memory of having to leave the love of his life to serve in Vietnam only to return and find her married to another man; and Martin, Elle’s only son, a taxidermist on the verge of setting the record for consecutive days fished.

Then there’s Steven, a set of twins whose parents lacked the creativity and energy to name them individually, forcing others to call them Stee and Ven; Annie, their shared girlfriend and town darling, who lost the only motherly influence she ever had when Elle died; and Ernie, a simple-minded gas station attendant with a penchant for snapping Polaroids of everyone that passes by his pumps.

In quintessential small town fashion, everyone’s lives are interconnected and external influences are few and far between. Thank goodness for Elle, whose own positive influence on the residents of Desire extends well into her afterlife. But even Elle harbors a juicy secret that could ruin her angelic reputation. Lake Desire is as delectable as a piece of homemade apple pie. Kaufman is a true Minnesotan and it shows in the tiny details that paint a fine picture of that which is affectionately and uniquely Minnesotan and more specifically, that which is unique to the Central Lakes region - dazzling sunsets, loons, Sportsman’s Cafes, pit parties, 10am beers, and snowmobiles tweaked into viable year-round transportation. Kaufman successfully captures the laid back atmosphere of Central Minnesota. The characters, though not always loveable, are lovingly developed. Dividing time between 12 characters stretches the story a bit far, but overall Lake Desire is a charming slice of lake life in Minnesota.

Midwest Book Review

Dāv Kaufman's Lake Desire is a reader engaging novel set in a small Minnesota town named Desire. When a boating accident claims the life of Desire's most beloved resident, her loss brings for grief, shock, and transformation. Twelve residents, in the wake of their friend's loss, find the inner resolve to change their lives and pursue their own desires as never before, in this introspective and marvelous tale. Highly recommended for community library collections, Lake Desire documents Dāv Kaufman as a novelist of considerable and original talent.

A Review of Lake Desire by Dāv Kaufman

Dāv Kaufman's Lake Desire is a novel that you will not only read once but again and again. For this Minnesota native, its charm is undeniable. Lake Desire is not so much about the lake but very much about human spirit and desires. It is a tale that intertwines romance, coming of age, self-realization and forgiveness with an intricacy that borders on lyrical.

Set in a small town in northern Minnesota, Kaufman chronicles the inner struggles and relationships of the residents as they come to terms with the death of their beloved local poet. Rob Harper, alias, Bear is the central character that lends a unique perspective to the goings on in Lake Desire. Early on Bear’s ruminations wax poetic and foretell each of the residents personal longings. As the story progresses, Bear struggles with his own inner turmoil and decisions that will change his life.

As the late author, Elle Ravenwood, looks on we are witness to a brief time in the lives of the residents of Desire, Minnesota that reflects their entire existence. Kaufman’s superb characterization gives you opportunity to feel as if you have known each of the residents forever. While it might be tempting to stereotype the “small town” inhabitants, Kaufman is careful to ensure that each retains a distinctive personality. The location, in this story, however, is not to be ignored. Kaufman's detailed descriptions paint a picture of every place in town from the bait shop on the lake to the gas station at the edge of town. It is the interaction between the characters and this town that makes this piece important. Its message of hope and acceptance is inspiring.

At the risk of sounding cliché, mere words cannot do justice to this magnificent tale. Lake Desire is a must read.

Interview with the Author:
Dāv Kaufman

Dāv Kaufman is a literary artist who has written several screenplays, plays for the live theater, novels, short-stories, and magazine articles. His first published work at the age of 17 won him several awards for writing excellence while he was still in high school. Since then, he has spent and equal amount of time adventuring around the globe for new story ideas, and life experience as he has spent sitting behind his desk writing them.

Dāv has always had a passion for reptiles. He has been surrounded by them almost all of his life. While in college, he paid his tuition by forming Two Rivers Reptiles, a company that bought, bred and sold various species of snakes and lizards. He began writing non-fiction articles about breeding, and general husbandry of snakes and lizards.

Aside from his writings, he has also produced and directed independent films, and, with backing from corporate sponsors such as Subway Restaurants, he co-coordinated "FRESHFest"-the first film festival sponsored by the restaurant chain in Park City, Utah during the world famous Sundance Film Festival.

Dāv attributes his successes by simply holding a higher regard for experience in life, and truth in his creations moreso than the quest for economic gain. His work is a compilation of his own personal experiences, and philosophies with a touch of fiction just for taste. At 34, Dāv Kaufman has experienced more of what life has to offer than many others have dreamed of. But with a smile, he says, "I haven't even started yet".

CROTALUS: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

Dāv Kaufman: I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, but I spent my youth at my aunt and uncle's place on Lake Minnetonka which fed my growing love of the fishing and the outdoors. I penned my first "book" longhand in second grade about people being abducted by alien scientists. I got up to seventy five pages before my parents and teacher made me stop as my homework was being neglected. So, yes, reading and writing were very much a part of my life from almost the beginning. A couple of years later, I think I was in fifth or sixth grade, I read Stephen King's Salem's Lot that I snuck from my mother's library of books. It scared the shit out of me, and I remember feeling a certain awe that a book could do that to me, so from that point on, Stephen King had always been held in very high regard in my catalog of influences.

CROTALUS: How did you invent the characters in LAKE DESIRE? Are they based from people in your life, or purely fictitious?

Dāv Kaufman: I always put myself in every character I create, whether in this story or others. Within the characters in Lake Desire, I simply broke myself into pieces, and offered each of them a chunk. If you put all the hopes, fears, apprehension, woe, happiness, and joy of these characters together, it would become a collective inventory of myself.

CROTALUS: LAKE DESIRE is based in Northern Minnesota-tell us why you selected to make this the geographic area for this story?

Dāv Kaufman: That's easy. I have traveled the world, and am yet to find a place so serene and soul-feeding as a Northern Minnesota lake. When I wrote the screenplay, the destination I had in mind was home. That's all I wanted was to create something that brought me home when I knew that I couldn't be there. Along the way, the story took on a meaning of its own and as it did, I knew I was onto something downright magical. I was living in a beach house in Venice Beach, California to pursue another chapter in my life when the homesickness prodded me to write about those lakes and woods, and bait shops and cafés I had left behind. Lake Desire means something to me that is more meaningful than anything else-it means "home".

CROTALUS: Your dialogue in LAKE DESIRE is very believable, as if we, the readers, are eavesdropping on the conversations. How do you go about writing dialogue and how important is conversation to you as the storyteller?

Dāv Kaufman: That came from writing the screenplay before I ever thought to write the novel. I learned two important things while I was writing this book. One was from a film director's point-of view, and that was a lesson in observation. By fleshing out the outline that is essentially what a screenplay is, I discovered things that were happening within the story and it's scenes that I may have missed by simply visualizing each scene. Secondly, as a screenwriter turned novelist, I knew that the dialog in a screenplay is not only the motivator of the story, but it has to be believable because the audience has to accept that the characters believe what they're saying and feeling. So, yes, I do believe that conversation is very important to the story, both in films as well as in novels because the reader really is eavesdropping on the conversations of the characters.

CROTALUS: What has been your feedback from readers?

Dāv Kaufman: I am actually humbled by the response so far. I wrote this story for myself, at first, for my own inspiration, and I am now and will be forever touched when I hear that it has done the same for others. I have received emails and even phone calls from people that this story has inspired. One woman even told me that she closed the book, and began to cry because it had touched her in a way unlike any other book had done. I'm still waiting to hear that someone may not have liked it.

CROTALUS: What's next?

Dāv Kaufman: As for the movie, we're still in the financing stage, but going strong. As for other novels, I'm just finishing another novel, Elysium Coast. It's inspired by a true story of a friend of mine and his wife that managed a sea turtle research facility in Costa Rica. They lived in harmony until a group of poachers destroyed the beach and the turtles all for the price of their eggs which they sold as aphrodisiacs in the Asian markets. I saw this destruction first hand when I returned to rebuild what the poachers had destroyed, and almost lost my life when the poachers returned to finish the job.

CROTALUS: What makes your creative clock tick? How does it enhance your writing?

Dāv Kaufman: I never begin writing anything with words. Words always come last; an afterthought of sorts. What I begin with are mere snapshots of a scene, kind of grainy and out of focus-a landscape in which are buried the words kind of like raptor bones. My journey as a writer is the excavation of those words as I find them, determining which words are actual bone, and which are discarded like rock. As for my creative process, I believe that experience is the most important thing in life. I look upon it, and the creativity that flows from it as a intimate relationship in which I must first feel a connection to the story and the characters, otherwise I'm just simply putting words on paper, and not creating something meaningful.

CROTALUS: Through this story, what are you hoping to communicate to your readers?

Dāv Kaufman: That's a great question. Before I snuggle into a new project, I always ask myself the same thing; "what are you trying to say?" I have grown to hate the very notion of the question. Truth is, I never know the answer, and I shouldn't-no writer should before the words are born. Of course I have an idea and its direction, but if I know exactly what it is I'm trying to say, the free will of the story, the characters, and their plots are robbed of their own discovery, not to mention my own. Writing is the author's journey in which they have graciously invited the reader along for the ride. However, through this story, I hope to communicate to all my readers that life is not as difficult as we make it out to be. There is strength and greatness in us all, regardless if we recognize it or not. There can be more smiles in life than frowns-much more. But each person has got to identify their own strength, and use it for all it's worth to make themselves as happy as they can be. When I wrote the phrase "we are all capable of greatness", I had to search within myself and truly inquire if I actually believed it before I could unleash that to the world. Did I truly believe that magic happens everyday? The answer was so confirmatory that I found myself troubled by asking myself that so many times. But just because I believed it, could my creation get others to believe it? This is my journey to a imperfect, but beautiful place called Desire. A place that I, myself would like to buy a little cabin, and settle down for the rest of my days-to observe, to reflect, and to write. All of this, however, was an afterthought as that is what the story wound up communicating to me when I had finished with it.

Are you getting married? Need Wedding Invitations