Lizard Wine

by Elizabeth Engstrom

Book Overview

Lizard wine is a metaphor for the unpleasant, self-defeating things we sometimes do because we think they offer a way out of life's trap. This intense, violent novel is about three female college... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385312490
• ISBN13: 9780385312493
• Release Date: December 1995
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Lizard Wine is a Disturbing Classic

Three down on their luck buddies spend their last bit of money on gin and head into the mountains, on an ill-equipped, spur of the moment camping trip. Confined to the car by the October weather, they begin to reveal themselves to each other, discovering that perhaps they're not such tight friends after all. Three co-eds from the local university get dressed up and head to a mountain cowboy bar, to generate some interest and perhaps some income. But their car breaks down outside a closed mountian campground. Arguing and unsettled, the three girls enter the deserted campground looking for a phone,and finding the three heated men instead. One girl un wisely elects to stay with the men rather than go along with the other girls, and a women in the close confined car is exactley what the men don't need. Explosive tension builds with the addition of the sexual energy and the tequila she adds to fuel their fire. The two girls get their car started and begin their own horrible adventure, and when they eventually run, wounded, scared, and dangerous back to the camp ground to get their friend, what they find is not exactly what they expected. Lizard Wine is a disturbing classic. With a true literary voice, Elizabeth Engstorm details the madness of human relationships. Reading this book is like sitting in a snow bounded car with three very dangerous men and three vulnerable young women, and watching in thrall as the balance of power trades hands through the night. But the truth is every decision seems reasonible, every step conceivable, you can imagine yourself in the situation, and as it all goes sour, and you keep trying to find ways for everyone to escape. Engstorm involves her readers equally with the pitiful and the pitiless, and as the sun rises on the living and the dead, we close this novel reminded that we can make our lives, or our lives can make us.

Her books make me think

Lizard Wine, like all of Elizabeth Engstrom's stories, is riveting and disturbing. Engstrom gets inside of the heads of even the most twisted characters allowing her readers to explore the darker side of human nature. Lizard Wine is chilling, powerful and thought provoking.

A tale of small events and large consequences

It was easy to miss this book when it made its brief appearance on the shelves in 1995. But it's well worth reading. Lizard Wine is the story of a bad night that gets worse and worse for three young women.As the book opens, the women climb into the car for a two-hour drive to a cowboy bar in the mountains. One of the women admits that she's been turning tricks at the bar as a way of paying her college expenses. Her friends are horrified but slowly begin to consider the idea. They get to the bar, and barely escape when a cowboy rapes one of the women, then beats her up instead of paying her. They shoot the guy and take his truck...but at a remote park in the snowy woods they encounter three bad men, drunk on cheap beer and out for a good time with nothing to lose. And they become captives.It's a wonder there's a single sympathetic character in this ugly little book. But the truth is, every decision seems reasonable, every step plausible, you can imagine yourself in the situation...and as it all goes sour, you keep trying to find ways for everyone to escape. Even the three bad men have stories to tell, and if there's a villain in the story it's just the bad luck that threw the six of them all together.In this, the book is much like -- and every bit as good as -- Scott Smith's "A Simple Plan," which sold a gazillion copies and was made into a pretty good movie. Hang in there, Liz Engstrom...if Smith can do it, you can do it!This book will definitely take you on an emotional roller-coaster ride.

A wonderful surprise

This was my first taste of Elizabeth Engstrom and now I can't wait to read more of her work. What I found fascinating about Lizard wine was that it used character to drive the plot, rather then the plot highlighting the characters. The story is dark, disturbing and atmospheric; you even feel the freezing cold weather, shivering side by side with the characters. This is a wonderful book and I heartily recommend it, especially if yiu enjoy reading something that delves straight into a characters heart and tell us something about ourselves and the people around us.