Lake of Urine
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| Author | Guillermo Stitch |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Absurdist fiction, satire, Bizarro fiction |
| Publisher | Sagging Meniscus Press |
Publication date | July 1, 2020 |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
| Pages | 214 |
| ISBN | 978-1-944697-94-5 Search this book on  . |
Lake of Urine: A Love Story is a 2020 novel by the Spain-based author Guillermo Stitch, published by Sagging Meniscus Press. An absurdist satire told in four interwoven sections, it follows the Wakeling family of the fictional Tiny Village, principally sisters Urine and Noranbole Wakeling, and a man named Willem Seiler who is obsessed with measuring the world with string. The novel received attention from national and literary press in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, including reviews in The New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, The Observer, The Irish Times, and the Irish Independent, and was later included in a New York Times list of comic novels.
Background
Lake of Urine is Guillermo Stitch's debut novel, following his 2018 novella Literature™, which won a gold medal at the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards.[1] Sagging Meniscus Press announced the book deal in mid-2019, and the novel was published on July 1, 2020, in both e-book and print editions.[2] In an interview, Stitch said the provocative title was settled on early in the writing process and that he considered, but rejected, alternatives as the manuscript accumulated rejections from other publishers.[1]
Plot
Set in a fictional world combining anachronistic and contemporary elements, the novel centers on the Wakeling family of Tiny Village. Emma Wakeling, raised by a strict, preacher-like father, has been married eight times and has two daughters, Noranbole and Urine. Noranbole is overlooked and put to domestic work, while Urine draws the attention of the town's young men.[3] A parallel strand follows Willem Seiler, a man fixated on measuring his surroundings with string, whose narration frames the book's opening section.[4] After leaving Tiny Village, Noranbole rises to become chief executive of a powerful company, Terra Forma, until events in her mother's life draw her back into her family's troubled history.[4] The novel is structured in four distinct sections that shift among narrative voices, time frames, and styles.[3]
Style and themes
Critics have described the novel as drawing on fairy-tale structure and a range of literary influences while resisting straightforward summary.[4] Reviewers linked its prose and grotesque comic sensibility to writers including François Rabelais, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Flann O'Brien, Donald Barthelme and James Joyce.[4][5] Commentators identified satire of corporate and bureaucratic language, self-importance, and social status among the book's targets, alongside darker material involving family dysfunction and neglect.[6]
Reception
Lake of Urine received largely positive reviews from literary critics. Writing in The New York Times, Dwight Garner said the author "flicks his blade around all the important things in life, isolating absurdities, nicking arteries," and praised the book's humor.[7] The novel was subsequently named to the New York Times Editors' Choice list.[8] In the Times Literary Supplement, Houman Barekat called it "a jeu d'esprit, best enjoyed on its own deranged terms," noting it was "genuinely funny."[9]
British and Irish press coverage included a review in The Observer comparing the book to a mix of regency romance, Cold Comfort Farm, and The Silence of the Lambs,[10] and a notice in The Irish Times describing the prose as "mesmerising."[10] In the Irish Independent, critic Anne Cunningham wrote that "the novel itself is as tight as a fist and punches twice as hard."[10] Books Ireland and Totally Dublin also reviewed the novel, the latter comparing its grotesque humor to Rabelais and its prose style to Céline.[4][11]
Independent literary outlets were also largely favorable. The Arts Fuse called the novel's approach "agreeably punk-like" and situated it within a tradition of satire that resists conventional narrative expectations.[6] Heavy Feather Review praised the book's invented vocabulary and comic energy, comparing it favorably to the work of Donald Barthelme.[5] In March 2024, The New York Times included Lake of Urine in a list of 22 comic novels published since Joseph Heller's Catch-22.[12]
Publication
Lake of Urine: A Love Story was published by Sagging Meniscus Press on July 1, 2020, in paperback (ISBN 978-1-944697-94-5 Search this book on .) and e-book editions, running 214 pages.[2][13]
See also
- The Coast of Everything, Stitch's second novel
- Bizarro fiction
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Martiny, Erik (2020). "Interview with Guillermo Stitch, author of Lake of Urine". Litro Magazine.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Lake of Urine". Sagging Meniscus Press. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Burns, Zé (2020-08-25). "Book Review: Lake of Urine by Guillermo Stitch". Babou 691.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Book Review: Lake of Urine – Guillermo Stitch". Totally Dublin. 2020-07-15.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dempsey, Tyler (2020-07-01). "Tyler Dempsey Fishes Lake of Urine, the debut novel by Guillermo Stitch". Heavy Feather Review.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Broun (2020-08-01). "Book Review: Lake of Urine: A Love Story – Breaking Established Reality". The Arts Fuse.
- ↑ Garner, Dwight (2020-11-23). "A Wild and Filthy Debut Novel, Bursting With Comic Energy". The New York Times.
- ↑ "New York Times Editors' Choice". The New York Times. 2020-12-03.
- ↑ Barekat, Houman (2020-10-29). "Lake of Urine by Guillermo Stitch review". Times Literary Supplement.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Lake of Urine: A Love Story by Guillermo Stitch". Book Marks. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
- ↑ "Review: Lake of Urine, by Guillermo Stitch". Books Ireland. 2020-07-17.
- ↑ Garner, Dwight; Jacobs, Alexandra; Szalai, Jennifer; Yacht, Cari Vander (2024-03-14). "22 of the Funniest Novels Since 'Catch-22'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-08-17.
- ↑ "Lake of Urine". Goodreads. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
External links
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