[In] "Loon Lake," Mr. Doctorow has fashioned a world of mirrors, a fascinating, tantalizing novel in which nearly every image or episode has its counterpart somewhere else in the book. Even the Old-Leftish ideology, which forms a link of sorts between the earlier novels, is reflected from so many angles as to be practically dissolved.

Like "Ragtime," "Loon Lake" evokes a period in our history: in this case the 1930's…. (p. 1)

[From a plot summary] one might conclude that "Loon Lake" is a sophisticated, erratically punctuated recreation of the "proletarian" novels of the 30's. It is indeed partly that, but only in an ambiguous and fragmented way. The echoes of Dos Passos and Farrell that the reader picks up from time to time are merely momentary voices rising from a mixed choir capable of some very odd sounds. The prevailing voice of the Joe-sections is constantly interrupted by...