Its old - fashioned virtues were also apparent in Crow Lake - narrative clarity , emotional directness , moral context and lack of pretension - .
Lawson has ripened as a writer , and this second novel is much broader and deeper .
Its old - fashioned virtues were also apparent in Crow Lake - narrative clarity , emotional directness , moral context and lack of pretension - but Lawson has ripened as a writer , and this second novel is much broader and deeper .