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Tom Lake
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Fiction (2023)In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
309 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2023
About the author
Ann Patchett
68 books23k followersPatchett was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is the novelist Jeanne Ray.
She moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was six, where she continues to live. Patchett said she loves her home in Nashville with her doctor husband and dog. If asked if she could go any place, that place would always be home. "Home is ...the stable window that opens out into the imagination."
Patchett attended high school at St. Bernard Academy, a private, non-parochial Catholic school for girls run by the Sisters of Mercy. Following graduation, she attended Sarah Lawrence College and took fiction writing classes with Allan Gurganus, Russell Banks, and Grace Paley. She later attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she met longtime friend Elizabeth McCracken. It was also there that she wrote her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars.
In 2010, when she found that her hometown of Nashville no longer had a good book store, she co-founded Parnassus Books with Karen Hayes; the store opened in November 2011. In 2012, Patchett was on the Time 100 list of most influential people in the world by TIME magazine.
She moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was six, where she continues to live. Patchett said she loves her home in Nashville with her doctor husband and dog. If asked if she could go any place, that place would always be home. "Home is ...the stable window that opens out into the imagination."
Patchett attended high school at St. Bernard Academy, a private, non-parochial Catholic school for girls run by the Sisters of Mercy. Following graduation, she attended Sarah Lawrence College and took fiction writing classes with Allan Gurganus, Russell Banks, and Grace Paley. She later attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she met longtime friend Elizabeth McCracken. It was also there that she wrote her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars.
In 2010, when she found that her hometown of Nashville no longer had a good book store, she co-founded Parnassus Books with Karen Hayes; the store opened in November 2011. In 2012, Patchett was on the Time 100 list of most influential people in the world by TIME magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37,661 reviews
March 11, 2024
I know, I know. Everyone loves Ann Patchett, just as everyone in this novel loves Joe and Sebastian and Lara and Ken and Maisie and the farm. Also Joe and Lara's three daughters, and the dog, and the grandmother. Also cherry pie. But a pile of comfy pillows only makes a nice place to read a good novel; it does not make an actual good novel.
What happened to Ann Patchett's spice? To the rivalry and ambition and cunning and pain of her great novels like "Commonwealth," "The Dutch House," and"The Magician's Assistant"?
In a word, this book is boring.
Here's the plot, such as it is:
As Covid spreads across the US in 2020, Joe and Lara are quarantining with their three grown daughters on the Michigan cherry farm that's been in Joe's family for generations. Without ordinary entertainment, this becomes a good time (supposedly) for Lara to tell the girls the story of her long-ago summer romance with Peter Duke, who later became a famous actor.
That's the first problem: Since the daughters have spent their lifetimes repeatedly hearing that story and picking apart all the bits -- the eldest, Emily, is convinced that Duke is actually her father-- what's left for Lara to tell them? In order for this phony structure to work, someone has to constantly be saying: "I can't believe I never asked you that before."
But the worse problem is that everyone is soooo loving and understanding. Joe isn't jealous of the focus on Duke. Lara doesn't regret giving up the lights and glory of her own acting career or the potential of sharing Duke's. The sisters exhibit no sibling rivalry. No one argues or disagrees, except occasionally in cute and minor ways. The sole narrative tension is whether they'll get all the cherries harvested in time.
True, there's a good plot twist a bit more than halfway through, plus a few more twists after that (several of them eminently foreseeable and one totally unbelievable). But that's a long time to ask the reader to maintain interest.
I didn't.
What happened to Ann Patchett's spice? To the rivalry and ambition and cunning and pain of her great novels like "Commonwealth," "The Dutch House," and"The Magician's Assistant"?
In a word, this book is boring.
Here's the plot, such as it is:
As Covid spreads across the US in 2020, Joe and Lara are quarantining with their three grown daughters on the Michigan cherry farm that's been in Joe's family for generations. Without ordinary entertainment, this becomes a good time (supposedly) for Lara to tell the girls the story of her long-ago summer romance with Peter Duke, who later became a famous actor.
That's the first problem: Since the daughters have spent their lifetimes repeatedly hearing that story and picking apart all the bits -- the eldest, Emily, is convinced that Duke is actually her father-- what's left for Lara to tell them? In order for this phony structure to work, someone has to constantly be saying: "I can't believe I never asked you that before."
But the worse problem is that everyone is soooo loving and understanding. Joe isn't jealous of the focus on Duke. Lara doesn't regret giving up the lights and glory of her own acting career or the potential of sharing Duke's. The sisters exhibit no sibling rivalry. No one argues or disagrees, except occasionally in cute and minor ways. The sole narrative tension is whether they'll get all the cherries harvested in time.
True, there's a good plot twist a bit more than halfway through, plus a few more twists after that (several of them eminently foreseeable and one totally unbelievable). But that's a long time to ask the reader to maintain interest.
I didn't.
January 3, 2024
Oh, what a match made in Heaven! Ann Patchett’s writing and Meryl Streep’s delivery. This is a book that begs to be listened to rather than read. Although the writing is so divine, I might have to do both.
The book is told from Lara’s viewpoint. Thanks to Covid, all three of her daughters are back home on the family’s cherry orchard. To help pass the days while picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them of her romance with now famous actor Peter Duke. It’s both light and deep at the same time. It’s a look at the fun of summer stock theater, the innocence of young love, but also at what we chose to tell when we tell our stories (especially to family) and how well we can ever know our parents.
Patchett just has a way with words. When describing the mania of young preteens, she likens it to giving them double chocolate cake with espresso.
I had never read or seen Our Town. So, midway through this book, I quickly watched the 1940 movie. Spare yourself! And it’s totally unnecessary to know that play to enjoy this book.
What I especially loved is that Lara has no regrets about the choices she made. She loves her husband, her farm, her daughters. In fact, the joy is that she made the right choices.
Ok, I know I’m gushing, but this is such a wonderful ode to a real life, of recognizing both your strengths and weaknesses, of not necessarily reaching for the stars. And that ending!
I know I would have loved this book regardless, but oh my God, Streep just took it up several notches.
Update - so this is our January book club selection and I decided to read it this time. I loved it as much the second time around. And it definitely stands on its own, even without Meryl Streep.
The book is told from Lara’s viewpoint. Thanks to Covid, all three of her daughters are back home on the family’s cherry orchard. To help pass the days while picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them of her romance with now famous actor Peter Duke. It’s both light and deep at the same time. It’s a look at the fun of summer stock theater, the innocence of young love, but also at what we chose to tell when we tell our stories (especially to family) and how well we can ever know our parents.
Patchett just has a way with words. When describing the mania of young preteens, she likens it to giving them double chocolate cake with espresso.
I had never read or seen Our Town. So, midway through this book, I quickly watched the 1940 movie. Spare yourself! And it’s totally unnecessary to know that play to enjoy this book.
What I especially loved is that Lara has no regrets about the choices she made. She loves her husband, her farm, her daughters. In fact, the joy is that she made the right choices.
Ok, I know I’m gushing, but this is such a wonderful ode to a real life, of recognizing both your strengths and weaknesses, of not necessarily reaching for the stars. And that ending!
I know I would have loved this book regardless, but oh my God, Streep just took it up several notches.
Update - so this is our January book club selection and I decided to read it this time. I loved it as much the second time around. And it definitely stands on its own, even without Meryl Streep.
January 5, 2024
the best thing a book can be is:
- about family
- written by ann patchett
the other best thing a book can be is:
- among the absolute fraction of things i read that magically, miraculously, divinely qualifies as 5 stars.
this is both.
i had no idea it was the great dream of my life to have three daughters and spend my days with them and my husband and a rescue dog picking cherries and telling stories in our orchard in michigan, but this was too damn dreamy for that not to be the case.
it's too auspicious, encountering my second beloved michigan cherry book. plus they're my favorite fruit. i will hereby be retiring from the review game in order to dedicate my life to google maps-ing "fruit trees accompanied by white farmhouses near lakes."
this book was strange and imperfect, kind of bumpy and (bizarrely) poorly edited and uncompelling in spots, but...i never stopped wanting to be reading it.
whenever i'm in my dear lovely favorite independent bookstore, i have a careful(ish) allowance. i can buy as many books from the on-sale rescue-these-books-from-remainder-table as my charitable heart desires, but i can only buy one full-price hardcover.
this was that one.
i chose really, really well.
bottom line: sometimes you think you'll love a book, and then you do. that feeling never gets old.
- about family
- written by ann patchett
the other best thing a book can be is:
- among the absolute fraction of things i read that magically, miraculously, divinely qualifies as 5 stars.
this is both.
i had no idea it was the great dream of my life to have three daughters and spend my days with them and my husband and a rescue dog picking cherries and telling stories in our orchard in michigan, but this was too damn dreamy for that not to be the case.
it's too auspicious, encountering my second beloved michigan cherry book. plus they're my favorite fruit. i will hereby be retiring from the review game in order to dedicate my life to google maps-ing "fruit trees accompanied by white farmhouses near lakes."
this book was strange and imperfect, kind of bumpy and (bizarrely) poorly edited and uncompelling in spots, but...i never stopped wanting to be reading it.
whenever i'm in my dear lovely favorite independent bookstore, i have a careful(ish) allowance. i can buy as many books from the on-sale rescue-these-books-from-remainder-table as my charitable heart desires, but i can only buy one full-price hardcover.
this was that one.
i chose really, really well.
bottom line: sometimes you think you'll love a book, and then you do. that feeling never gets old.
October 20, 2023
4.25! Beautiful writing. Meryl Streep narrating the audiobook was so good.
March 27, 2023
You might say this is Lara’s story of one summer in her early twenties when she played summer stock and was in love with an actor who later becomes a famous movie star. You might say it’s her three daughters’ stories who are home to help pick cherries on the family farm, since the workers can’t come during the pandemic. It’s not, though a story about the pandemic, for which I was thankful. It’s a story of family, of relationships, a story of the past and present and perhaps where the future will take these young women . About the future, perhaps because Lara’s story is really about realizing the only life she ever really wanted and that’s the story she tells them. The daughters beg Lara to tell them about that summer and they hang on her every word telling of the actor and then how Lara later fell in love with their father, who by the way stole my heart . I also hung on her every word and every word that Patchett wrote. I very much appreciated that the reader becomes privy to a few parts of the story that she doesn’t tell her daughters choosing to keep some things to herself and of course the reader . The writing is flawless , moving seamlessly back and forth between past and present even within chapters .
To say that I was excited that Ann Patchett had a new novel is an understatement. To say that I was thrilled to be fortunate to get an advanced copy of it is a huge understatement. I fell in love with her writing from the first book of hers that I read, Bel Canto. Since then I’ve read all of her novels and a book of her essays These Precious Days: Essays. She’s a versatile writer and I’m never disappointed no matter what the novel is about because she just has such a talent for creating relatable characters and relationships. This novel is just one more reason why I’ll read anything she writes. I loved everything about it.
I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.
To say that I was excited that Ann Patchett had a new novel is an understatement. To say that I was thrilled to be fortunate to get an advanced copy of it is a huge understatement. I fell in love with her writing from the first book of hers that I read, Bel Canto. Since then I’ve read all of her novels and a book of her essays These Precious Days: Essays. She’s a versatile writer and I’m never disappointed no matter what the novel is about because she just has such a talent for creating relatable characters and relationships. This novel is just one more reason why I’ll read anything she writes. I loved everything about it.
I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins through Edelweiss.
June 29, 2024
I hate to say it, but Tom Lake feels like a lot of nostalgic vibes and not much else.
When I first dove in, I thought for sure this story would grab me. We're introduced to Lara right as she comes upon that prescient moment when she realizes she'd make a better Emily than all of the girls auditioning, and so begins her brief foray into the world of acting. It's a captivating vignette and a scintillating way to kick off the story.
But alas, it's not meant to be. For slowly but surely, as we intercut between scenes, it dawns on me that this is the dreaded dual timeline. And while not all such stories are duds, chances are good that if a book employs it, one timeline always ends up being way more interesting than the other. And that's what happened here.
You see, Lara and her husband are on their orchard, and their three grown daughters have come home to help them on the farm while hunkering down for the pandemic. The daughters want to know more about their mother's earlier life, and so she's telling them the story of her past.
The crux of the problem is that anything remotely interesting is happening in the past. Lara's stint as an actress, the people and the situations that surround her, her romance with Duke, while all compelling, attribute to only one of the two timelines. Regrettably, this compelling narrative is constantly interrupted by what's happening in the present, with so many scenes of the daughters picking cherries while arguing about their own interpretations of their mother's history. And that just didn't interest me at all.
It's almost as if the book is mirroring Our Town, the play mentioned within, by having the present timeline serve as its Stage Manager character, providing commentary and meaning for the past timeline. But that isn't necessary, and instead of adding to the story, the present only detracts from it.
The writing doesn't help. It has this unedited, rambling, somewhat roundabout style that a lot of literary critics would fall all over themselves to describe as subtle and reflective, but I would just call much ado. It works fine when the subject is interesting, but when it's not, you've essentially combined fairly dull prose with a humdrum plot.
I understand what this book is trying to do. It's taking a collection of prosaic, everyday happenings in the present, reaching back through the strands of time to tie it to the glorious possibilities of youth, and hence elevating the whole thing to be insightful and profound. But it didn't really achieve that. All it did was make me nostalgic for a bygone time. And while there's nothing wrong with that, I need a little bit more to really enjoy a story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
The Dutch House
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
When I first dove in, I thought for sure this story would grab me. We're introduced to Lara right as she comes upon that prescient moment when she realizes she'd make a better Emily than all of the girls auditioning, and so begins her brief foray into the world of acting. It's a captivating vignette and a scintillating way to kick off the story.
But alas, it's not meant to be. For slowly but surely, as we intercut between scenes, it dawns on me that this is the dreaded dual timeline. And while not all such stories are duds, chances are good that if a book employs it, one timeline always ends up being way more interesting than the other. And that's what happened here.
You see, Lara and her husband are on their orchard, and their three grown daughters have come home to help them on the farm while hunkering down for the pandemic. The daughters want to know more about their mother's earlier life, and so she's telling them the story of her past.
The crux of the problem is that anything remotely interesting is happening in the past. Lara's stint as an actress, the people and the situations that surround her, her romance with Duke, while all compelling, attribute to only one of the two timelines. Regrettably, this compelling narrative is constantly interrupted by what's happening in the present, with so many scenes of the daughters picking cherries while arguing about their own interpretations of their mother's history. And that just didn't interest me at all.
It's almost as if the book is mirroring Our Town, the play mentioned within, by having the present timeline serve as its Stage Manager character, providing commentary and meaning for the past timeline. But that isn't necessary, and instead of adding to the story, the present only detracts from it.
The writing doesn't help. It has this unedited, rambling, somewhat roundabout style that a lot of literary critics would fall all over themselves to describe as subtle and reflective, but I would just call much ado. It works fine when the subject is interesting, but when it's not, you've essentially combined fairly dull prose with a humdrum plot.
I understand what this book is trying to do. It's taking a collection of prosaic, everyday happenings in the present, reaching back through the strands of time to tie it to the glorious possibilities of youth, and hence elevating the whole thing to be insightful and profound. But it didn't really achieve that. All it did was make me nostalgic for a bygone time. And while there's nothing wrong with that, I need a little bit more to really enjoy a story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:
The Dutch House
~~~~~~~~~~~~
✧ Connect with me ✧ Instagram ✧
September 8, 2023
Sadly, not even Meryl Streep narrating the audiobook could make me want to finish this. I'm at the 15% mark and so far it's just stories about the mother's past about how she easily landed into professional acting, interspersed between scenes of her picking fruit on her farm with her family years later during the covid lockdown times. None of this is holding my attention.
September 11, 2023
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is a Woman's Story Within a Family Story!
This is Lara's story of a summer long ago spent in summer stock theater at Tom Lake where, in her early twenties, she fell in love with an extremely handsome fellow actor named Peter Duke.
It's also the story of Lara's family, her husband Joe, their three daughters, Emily, Maisie, and Nell, and their life together on the farm and fruit orchard that's been in their family for generations.
It's the Spring of 2020 with the Pandemic in full swing and all three adult daughters are home. It's cherry picking time which calls for all-hands-on-deck from this family since there's limited help due to the shutdown.
Emily, Maisie, and Nell are fascinated and curious about their mother's past as an actress who shared the stage and a relationship with a famous movie star. They're begging to hear everything about it.
Since they're all together in one spot and Lara is sufficiently worn down by her daughters pleas, they all continue to pick cherries in their orchard while Lara begins to tell them her story...
Tom Lake is a story within a story. It's about choices and relationships, coming to terms with the choices you make, the relationships you build on, and the ones you don't. It's about planning for and living an intentional life.
When I read The Dutch House I struggled to connect with this author's writing style. It felt dry, unemotional, and lacked the passion I anticipated. I had a similar experience with Tom Lake and although it was better at the midway point and at the end, it still ebbed and flowed for me.
The last twenty-percent of this book completely held my attention and the ending fit the characters and the story like a glove. It's important for an author to end with something for the reader to chew on and Ann Patchett did exactly that.
What I love about Tom Lake are the central characters. They are diverse, fully fleshed out, and interesting. I cared about and fell in love with all of them. I especially love Joe. Everyone needs someone like Joe in their life. This author certainly knows how to create wonderful characters, good ones and not so good ones. All aboard!
I'm glad this author has such a strong following with many positive reviews and high ratings for this book. I like Tom Lake but I don't love it and I was expecting a better reading experience than I had. I do plan to listen to one of Patchett's previous books via audiobook to see if a different format will change how I feel about her writing overall. Maybe, maybe not, but I'm willing to try.
3.5⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper, and Ann Patchett for an ARC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
This is Lara's story of a summer long ago spent in summer stock theater at Tom Lake where, in her early twenties, she fell in love with an extremely handsome fellow actor named Peter Duke.
It's also the story of Lara's family, her husband Joe, their three daughters, Emily, Maisie, and Nell, and their life together on the farm and fruit orchard that's been in their family for generations.
It's the Spring of 2020 with the Pandemic in full swing and all three adult daughters are home. It's cherry picking time which calls for all-hands-on-deck from this family since there's limited help due to the shutdown.
Emily, Maisie, and Nell are fascinated and curious about their mother's past as an actress who shared the stage and a relationship with a famous movie star. They're begging to hear everything about it.
Since they're all together in one spot and Lara is sufficiently worn down by her daughters pleas, they all continue to pick cherries in their orchard while Lara begins to tell them her story...
Tom Lake is a story within a story. It's about choices and relationships, coming to terms with the choices you make, the relationships you build on, and the ones you don't. It's about planning for and living an intentional life.
When I read The Dutch House I struggled to connect with this author's writing style. It felt dry, unemotional, and lacked the passion I anticipated. I had a similar experience with Tom Lake and although it was better at the midway point and at the end, it still ebbed and flowed for me.
The last twenty-percent of this book completely held my attention and the ending fit the characters and the story like a glove. It's important for an author to end with something for the reader to chew on and Ann Patchett did exactly that.
What I love about Tom Lake are the central characters. They are diverse, fully fleshed out, and interesting. I cared about and fell in love with all of them. I especially love Joe. Everyone needs someone like Joe in their life. This author certainly knows how to create wonderful characters, good ones and not so good ones. All aboard!
I'm glad this author has such a strong following with many positive reviews and high ratings for this book. I like Tom Lake but I don't love it and I was expecting a better reading experience than I had. I do plan to listen to one of Patchett's previous books via audiobook to see if a different format will change how I feel about her writing overall. Maybe, maybe not, but I'm willing to try.
3.5⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper, and Ann Patchett for an ARC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
September 27, 2023
4.5⭐
Set in Spring 2020 amid the COVID-19 lockdown, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett revolves around former actress Lara Kenison who lives and works with her husband in their family cherry orchard in Michigan. The pandemic has brought her whole family together as they shelter in place and help in the day-to-day operations of the orchard, making up for the shortfall in seasonal staff. Emily, the oldest of her three daughters, all of whom are in their twenties, is the only one who plans to take up running the farm in the future. Lara’s youngest daughter, Nell, aspires to become an actress, and her middle daughter Maisie is studying to become a veterinarian.
Her daughters press their mother for details of her short-lived romance with famous actor Peter Duke when she was in her twenties, while they were both part of the summer theater production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in Tom Lake, Michigan. Peter wasn’t a famous actor back then and though their romance was short-lived, Lara’s experiences in Tom Lake played a significant role in the trajectory of her life.
The narrative follows Lara as she shares significant episodes from her past, her brief career as an actress – her childhood and foray into acting in Community Theater and the years that followed. The narrative is shared from Lara’s first-person perspective and we are privy to her innermost thoughts - her personal reflections on the important people, the significant events and the difficult choices that shaped her life- as she deliberates over what and how much to share with her family and the memories that she holds close to her heart. Their reactions to their mother’s revelations range from awe to humor to indignation on her behalf, enabling them to see and understand their mother as the young women she once was, not too different from themselves. Lara’s stories are spaced between present-day events, her family life on the family orchard with her husband and her interactions with her daughters wherein we get to know more about their dreams and aspirations, motivated to share significant memories and confidences inspired by their mother’s stories. This is a character-driven, quiet and relatively slower-paced novel with well-thought-out characters. Ann Patchett’s writing is beautiful and past and present timelines are woven seamlessly into a cohesive narrative that revolves around themes of family, love, ambition, choices, motherhood and mental health. The writing is sparse with minimal melodrama yet emotionally impactful with an ending that brings all the threads of the story together in the most satisfying way. I enjoyed every moment of this beautiful story.
I won a copy of Tom Lake in a Goodreads Giveaway. Many thanks to the author and publisher for the gifted copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Please note: The play Our Town is of great significance in both Lara’s short-lived career as an actress and her life in general. Though it isn’t necessary to have read Our Town by Thornton Wilder to enjoy Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake, I feel having prior knowledge of the story would contribute to a rich reading experience and a greater appreciation of this novel.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
Set in Spring 2020 amid the COVID-19 lockdown, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett revolves around former actress Lara Kenison who lives and works with her husband in their family cherry orchard in Michigan. The pandemic has brought her whole family together as they shelter in place and help in the day-to-day operations of the orchard, making up for the shortfall in seasonal staff. Emily, the oldest of her three daughters, all of whom are in their twenties, is the only one who plans to take up running the farm in the future. Lara’s youngest daughter, Nell, aspires to become an actress, and her middle daughter Maisie is studying to become a veterinarian.
Her daughters press their mother for details of her short-lived romance with famous actor Peter Duke when she was in her twenties, while they were both part of the summer theater production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in Tom Lake, Michigan. Peter wasn’t a famous actor back then and though their romance was short-lived, Lara’s experiences in Tom Lake played a significant role in the trajectory of her life.
The narrative follows Lara as she shares significant episodes from her past, her brief career as an actress – her childhood and foray into acting in Community Theater and the years that followed. The narrative is shared from Lara’s first-person perspective and we are privy to her innermost thoughts - her personal reflections on the important people, the significant events and the difficult choices that shaped her life- as she deliberates over what and how much to share with her family and the memories that she holds close to her heart. Their reactions to their mother’s revelations range from awe to humor to indignation on her behalf, enabling them to see and understand their mother as the young women she once was, not too different from themselves. Lara’s stories are spaced between present-day events, her family life on the family orchard with her husband and her interactions with her daughters wherein we get to know more about their dreams and aspirations, motivated to share significant memories and confidences inspired by their mother’s stories. This is a character-driven, quiet and relatively slower-paced novel with well-thought-out characters. Ann Patchett’s writing is beautiful and past and present timelines are woven seamlessly into a cohesive narrative that revolves around themes of family, love, ambition, choices, motherhood and mental health. The writing is sparse with minimal melodrama yet emotionally impactful with an ending that brings all the threads of the story together in the most satisfying way. I enjoyed every moment of this beautiful story.
I won a copy of Tom Lake in a Goodreads Giveaway. Many thanks to the author and publisher for the gifted copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Please note: The play Our Town is of great significance in both Lara’s short-lived career as an actress and her life in general. Though it isn’t necessary to have read Our Town by Thornton Wilder to enjoy Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake, I feel having prior knowledge of the story would contribute to a rich reading experience and a greater appreciation of this novel.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
September 1, 2023
Ah, Patchett. This story is the cherry on top. And in centre. And even at the bottom. The Sweet ones - not the tart.
Three curious daughters longing to know of their mom’s past involving a famously handsome actor. On a cherry orchard. During the summer. During Covid.
Patchett’s story telling is rich and reflective; layered with memories, sisters, family; the complexity of relationships and life decisions. As a mother myself, is anything more pure than having your children’s adoration for wanting to know of your past? A family fortunate to be able to huddle together during an isolating time.
And so My girl crush continues on you, Patchett 💕 and I’m reminded I still have to read The Dutch House!
5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Three curious daughters longing to know of their mom’s past involving a famously handsome actor. On a cherry orchard. During the summer. During Covid.
Patchett’s story telling is rich and reflective; layered with memories, sisters, family; the complexity of relationships and life decisions. As a mother myself, is anything more pure than having your children’s adoration for wanting to know of your past? A family fortunate to be able to huddle together during an isolating time.
And so My girl crush continues on you, Patchett 💕 and I’m reminded I still have to read The Dutch House!
5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August 15, 2023
DNF for me. Made it about halfway…I like this authors other books but this was BORING. I still don’t know what the story was??? Hi, I found out I can’t act and liked a cute crazy boy and then settled down with a non-crazy man and had 3 kids. Oh and since it’s Covid…( so over the Covid books) we are all talking and reminiscing so I’m going to tell my long boring story of how I met your dad. The end.
August 8, 2023
What a tedious read, felt like the uninteresting ramblings of an octogenarian. The clunky attempt to include Covid was the last straw for me.
Until I read this book I was a fan, particularly of Bel Canto and Commonwealth.
Until I read this book I was a fan, particularly of Bel Canto and Commonwealth.
October 26, 2023
What a lovely experience this was, listening to the incomparable Meryl Streep bring to life a book of Ann Patchett’s. As much as I have my go-to narrators, Meryl Streep brought a whole new level of humanity, humor, and kindness to each character and to the story as a whole. I could just feel her nuanced, multi-faceted intelligence through her craft. If other narrators give 5-star readings, Meryl Streep is off the charts.
I really enjoyed the story, too. In a way, it was a story about the power of story. A woman, her husband, and their three grown daughters are living together during the pandemic on a farm in Michigan. The family gathers around and listens to the mother tell stories of her past, when she fell into acting and dated a movie star before he was one. There is power in the simple act of sharing stories, and there was something idyllic about this close family gathered together for it on a cherry orchard.
I loved the Meryl-Streep-embodied main character most of all, Lara, the mother, when she recounted what lead to acting in a summer stock theater nearby the farm. I knew what she meant when she said that a summer stock day was packed with the normal intensity of a week, and so on from there. It brought me back to times of sleep away camp when couples and best friends were determined by the first night. The heightened sense of being away from home, and thrown into newness and possibility, was well captured. It’s no accident that colleges and universities by tradition house people of the same age together for a particular kind of learning and transition into adulthood. Patchett’s summer stock brought me back.
The reason Lara tells this story is because all of her grown daughters want to hear about the famous movie star she dated. It’s a strong, believable reason, made more interesting by the sheer joy of youth and first love. As the story unfolds, it reveals the personalities and relationships between them in the here and now. It also deals with the fear that the world is ending. And while the mother is pretty straight with her daughters, she shares only with us what she’s kept to herself, highlighting how stories are made by what she chose to tell, and revealing the paths not taken.
Lara also admits her guilty pleasure of enjoying her daughters at home, despite it being because of the global pandemic. The knowledge that this is temporary makes it all the more precious—just like summer stock. Just like a life. Maybe just like our world.
4.5
I really enjoyed the story, too. In a way, it was a story about the power of story. A woman, her husband, and their three grown daughters are living together during the pandemic on a farm in Michigan. The family gathers around and listens to the mother tell stories of her past, when she fell into acting and dated a movie star before he was one. There is power in the simple act of sharing stories, and there was something idyllic about this close family gathered together for it on a cherry orchard.
I loved the Meryl-Streep-embodied main character most of all, Lara, the mother, when she recounted what lead to acting in a summer stock theater nearby the farm. I knew what she meant when she said that a summer stock day was packed with the normal intensity of a week, and so on from there. It brought me back to times of sleep away camp when couples and best friends were determined by the first night. The heightened sense of being away from home, and thrown into newness and possibility, was well captured. It’s no accident that colleges and universities by tradition house people of the same age together for a particular kind of learning and transition into adulthood. Patchett’s summer stock brought me back.
The reason Lara tells this story is because all of her grown daughters want to hear about the famous movie star she dated. It’s a strong, believable reason, made more interesting by the sheer joy of youth and first love. As the story unfolds, it reveals the personalities and relationships between them in the here and now. It also deals with the fear that the world is ending. And while the mother is pretty straight with her daughters, she shares only with us what she’s kept to herself, highlighting how stories are made by what she chose to tell, and revealing the paths not taken.
Lara also admits her guilty pleasure of enjoying her daughters at home, despite it being because of the global pandemic. The knowledge that this is temporary makes it all the more precious—just like summer stock. Just like a life. Maybe just like our world.
4.5
August 5, 2023
2.5 stars. I like Ann Patchett. Some of her novels are better than others, but in general I think she’s a really good writer, and I was looking forward to this release. Of course the writing is solid—I was interested in the cherry farm setting, and the relationship between the narrator and her grown daughters.
But… I just did not buy the whole massive-movie-star-who-was-once-my-summer-boyfriend-thing. Peter Duke did not come across as a beautifully gifted, if somewhat troubled, actor—he came across as a manipulative jerk. There was nothing attractive about him.
I also grew tired of all the “Our Town” references (unpopular opinion but that play is so irritating) and the Covid timeframe. I’m not ready to read novels set during Covid, especially ones that romanticize the experience as a time to make potato salad and to hand sew face masks. Get serious. But maybe that’s just me…
But… I just did not buy the whole massive-movie-star-who-was-once-my-summer-boyfriend-thing. Peter Duke did not come across as a beautifully gifted, if somewhat troubled, actor—he came across as a manipulative jerk. There was nothing attractive about him.
I also grew tired of all the “Our Town” references (unpopular opinion but that play is so irritating) and the Covid timeframe. I’m not ready to read novels set during Covid, especially ones that romanticize the experience as a time to make potato salad and to hand sew face masks. Get serious. But maybe that’s just me…
August 18, 2023
Ann Patchett is so wise. About love, about family, and about pretty much everything life throws our way.
I decided she was my new best friend after I listened to the audiobooks of her two essay collections, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and These Precious Days, the latter of which is a true masterwork. Her intelligence, empathy for others, and logical way of looking at life drew me to her, and I have such admiration for who she is and all that she’s accomplished.
Now that my fangirling is out of the way, I’ll move on to the book. Tom Lake, her latest … I loved it. But I didn’t know if I would, seeing as it’s a homage to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a play I’ve neither seen nor read. I should’ve known, though, that all I adore about Patchett would shine through the story, allowing me to not be bothered by my unfamiliarity with the play.
The novel consists of Lara telling her three grown daughters the story of the summer she starred in Our Town and dated the now-famous movie star, Peter Duke. Patchett switches between Lara’s story of that summer with what is happening in the present day, where it’s the spring of 2020, COVID has invaded the world, and all three daughters have returned to the family orchard in Northern Michigan to pick cherries.
At first the story felt a bit too mundane. My attention wandered, and I worried that my foray into Patchett’s fiction would be a disappointment. But the beauty of her prose never allowed me to set the novel aside, and before I knew it, I was so engrossed in Lara’s tale that I forgot all else while I read it. It’s just the kind of book it is – it sneaks up on you.
There are surprising revelations throughout the story, along with warm meditations on marriage and children and love in all its shapes and sizes. And also present is a subtle urging to enjoy life in the moment and appreciate what is yours. Tom Lake gives so much to the reader, and because of the ease in which Patchett’s words flow across the page, it asks for very little in return.
My sincerest appreciation to Ann Patchett, Harper, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.
I decided she was my new best friend after I listened to the audiobooks of her two essay collections, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and These Precious Days, the latter of which is a true masterwork. Her intelligence, empathy for others, and logical way of looking at life drew me to her, and I have such admiration for who she is and all that she’s accomplished.
Now that my fangirling is out of the way, I’ll move on to the book. Tom Lake, her latest … I loved it. But I didn’t know if I would, seeing as it’s a homage to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a play I’ve neither seen nor read. I should’ve known, though, that all I adore about Patchett would shine through the story, allowing me to not be bothered by my unfamiliarity with the play.
The novel consists of Lara telling her three grown daughters the story of the summer she starred in Our Town and dated the now-famous movie star, Peter Duke. Patchett switches between Lara’s story of that summer with what is happening in the present day, where it’s the spring of 2020, COVID has invaded the world, and all three daughters have returned to the family orchard in Northern Michigan to pick cherries.
At first the story felt a bit too mundane. My attention wandered, and I worried that my foray into Patchett’s fiction would be a disappointment. But the beauty of her prose never allowed me to set the novel aside, and before I knew it, I was so engrossed in Lara’s tale that I forgot all else while I read it. It’s just the kind of book it is – it sneaks up on you.
There are surprising revelations throughout the story, along with warm meditations on marriage and children and love in all its shapes and sizes. And also present is a subtle urging to enjoy life in the moment and appreciate what is yours. Tom Lake gives so much to the reader, and because of the ease in which Patchett’s words flow across the page, it asks for very little in return.
My sincerest appreciation to Ann Patchett, Harper, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.
August 23, 2023
I don’t understand the rave reviews but so be it. For me this was boring, as in, put the book down and want to scream boring; as in grit my teeth because it’s still not finished boring. There was no edge, no humor, no slant.
None of the characters were developed into believable, living people. The daughters were distinguable only by their chosen vocations. The main character is someone I would feign illness to avoid at an office party for lack of personality. What is Joe like? I have not the faintest clue. And Duke? Just his vices and his teeth. And our Sebastian? Wtf? Please. I know nothing about these characters after slogging through the book for hundreds of pages.
The novel consists of the main character relaying a brief acting career and romance from her pre-married life to her daughters who are riveted for reasons I don’t understand. Who are these docile creatures? Why are they so lacking in fight, independence, mischief and rebellion at their age? Instead they wait with baited breath day after day for the least interesting pre-married life romance I’ve ever heard. The story telling within the novel is interrupted periodically by cherry picking and yes, I felt like I was there in the orchard plotlessly looking at cherries. I assumed something interesting would be revealed from her past life. Boy was I disappointed.
None of the characters were developed into believable, living people. The daughters were distinguable only by their chosen vocations. The main character is someone I would feign illness to avoid at an office party for lack of personality. What is Joe like? I have not the faintest clue. And Duke? Just his vices and his teeth. And our Sebastian? Wtf? Please. I know nothing about these characters after slogging through the book for hundreds of pages.
The novel consists of the main character relaying a brief acting career and romance from her pre-married life to her daughters who are riveted for reasons I don’t understand. Who are these docile creatures? Why are they so lacking in fight, independence, mischief and rebellion at their age? Instead they wait with baited breath day after day for the least interesting pre-married life romance I’ve ever heard. The story telling within the novel is interrupted periodically by cherry picking and yes, I felt like I was there in the orchard plotlessly looking at cherries. I assumed something interesting would be revealed from her past life. Boy was I disappointed.
August 7, 2023
This was beautifully written with a confidently woven narrative darting between the past and present seamlessly. The setting of the cherry farm was romantic and evocative. However, all of this was not enough to keep me engaged in a storyline that I had no interest in. I did not care for the acting story that Lara was telling her daughters and grew bored with these bits of the novel. I enjoyed the relationships Lara has within her family but just didn't want to know more when it came to her past reminiscences.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
June 27, 2024
Rare occasion where the audiobook is better than the text
Yep, scandalous I know, but I am going to share my disappointments about a book set largely in Michigan. Buckle up.
During the pandemic, mother Laura/Lara sits down with her three adult daughters, sharing glimpses of the one summer Lara dated Peter Duke, a now famous movie star.
The framing of this story is enormously too heavy. There is a now and then timeline, but the book spends too much time on the present timeline.
The tone is a bit nauseating, a mixture of extreme sugary sweet with a melancholy sadness of regret and nostalgia for times past.
And, the ending, although unexpected, seemed abrupt and dissatisfying. What happened to Pallace? Hasn’t Ann Patchett heard of Josephine Baker?
On a bright note, the audiobook narrator, Meryl Streep, gave a wonderous performance!
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $30 (A signed copy from The Strand in New York)
Audiobook – Free through Libby
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
Yep, scandalous I know, but I am going to share my disappointments about a book set largely in Michigan. Buckle up.
During the pandemic, mother Laura/Lara sits down with her three adult daughters, sharing glimpses of the one summer Lara dated Peter Duke, a now famous movie star.
The framing of this story is enormously too heavy. There is a now and then timeline, but the book spends too much time on the present timeline.
The tone is a bit nauseating, a mixture of extreme sugary sweet with a melancholy sadness of regret and nostalgia for times past.
And, the ending, although unexpected, seemed abrupt and dissatisfying. What happened to Pallace? Hasn’t Ann Patchett heard of Josephine Baker?
On a bright note, the audiobook narrator, Meryl Streep, gave a wonderous performance!
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $30 (A signed copy from The Strand in New York)
Audiobook – Free through Libby
Connect With Me!
Blog Twitter BookTube Facebook Insta
August 5, 2023
I'm not sure how Ann Patchett keeps getting better and better with each book, but she does. I have loved them all, some more than others, but this is my favorite, probably until the next one.
A master at her craft, the top of her game, a writer's writer, literary superstar....take your pick of cliches, they're all true, at least for me.
Tom Lake is a place, not a person, as I thought before reading it. It's a beautiful tribute to Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Lara played Emily Webb, the female lead, in high school, then went on years later to play her in summer stock theater in Tom Lake, Michigan. She falls in love with another actor, who goes on to become a famous movie star. She later marries the owner of a cherry farm in Michigan and raises a family. During the Covid shutdown, her three adult daughters come home to spend the summer helping in the cherry orchard, and beg for the story of her relationship to the actor. Which they get, in bits and pieces, but not all of it; no mother is going to tell her daughters everything.
Our Town infuses the whole plot, wrapped around the Tom Lake action, but the present day scenes as well. Lara wouldn't be where she is without Our Town, her life would be poorer had it never happened. This novel takes place in different timelines, so expertly done that we readers are always there, never really knowing how it's going to pan out, but knowing that it will. Surprises all along the way, pleasant ones mostly, leading to an ending that couldn't be more perfect. Patchett gives us the same wisdom as Wilder did. Things happen, life goes on, we all do the best we can in our own little corners of the world.
I read Our Town in high school, later saw a stage production of it, and yesterday watched the 1940 film version. The sound and picture quality is awful, but the acting is pretty good. I'm betting that sales of the play are going to skyrocket after this book, and local and national theater groups will decide to bring it back. Tom Lake is a great book even if you aren't familiar with the play, but the play itself is pretty spectacular. Read them both, just for the sheer entertainment value.
A master at her craft, the top of her game, a writer's writer, literary superstar....take your pick of cliches, they're all true, at least for me.
Tom Lake is a place, not a person, as I thought before reading it. It's a beautiful tribute to Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Lara played Emily Webb, the female lead, in high school, then went on years later to play her in summer stock theater in Tom Lake, Michigan. She falls in love with another actor, who goes on to become a famous movie star. She later marries the owner of a cherry farm in Michigan and raises a family. During the Covid shutdown, her three adult daughters come home to spend the summer helping in the cherry orchard, and beg for the story of her relationship to the actor. Which they get, in bits and pieces, but not all of it; no mother is going to tell her daughters everything.
Our Town infuses the whole plot, wrapped around the Tom Lake action, but the present day scenes as well. Lara wouldn't be where she is without Our Town, her life would be poorer had it never happened. This novel takes place in different timelines, so expertly done that we readers are always there, never really knowing how it's going to pan out, but knowing that it will. Surprises all along the way, pleasant ones mostly, leading to an ending that couldn't be more perfect. Patchett gives us the same wisdom as Wilder did. Things happen, life goes on, we all do the best we can in our own little corners of the world.
I read Our Town in high school, later saw a stage production of it, and yesterday watched the 1940 film version. The sound and picture quality is awful, but the acting is pretty good. I'm betting that sales of the play are going to skyrocket after this book, and local and national theater groups will decide to bring it back. Tom Lake is a great book even if you aren't familiar with the play, but the play itself is pretty spectacular. Read them both, just for the sheer entertainment value.
May 27, 2023
I was very excited to get the advanced copy of this book!
I’ve only read two other books by this author but I enjoyed them immensely.
This book is set mostly in northern Michigan, and I am a lifelong Michigander.. it also brought up names of cities just a couple miles away from me which was very cool.
The story of Lara … who lives on an orchard up north with her husband and three grown daughters .. it’s during the time of the pandemic and all the daughters are home, very busy with cherry picking and helping out since their lives are on pause during this time, as they are working together, they want to hear about their mom’s brief career as an actress in summer stock at Tom Lake..very close to home..and her relationship with a well known male movie star
A story about family and relationships..I really enjoyed!
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!
I’ve only read two other books by this author but I enjoyed them immensely.
This book is set mostly in northern Michigan, and I am a lifelong Michigander.. it also brought up names of cities just a couple miles away from me which was very cool.
The story of Lara … who lives on an orchard up north with her husband and three grown daughters .. it’s during the time of the pandemic and all the daughters are home, very busy with cherry picking and helping out since their lives are on pause during this time, as they are working together, they want to hear about their mom’s brief career as an actress in summer stock at Tom Lake..very close to home..and her relationship with a well known male movie star
A story about family and relationships..I really enjoyed!
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!
September 13, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫(4.5/5)
Oh, this book was exquisite. The writing was so lovely, and I found myself fully immersed in this story. It’s not a love story in the conventional sense, but it is a love story between a woman and her daughters, her life, her husband, and her past. I feel like saying a book is slow has such negative connotations, but I really mean it in the best way possible. This book is to be savored and read slowly. Sometimes, when reading, in my excitement, my eyes can’t help but hop around. This book forced me to be present and alert. Much better paired with a cup of coffee than a cocktail (although I am pairing it with a cocktail!).
Our book is set in the spring of 2020. We meet Lara, who owns a cherry farm in Northern Michigan with her husband. Due to COVID, her 3 adult daughters have returned home to help with the harvesting. As a way to pass the time and due to the relentless curiosity of her daughters, Lara is sharing the story of her first love, who now happens to be one of the most famous actors in the world. While this is set at the peak of the pandemic, COVID is merely a footnote, and I didn’t find it terribly distracting.
This story has the intimacy of a kitchen table shared with your mom and aunts. Sharing stories over glasses of wine and getting a peak into their past. It’s brimming with love and contains so much honesty when it comes to mother-daughter relationships. It made me want to call my mom and yearn for a daughter one day. I thought it was just such an excellent portrayal of family and love.
I love the tone of this story. I only hope that in 30 years, I find myself at peace with myself and my decisions as Lara is.
Audiobook fans - the audiobook is narrated by Meryl Streep! What a treat!
Oh, this book was exquisite. The writing was so lovely, and I found myself fully immersed in this story. It’s not a love story in the conventional sense, but it is a love story between a woman and her daughters, her life, her husband, and her past. I feel like saying a book is slow has such negative connotations, but I really mean it in the best way possible. This book is to be savored and read slowly. Sometimes, when reading, in my excitement, my eyes can’t help but hop around. This book forced me to be present and alert. Much better paired with a cup of coffee than a cocktail (although I am pairing it with a cocktail!).
Our book is set in the spring of 2020. We meet Lara, who owns a cherry farm in Northern Michigan with her husband. Due to COVID, her 3 adult daughters have returned home to help with the harvesting. As a way to pass the time and due to the relentless curiosity of her daughters, Lara is sharing the story of her first love, who now happens to be one of the most famous actors in the world. While this is set at the peak of the pandemic, COVID is merely a footnote, and I didn’t find it terribly distracting.
This story has the intimacy of a kitchen table shared with your mom and aunts. Sharing stories over glasses of wine and getting a peak into their past. It’s brimming with love and contains so much honesty when it comes to mother-daughter relationships. It made me want to call my mom and yearn for a daughter one day. I thought it was just such an excellent portrayal of family and love.
I love the tone of this story. I only hope that in 30 years, I find myself at peace with myself and my decisions as Lara is.
Audiobook fans - the audiobook is narrated by Meryl Streep! What a treat!
May 29, 2024
So, here I am...
Today, is May 29, 2024. It is about 6 months later since I originally posted this review. This book has been haunting me. Has that ever happened to you? Where you read a book, and you thought you loved it, and it comes back (well, it was donated to my Little Free Library Shed), and I looked at it again, and I said to myself, you weren't honest about this book originally were you? And I said, "what do you mean?" And, I said, "You didn't like it as much as you said you did, did you?"
Well, at the time, I let it go. But now 6 months later, looking at it again, I realized, I couldn't. My guilty self really didn't like it as much as I thought I did. I will still keep my original review here, but I thought I would mention it in this intro paragraph, for anyone who happens to visit... I will also be readjusting my bookshelves to reflect the change.
Review...
We are experiencing the spring of 2020, the start of the Covid-19 lockdown with Lara, now 57. She is sheltering in place with her husband, Joe Nelson, and their 3 20-something daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell. With harvesters scarce, this opens the time up for Lara to tell her story about her brief career as an actor.
The highlight of her life as Emily Gibbs, the tragic heroine in “Our Town.”
The story is told in flashbacks.
And…
It showcases Lara playing Emily in both high school and college in New Hampshire, with a brief detour to Hollywood, and then…
Summer stock at a theater company, the titular Tom Lake (hence: the title of the book), that happened to be near-ish the orchard.
At Tom Lake, Lara, who plays the character Emily, has eyes only for 28-year-old Peter Duke, another actor who played the father in the play.
He actually goes on to become a huge celebrity, a serious actor who eventually wins an Oscar, but also descends into addiction.
But…
While at Tom Lake, Duke and Lara spend all their time together, rehearsing, having sex, or swimming in the lake.
Still…
When the summer ends, so does everything else.
As mentioned, Duke is off to his successful Hollywood career.
Lara on the other hand quits acting, marries her cherry farmer, Joe, and becomes a mother.
Lara’s Emily grows convinced that Duke, was her actual father – so much so, that even readers are left in genuine suspense about whether it is possibly true, as well.
But…
The larger theme is that it may not matter…
Children inherit the full range of our experience, as much as genetic traits.
This novel is folksy, cozy, domestic contentment.
When Nell laments the celebrity Lara could perhaps have been, she exclaims…
“Look at this! Look at the three of you! You think my life would have been better spent making commercials for lobster rolls?”
Each daughter is given their own personality. Emily – fiery; Maisie - sensible; and Nell - intuitive.
Against the backdrop of the pandemic, and their mother’s backstory, this book becomes a wistful meditation – a story of mothers and daughters. An opportunity for closure for Lara.
Maybe…
Even an awakening of what is important to Lara – of what she is lucky to have – what any of us are lucky to have, in these circumstances.
Is this a peaceful existence? Is Lara really happy?
Or…
Did she find a contentment, because that is what one settles for in life?
I understand that the audio version has Meryl Streep as the voice narrating. That must have been a real treat for readers of this book.
Added note... (5-29-24)
And perhaps that is what was missing for me...something was off. Would I have felt differently if I listened to Meryl Streep tell the story? I don't know. I don't care. But, for anyone who liked my original 5 stars, I am sorry if I am disappointing you now.
3.5 stars rounded down. I know. Sometimes re-visits aren't always nice.
Today, is May 29, 2024. It is about 6 months later since I originally posted this review. This book has been haunting me. Has that ever happened to you? Where you read a book, and you thought you loved it, and it comes back (well, it was donated to my Little Free Library Shed), and I looked at it again, and I said to myself, you weren't honest about this book originally were you? And I said, "what do you mean?" And, I said, "You didn't like it as much as you said you did, did you?"
Well, at the time, I let it go. But now 6 months later, looking at it again, I realized, I couldn't. My guilty self really didn't like it as much as I thought I did. I will still keep my original review here, but I thought I would mention it in this intro paragraph, for anyone who happens to visit... I will also be readjusting my bookshelves to reflect the change.
Review...
We are experiencing the spring of 2020, the start of the Covid-19 lockdown with Lara, now 57. She is sheltering in place with her husband, Joe Nelson, and their 3 20-something daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell. With harvesters scarce, this opens the time up for Lara to tell her story about her brief career as an actor.
The highlight of her life as Emily Gibbs, the tragic heroine in “Our Town.”
The story is told in flashbacks.
And…
It showcases Lara playing Emily in both high school and college in New Hampshire, with a brief detour to Hollywood, and then…
Summer stock at a theater company, the titular Tom Lake (hence: the title of the book), that happened to be near-ish the orchard.
At Tom Lake, Lara, who plays the character Emily, has eyes only for 28-year-old Peter Duke, another actor who played the father in the play.
He actually goes on to become a huge celebrity, a serious actor who eventually wins an Oscar, but also descends into addiction.
But…
While at Tom Lake, Duke and Lara spend all their time together, rehearsing, having sex, or swimming in the lake.
Still…
When the summer ends, so does everything else.
As mentioned, Duke is off to his successful Hollywood career.
Lara on the other hand quits acting, marries her cherry farmer, Joe, and becomes a mother.
Lara’s Emily grows convinced that Duke, was her actual father – so much so, that even readers are left in genuine suspense about whether it is possibly true, as well.
But…
The larger theme is that it may not matter…
Children inherit the full range of our experience, as much as genetic traits.
This novel is folksy, cozy, domestic contentment.
When Nell laments the celebrity Lara could perhaps have been, she exclaims…
“Look at this! Look at the three of you! You think my life would have been better spent making commercials for lobster rolls?”
Each daughter is given their own personality. Emily – fiery; Maisie - sensible; and Nell - intuitive.
Against the backdrop of the pandemic, and their mother’s backstory, this book becomes a wistful meditation – a story of mothers and daughters. An opportunity for closure for Lara.
Maybe…
Even an awakening of what is important to Lara – of what she is lucky to have – what any of us are lucky to have, in these circumstances.
Is this a peaceful existence? Is Lara really happy?
Or…
Did she find a contentment, because that is what one settles for in life?
I understand that the audio version has Meryl Streep as the voice narrating. That must have been a real treat for readers of this book.
Added note... (5-29-24)
And perhaps that is what was missing for me...something was off. Would I have felt differently if I listened to Meryl Streep tell the story? I don't know. I don't care. But, for anyone who liked my original 5 stars, I am sorry if I am disappointing you now.
3.5 stars rounded down. I know. Sometimes re-visits aren't always nice.
July 9, 2023
It is a relief to pick up an Ann Patchett novel, even one that is Just Fine, like this one. I don't know how her books are so utterly absorbing, but they are. There is not a lot to this book, though that doesn't mean it's short on pleasure. A woman recounts an old love affair to her adult daughters as they pick cherries on their family farm. It isn't as leisurely as it sounds, it is the summer of 2020, most of the usual workers aren't there, but the cherries still must be picked and life must go on.
Most of the substance of the book is the story Lara tells us, which is as much a story about her time as an actress as it is about this love affair. Lara has the kind of unlikely fairy tale of a story that doesn't really happen anymore, much to the chagrin of her daughter who actually wants to be an actress, and she stumbles into almost everything that happens to her. Somehow she has never really told her daughters the whole story, and now as her daughters are around the age she was it and they have nothing but time it finally seems like the right time to tell it.
This is technically a pandemic novel and yet it hardly is one. This ties into my major complaint with the book, in that it feels strangely sanitized. In the current events part of the plot, everyone is good. Lara loves her husband Joe, who never does anything that is not perfect and kind. She has a good relationship with her three daughters, who may have their own complicated feelings about being at home and pausing their own lives, but Lara is delighted, so glad they are there that she almost entirely overlooks those difficulties. It is not that people like Lara aren't realistic, at one point she is baffled that her daughters question the point of having children because of climate change and yup there are a lot of people like Lara who find this baffling. But Lara's happiness is rather dull. She does not seem all that concerned about the global pandemic or all the people dying. She is that mom who is just happy her kids are home. It's strange to read that presented as the narrative point of view without any interrogation.
It is an easy book to read, a light one, too. Bad things happen, but the worst of it is already over. And really, the book seems to say, if you just stay with your family on a cherry farm everything will just be fine forever. Sometimes that is the book you want, and that is what Patchett has given us. It's a bit strange, since her family dynamics have usually been so complex, but perhaps she just wanted a nice, small something.
Most of the substance of the book is the story Lara tells us, which is as much a story about her time as an actress as it is about this love affair. Lara has the kind of unlikely fairy tale of a story that doesn't really happen anymore, much to the chagrin of her daughter who actually wants to be an actress, and she stumbles into almost everything that happens to her. Somehow she has never really told her daughters the whole story, and now as her daughters are around the age she was it and they have nothing but time it finally seems like the right time to tell it.
This is technically a pandemic novel and yet it hardly is one. This ties into my major complaint with the book, in that it feels strangely sanitized. In the current events part of the plot, everyone is good. Lara loves her husband Joe, who never does anything that is not perfect and kind. She has a good relationship with her three daughters, who may have their own complicated feelings about being at home and pausing their own lives, but Lara is delighted, so glad they are there that she almost entirely overlooks those difficulties. It is not that people like Lara aren't realistic, at one point she is baffled that her daughters question the point of having children because of climate change and yup there are a lot of people like Lara who find this baffling. But Lara's happiness is rather dull. She does not seem all that concerned about the global pandemic or all the people dying. She is that mom who is just happy her kids are home. It's strange to read that presented as the narrative point of view without any interrogation.
It is an easy book to read, a light one, too. Bad things happen, but the worst of it is already over. And really, the book seems to say, if you just stay with your family on a cherry farm everything will just be fine forever. Sometimes that is the book you want, and that is what Patchett has given us. It's a bit strange, since her family dynamics have usually been so complex, but perhaps she just wanted a nice, small something.
February 25, 2024
Well this book took me way longer to read than expected… This was another book that I had high hopes for as I loved Patchett’s “The Dutch House”. This book is also set in northern Michigan, and I am a true Michigander- I’ve lived in Michigan all my life, so I really thought that I would love this book even more. One of the characters even attended college at Michigan State, where my son is currently a freshman- so I thought I would really resonate with this book. Unfortunately, this book fell very flat for me. I almost gave up on “Tom Lake” several times. However, the last 100 pages or so redeemed themselves and I stuck with it.
This story takes place in the Spring of 2020 during the pandemic. Lara’s three daughters have come back home to the family farm/cherry orchard. During this time Lara begins to tell her daughters about the time she spent a summer with a famous actor named Peter Duke, at a theater called Tom Lake. During this summer Lara was only 24 years old, never married and her daughters had not yet been born.
During this summer between Lara and Peter Duke, they were in a play called Our Town and Lara played Emily. Lara and Duke were a hot item, and then a sudden turn of events happened and they went their separate ways. Lara decided not to continue with acting, but Duke rose to stardom. Lara’s three daughters are infatuated with Peter Duke, especially her oldest daughter Emily.
So yeah… this was a decent enough story, but I think that I was expecting so much more. I mean I think we could all write a book about some of our crazy, wild love affairs that we had when we were younger (and some would be way more entertaining than this story). If I’m being honest, this book was a bit of a snooze fest 😴- not my favorite by Patchett. Although, I will be watching for her next book!
This was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick for August, 2023. With that being said, I can see why there are so many high ratings…
(2.5 stars, rounded up)
This story takes place in the Spring of 2020 during the pandemic. Lara’s three daughters have come back home to the family farm/cherry orchard. During this time Lara begins to tell her daughters about the time she spent a summer with a famous actor named Peter Duke, at a theater called Tom Lake. During this summer Lara was only 24 years old, never married and her daughters had not yet been born.
During this summer between Lara and Peter Duke, they were in a play called Our Town and Lara played Emily. Lara and Duke were a hot item, and then a sudden turn of events happened and they went their separate ways. Lara decided not to continue with acting, but Duke rose to stardom. Lara’s three daughters are infatuated with Peter Duke, especially her oldest daughter Emily.
So yeah… this was a decent enough story, but I think that I was expecting so much more. I mean I think we could all write a book about some of our crazy, wild love affairs that we had when we were younger (and some would be way more entertaining than this story). If I’m being honest, this book was a bit of a snooze fest 😴- not my favorite by Patchett. Although, I will be watching for her next book!
This was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick for August, 2023. With that being said, I can see why there are so many high ratings…
(2.5 stars, rounded up)
October 13, 2023
If Ann Patchett's prose had a back, it would be aching from carrying this low-stakes, low-conflict and low-probability story all on its own.
August 14, 2023
I don't fall in love with many books but this one is too beautiful not to.
So my advice would be that if you haven't already seen Our Town then you either read the play or watch the movie (even though they changed the end of the 1940 version) because this book is an homage to that play.
The story of Lara Kinnison, Joe Nelson and Peter Duke is a mirror of Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Lara is a small town girl who plays Emily from Our Town in a community theatre production. Some producer sees her and whisks her away to Hollywood but events conspire and Lara finds herself back in Michigan at Tom Lake playing summer stock as Emily opposite the charismatic Peter Duke.
This novel is steeped in the same spell that Our Town casts. It follows Lara into the next generation where, years later, she is a wife and mother -- her grown daughters home during lockdown to help bring in the cherry harvest on the family farm. As they work Lara recounts her life as an actress, her love affair with Duke and how she ended up with the real hero of the story, their father.
This is my first Ann Patchett, it won't be my last. I found the rhythm of her prose hypnotic. I found myself speaking the dialogue with the same slow drawl as used in Our Town. It is primarily a book about family and continuity, about ambitions and real dreams, about love and acceptance and understanding. It is about knowing who you really are and what you really want from life.
I honestly loved this book and I certainly didn't expect to.
Highly recommended. Thankyou to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advanced review copy.
So my advice would be that if you haven't already seen Our Town then you either read the play or watch the movie (even though they changed the end of the 1940 version) because this book is an homage to that play.
The story of Lara Kinnison, Joe Nelson and Peter Duke is a mirror of Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Lara is a small town girl who plays Emily from Our Town in a community theatre production. Some producer sees her and whisks her away to Hollywood but events conspire and Lara finds herself back in Michigan at Tom Lake playing summer stock as Emily opposite the charismatic Peter Duke.
This novel is steeped in the same spell that Our Town casts. It follows Lara into the next generation where, years later, she is a wife and mother -- her grown daughters home during lockdown to help bring in the cherry harvest on the family farm. As they work Lara recounts her life as an actress, her love affair with Duke and how she ended up with the real hero of the story, their father.
This is my first Ann Patchett, it won't be my last. I found the rhythm of her prose hypnotic. I found myself speaking the dialogue with the same slow drawl as used in Our Town. It is primarily a book about family and continuity, about ambitions and real dreams, about love and acceptance and understanding. It is about knowing who you really are and what you really want from life.
I honestly loved this book and I certainly didn't expect to.
Highly recommended. Thankyou to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advanced review copy.
August 4, 2023
I can’t believe I’m going to write this but this book was so boring. I just couldn’t get into it. I’m not a big fan of theater so I feel like this wasn’t going to speak to me and was hoping I’d be proven wrong. I wasn’t. What also caused dissonance was the fact that Meryl Streep narrates it (beautifully) and I kept getting her mixed up with the character!
Maybe another season I’ll try again as I love Ann Patchett.
Maybe another season I’ll try again as I love Ann Patchett.
January 7, 2024
Set in the early summer of 2020, Ann Patchett's ninth novel once again tackles the messy nature of family life and how our hold of the past can shape or mar our present experience, depending on our point of view.
Lara is a mother of a three and married to a cherry farmer in Michigan. She spends a week or two recounting the summer she spent performing in a production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and falling in love with Peter Duke, who would go on to become a famous movie star, at the eponymous Tom Lake.
Patchett expertly weaves together the past and present, having the daughters interject and question their mother, and then pulling as back into Lara's recollections.
The prose is cozy, warm and rose-colored. But Patchett doesn't sit in that space for too long, letting Lara give the reader's more information than she does her daughters. It's in the telling that the story is shaped and asks: can we be happy with a life when we know there is another one we might have lived?
I laughed out loud many times during this story, and also got chills from its sobriety. We all can remember how it felt in the early days of the pandemic, how fragile life seemed, like a wispy cherry blossom falling from a gnarled branch. And yet there isn't despair in this story. Like in Our Town, life ends in a cemetery, and so too does this story; but not, perhaps, how you think.
I perhaps struggled a bit with the ending, as I do sometimes with life and its cliches. But they are cliches for a reason, and while it could have felt avoidable, I choose to believe Patchett, in her many years of living, loving and writing, chose to end things as she did simply because some things in life are unavoidable. It's simply what you choose to pay attention to that ends up feeling, at times, inevitable.
Lara is a mother of a three and married to a cherry farmer in Michigan. She spends a week or two recounting the summer she spent performing in a production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town and falling in love with Peter Duke, who would go on to become a famous movie star, at the eponymous Tom Lake.
Patchett expertly weaves together the past and present, having the daughters interject and question their mother, and then pulling as back into Lara's recollections.
The prose is cozy, warm and rose-colored. But Patchett doesn't sit in that space for too long, letting Lara give the reader's more information than she does her daughters. It's in the telling that the story is shaped and asks: can we be happy with a life when we know there is another one we might have lived?
I laughed out loud many times during this story, and also got chills from its sobriety. We all can remember how it felt in the early days of the pandemic, how fragile life seemed, like a wispy cherry blossom falling from a gnarled branch. And yet there isn't despair in this story. Like in Our Town, life ends in a cemetery, and so too does this story; but not, perhaps, how you think.
I perhaps struggled a bit with the ending, as I do sometimes with life and its cliches. But they are cliches for a reason, and while it could have felt avoidable, I choose to believe Patchett, in her many years of living, loving and writing, chose to end things as she did simply because some things in life are unavoidable. It's simply what you choose to pay attention to that ends up feeling, at times, inevitable.
May 24, 2024
Ann Patchett is the unassuming one. She is the quiet girl at the back of the class who listens deeply and watches with eyes that are almost too dark for the paleness of her face.
Ann Patchett is the wholesome one. She likes to wear ascetic dresses with flowers on them, cinched at the waist, splattered with petals like a silhouetted field.
Ann Patchett is the subdued one. She is Rachel in “Witness”, a wild flame dancing behind her austere Amish kapp. She is Francesca in “The Bridges of Madison County”. She is Tereza in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. Pale heroines, again, but pale as incandescent, white-hot, electrifying, zigzagging like lightning on your horizon line.
Beware of Ann Patchett’s modesty, her innocence, her decency, her moonlit radiance, her genuine, contagious curiosity about humans and her passion for living. She is all of these things and more. But she wears these virtues on her sleeve and on the page like hard-earned battle scars. She takes no prisoners.
Don’t be fooled by the bed of daisies on the cover or by the sleepy synopsis. The quiet girl of American Letters has listened very deeply since the pandemic and in this unassuming, incandescent novel, she has engaged in a profoundly moving, exhilarating and most bittersweet conversation with “Our Town”, one of her favorite works of art.
“Tom Lake” is pure dry lightning, a flash in the sky, the sudden brightness that illuminates the room when there was nothing but dark.
Ann Patchett is the wholesome one. She likes to wear ascetic dresses with flowers on them, cinched at the waist, splattered with petals like a silhouetted field.
Ann Patchett is the subdued one. She is Rachel in “Witness”, a wild flame dancing behind her austere Amish kapp. She is Francesca in “The Bridges of Madison County”. She is Tereza in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. Pale heroines, again, but pale as incandescent, white-hot, electrifying, zigzagging like lightning on your horizon line.
Beware of Ann Patchett’s modesty, her innocence, her decency, her moonlit radiance, her genuine, contagious curiosity about humans and her passion for living. She is all of these things and more. But she wears these virtues on her sleeve and on the page like hard-earned battle scars. She takes no prisoners.
Don’t be fooled by the bed of daisies on the cover or by the sleepy synopsis. The quiet girl of American Letters has listened very deeply since the pandemic and in this unassuming, incandescent novel, she has engaged in a profoundly moving, exhilarating and most bittersweet conversation with “Our Town”, one of her favorite works of art.
“Tom Lake” is pure dry lightning, a flash in the sky, the sudden brightness that illuminates the room when there was nothing but dark.
August 2, 2023
DNF at 66%. The parts about cherry-picking had some charm, but I just hated the reminiscing about acting. It felt as though the main character was in some version of the same play maybe half-a-dozen times (though it was probably three or four), as well as acting in a film, commercials, and a sitcom. We learn nothing about her time on the sitcom or filming the commercials and precious little about her time on the film. Her years in the theater were largely spent on cigarettes, alcohol, and a boyfriend who went on to become famous. He smoked and drank, and became famous that's all I learned about him, other than his name. Like most of the novel's characters, he lacked distinguishing traits and was incredibly dull. However, the main character's three daughters are fascinated with him and want to keep hearing more about him because for some reason they haven't already heard a ton about this famous, super-boring guy their mom used to date. Whyyyyy... didn't I stop reading sooner?
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