Tom Lake

*4.5 stars. What to say, Ann Patchett is a master and this is an excellent book about what makes a life and the stories we remember and the ones we forget and how the moments that truly shape and make our lives are often captured in the stories that just become a part of the act of living - not the big moments that take on a life of their own.

I feel like I'm missing something given all of the rave reviews for this book. It was...fine. Interesting character study but IMHO not anything mind-blowingly creative or groundbreaking. Maybe I'm just not literary enough to understand it. I do appreciate all of the references to [b:Our Town 205476 Our Town Thornton Wilder https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442891231l/205476.SY75.jpg 3119231], and I hope Tom Lake readers will seek out Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, as well as his other work.

I usually look for emotional simple books to get out of a slumb after a really good fantasy book. Having said that maybe this wasn't the best choice after Iron Flame

As a fan of Thornton Wilder (I read a great biography of him a few years ago), I appreciated the “Our Town” thread that ran throughout TOM LAKE. Lara, the narrator, is from New Hampshire and appears in a production of the play in high school and later as a professional in summer stock at Tom Lake, an arts community in Michigan (a la Interlochen?). She falls in love (or is seduced off her feet) by the actor who plays her father, although he is only a couple of years older. The book is the story of their tortured relationship as told by her many years later to her daughters. One of the things I liked about this structure is that it is crystal clear why this narrator is telling this story and to whom it is being told. Still, I'm struggling to find depth in this story, as engaging a read as it was.

In [a:Ann Patchett 7136914 Ann Patchett https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1371838720p2/7136914.jpg]'s novel, TOM LAKE, she makes the most of the COVID pandemic shutdown. The main character and former actress, Lara, sees her three grown daughters returning to the family farm. They're trying to save the cherry harvest without the usual aid of farm laborers. This gives them many long hours working together. The daughters fill that time by asking their mother about her past and the movie star, Peter Duke, who she dated way back when.So much of this book centers around what family stories we pass on and what we keep in our hearts. Although the relationship better Lara and Peter really happened, it wasn't all wine and roses like the daughters imagined. And maybe the greatest love story, the one between Lara/Laura and Joe, the girls' parents, isn't of much interest to the daughters.It also reveals that we don't always tell the whole truth until the moment is right—if at all. Some facts are better unveiled when the listeners are ready to hear it. Mothers often have to guess when it the right time and what might actually derail their offspring if they found out the truth at the wrong time.One confusing part of the story was that Lara named her daughters after important characters in her life. Daughter #1: Emily was the name of Lara's character in OUR TOWN, the play by Thornton Wilder. Daughter #2: Maisie was also the name of Lara's mother-in-lawDaughter 33: Nell was Lara's grandmother's nameOUR TOWN plays a huge role in the TOM LAKE story. It probably helps if you have seen or read it once. Patchett did an excellent job with this story and how it unfolds will surprise the reader. Or at least it surprised this reader.

Just a beautiful, insightful story. I listened to the audiobook, and Meryl Streep's performance was (of course) above and beyond. For me, the book itself is 4-stars, but bumped up because of the narration. I'm so glad that I finally picked up a book by Ann Patchett, whose Friday book recommendations on TikTok I always look forward to!

Another touching and insightful Ann Patchett book! I love the way that she captures real lives, dialog, interpersonal dynamics, choices women make, family roles.... and more. I appreciated the slow and easy story telling, the way I can picture the cherry farm in Michigan and watch the mother-daughters relationships. This is a book that I'm eager to discuss with others, as I am not sure what to make of the heartthrob movie star character. I'm also curious about Patchett's decision to include the last episode between him and our narrator, Lara. Listening to Meryl Streep read this might have been the best things about this already lovely novel. It reminds me of Tom Hanks reading Dutch House. In both cases, I didn't want to stop having them in my ears.

Lara, her husband, and her three grown daughters stay together during the start of the pandemic, picking cherries on the family farm, and, to pass the time, Lara begins to tell her daughters the story of her relationship as a young woman with a man who has eventually become a movie star.

A gentle story of young love, of family, of the search for happiness.

Calling all theatre lovers! Where are my theatre geeks? This is our book. The intersection of Chekhov and Our Town is too much for my BFA in Theatre heart to take. Because I played the Stage Manager in Our Town in High School I was knee deep into this book on page TWO. Auditions for Our Town? I am paying attention. I really enjoyed this book. Ann Patchett coyly gives us THREE SISTERS on a CHERRY ORCHARD and theatre loving parents who quote Anton Chekhov. OKAY I am belaboring the point but all of you out there with no point of reference for any of this you will love this study of young love, parental love, sibling love and then that final deep and abiding love that comes from knowing who you are and being happy with the life you've chosen. That is the story Ann Patchett has created here. She has cleverly woven in the pandemic to a bygone story of young love lost- but boy does that story rage bright and brilliant. I've read many stories with parallel timelines. This one is different. The story told during summer stock 25+ years earlier is a wholly developed story in and of itself. These are not flashbacks. Ann Patchett truly introduces us to these young wild characters and invests her storytelling prowess in them. This book is going to stick with me. I loved it.

This is a quietly immersive book that snuck up on me and captivated my heart. I found the framing device very effective- we are in the present with a mother, father, and their three daughters isolating themselves due to the pandemic and hearing the story (which forms the majority of the narrative) of the summer their mother spent at Tom Lake, a summer stock theatre group in Michigan putting on plays. She was the lover of Peter Drake, the confidante of best friend and fellow actress Pallace, and friend of Drake's brother and Pallace's lover Sebastian. I read this in two days and every time I picked up the book it was like slipping into a warm bath - the characters were familiar and fascinating, the setting bucolic and summer sunshine, the family in the present day interesting and unique. It felt like a visit with old friends and I never wanted the time to end. The pandemic was there in the background as the reason the family was living together but it never felt intrusive and the peek-behind-the-scenes of a theatre troupe was engaging. And I liked the Our Town motif tying it together - it's such an iconic play from my growing up years and provided the perfect backdrop for a novel that's in essence offering up the same message - we never know and appreciate what's happening in our life while it's happening - it's only when we look back that we realize that those days we lived, that time was what life is all about.

Perfect.

I've yet to find stories more poignant than Ann Patchett's.

This was a gem of a book! Patchett is so good at weaving a story together. This one brings together two timelines as a mother tells her daughters about a summer when she was young. I love how Patchett's writing is simple yet evocative as she tells her tale. This didn't end up being my favorite Patchett book, but if you enjoy character-focus novels, give this one a try.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC.