Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Tom Lake

Tom Lake is my first Ann Patchett book in recent years and it felt like a classic. The language was absolutely beautiful, painting a picturesque setting of a mother and her daughters harvesting cherries on the family orchard during the pandemic. The story is told through the mother’s perspective as she met her daughter’s pleas by telling the story of her past as a young actress. Meryl Streep’s narration and performance was absolutely brilliant and the audiobook was a delight.

The themes that resonated most with me were focused around the relationships with mothers and their adult children, the lives our parents led as young people, and the connection between the two. This one feels like a story that will be with me for a long time.

“I look at my girls, my brilliant young women. I want them to think I was better than I was, and I want to tell them the truth in case the truth will be useful. Those two desires to not neatly coexist, but this is where we are in the story.”

Content Warnings

shae_reads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This was a book club choice. It was very boring. This novel is character driven but the characters were one-dimensional, unlikeable and uninteresting. In my opinion nothing interesting happens except

when Uncle Wallace throws up all that blood on stage but still finished the show!

There is also very little romance involved in this “romance” novel.

Content Warnings

cari_joy's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

hinkleh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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rayreyes's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Solid book. Took me up until 50% through to get invested in the story. Really lovely and would recommend overall.

Content Warnings

asienerbrown's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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dudette's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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alisonvh's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is about so many things I can’t put my finger on just one. It’s about young love and careers that don’t pan out and the choices we make, and learning about the people our parents were before they were parents. It’s so good!

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