Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

42 reviews

amybartoli29's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, and Grief

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Cancer

adventurebound7's review

reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, and Injury/Injury detail

maggies's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Superbly performed by Meryl Streep, Lara and her daughters come alive in this masterclass of family dynamics, love, and hope. A story-within-a-story, as Lara tells her adult daughters in the present day about her time as an actress in her 20s, reminding us all of the lives we live that even those closest to our hearts won't know about unless we share. It's a sweeping generational family saga, a sweet summer romance, and all the points in between that make up a full and rewarding life.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Infidelity

Minor: Abortion, Grief, and Cancer

bella_cavicchi's review

emotional reflective relaxing medium-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

4.0

I’m not convinced that TOM LAKE is Ann Patchett’s best, or even her second or third best. It feels to me too quickly edited, the structuring of the memory scenes forced, the coincidences too good to be true. But man, did I still enjoy it. Perfectly imperfect, it is the epitome of summertime. I loved too how it captured the stillness that fell upon the world at the height of the pandemic without ever giving it a name.

+1 for showcasing summer stock theatre, what I lovingly call the “wild west” of the theatre industry. My heart! With it always.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Grief, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Medical content

Moderate: Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Cancer

Minor: Child death and Abortion

thecandiegirl's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Vomit, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Abortion, and Sexual content

marioosa517's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

Moderate: Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, and Blood

Minor: Abortion, Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Self harm, Death, Death of parent, Cancer, Excrement, Violence, War, and Sexual content

ressicajicks's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully written and beautifully read by Meryl Streep. The pacing might have been too slow for me had I not listened to the audiobook, but I am so glad I did. Springtime in the year that I am the same age as Emily, the year that I will marry my Joe Nelson, was the perfect time in my life to have experienced this novel on walks around my neighborhood with my neighbors’ flower beds in bloom. I am so so lucky. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Drug use, Racism, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Abortion

thalia16's review

emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

I'm a ride or die Ann Patchett fan, but this book just didn't have the magic for me. Judging books by their cover is often misleading in a pleasantly surprising way, however this one unfortunately aligned very closely with its cover: outdated (despite taking place during an incredibly contemporary world event) and not very exciting.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, and Pandemic/Epidemic

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Sheltering in place during the pandemic, Lara recounts for her daughters the story of her summer spent acting at Tom Lake.

Meryl Streep is one of the very best actors of our lifetimes (or ever) and she performs this audiobook with every ounce of that talent. I could truly listen to her monologue for hours on end, and so the narration made this audiobook an entertaining experience. If you’re a fan of Meryl, I can’t recommend it enough, and if you’re not, I have serious questions about your taste.

That said, this is also a book, and I…didn’t really enjoy the book. I found the plot pretty boring and never really “got” the point the novel was trying to make—it felt like nothing happened, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, and I wasn’t remotely surprised by anything that happened in either timeline. Honestly, I cannot imagine reading this one in physical form, because the narration was the best part for me by far. In short, 3 stars for the book (being generous), an entire additional star for Meryl.

CW: Infidelity; injury; mentions of death; pandemic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Cancer, Infidelity, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

alyssapusateri's review against another edition

reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Death, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Abortion, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Medical content, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity