Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

23 reviews

moond4ncer's review

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Abortion, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Mental illness

pam_'s review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Extremely boring. I didn’t care about any of the characters or the plot. I probably should have DNFed because this was not for me. Meryl Streep narrating the audiobook was this book’s saving grace in my opinion. Without her, there is no way that I would have been able to finish this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Misogyny

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

slefebvre95's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide, Animal death, Abortion, and Death

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

siebensommer's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

never had i seen a place that made the tightness in my chest relax 

the magic with which nell  understands overwhelms me at times

i wish there had been someone with me so i didn’t have to ask all the stupid questions myself 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Death

iconicavocado's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

(read via book & audiobook)

Book 📖: 3.5/5 stars

Audiobook 🎙️: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I don't think I have felt as conflicted about a book rating than this one. Ultimately I just going to come to terms that though this is a sweetly, nostalgically written book with a lovely audiobook (It's Meryl Streep for God sakes!): it just didn't land for me. 

I got some quams with certain choices made but mainly I'm not the target audience for this. I feel if were more of a appreciate of theatre this would be my jam. I love the dynamic with the mom, Lara, and her family and the present day story. But I couldn't believe in the love Lara has with her ex boyfriend, Peter Duke. Which is what the book is centered around and it does not work for me. 

Also I found 3 spelling/writing errors while reading off some of the digital book. Two were words swaps and one was a complete misspelling of the word "say" spelled "stay". At first I thought Meryl misspoke but the third time I realized it may be a publishing error. I'm getting really annoyed I keep finding misspellings and errors in new work nowadays. Seriously is it that hard to proof your work, publishers?

If you love plays, classical literature, and stories about family this is a book for you. And I have to say the audiobook is FANTASTIC. I loved how Meryl read the book and I wouldn't have liked it as much I have without her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Blood

maceydowns's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.25

feeling a bit like this book taught me the same lesson as everything everywhere all at once — but maybe that’s just the lesson I’m seeking right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Addiction, and Medical content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Cancer, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Rape

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Grief, Infidelity, and Racism

katietregs's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

Quite sentimental. Not a lot of twists and turns. The writing is good, but most of the characters feel quite flat. Very pro farm. My main takeaway is that this woman loves farm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Addiction, Vomit, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Racism

Minor: Abortion and Animal death