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annaxavila's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Abortion, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Mental illness
Minor: Cancer and Child death
emma_sky's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, and Death
fkshg8465's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Abandonment, and Infidelity
snipinfool's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
I really enjoyed reading this story. I loved how Ann Patchett wove the story together by linking the play, Our Town, with the impact playing the lead character, Emily, had on Lara throughout her life. Playing Emily in Tom Lake's summer stock performances was where she met Peter Duke, who would become a very well-known actor years later. That summer, Lara learned that she needed to pivot and take a direction that was unexpected from what she had planned. I felt much like Lara's daughters did in that I was excited to learn more of the story. The dialog between characters was natural and well written. The characters, themselves, were easy to visualize, and I could picture so many parts of the story in my mind. Overall, this was a wonderful novel about family and how big moments in life could lead to unexpected changes that end up bringing us to where we find our greatest happiness.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual content
Minor: Abortion, Cancer, and Child death
shae_reads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing
Minor: Death, Chronic illness, Abortion, and Cancer
hinkleh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Medical content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Death, Vomit, Cancer, and Racism
Minor: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy
jiscoo's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Abortion, Cancer, and Pregnancy
prairiek's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cancer, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
rei_reads's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death
carriepond's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
“The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well, until one morning you’re picking cherries with your three grown daughters and your husband goes by on the Gator and you are positive that this is all you’ve ever wanted in the world.”
I loved this book, about how different things look when you’re living them versus reflecting on them. Watching Lara reflect on what was a tumultuous and fraught time of her life from the vantage point of decades later, living a quieter life with people she cherishes, was particularly moving given that it was set during another tumultuous time— the early stages of the pandemic. I re-read Our Town right before starting this novel, and Patchett weaves its plot and themes throughout this novel beautifully and to great effect.
Another theme Patchett plays a lot with is how much of life’s unfolding is molded by destiny or fate versus chance and choice, as we watch Lara’s life be dictated by both: seizing the chance to play Emily in her community production of Our Town leads to landing the same role in college, where a movie director happens to be in the audience, which sets off a series of choices and happenstance occurrences that ultimately lead her to a Michigan cherry farm.
The story within a story also serves as an effective way to think deeply about different kinds of love: the heat and passion of youthful affairs, the steadfastness of marriage, and the push-pull of maternal love, the simultaneous desire to hold them close and let them loose. We watch Lara experience them all in this novel, each serving as a foil to the others in rewarding ways.
Loved this one. Highly recommend it for those who enjoy beautifully rendered family stories.
Graphic: Alcoholism and Vomit
Minor: Abortion and Cancer