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lynnegweeny's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
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? No
4.25
My first Patchett! Oh, to read fiction purely for leisure - it’s been a while. I’d fallen to the pits of the belief that fiction was frivolous and it was only something I was going to indulge in if it had some sort of pay-off. (Like reading romance to understand its bestselling appeal.) Though, to be honest, I picked up this book because I had started a two-person book club with a friend, so I still needed that external motivation.
I’d already been a big fan of Ann Patchett for years now through her short stories but this was my first novel of hers. And I LOVED IT. And I’m always in awe of how she tells a story - one that is simple and bare, but with all of the expressions and language carrying the weight of all of untold emotions. The surprise is less in the plot but in the casual unfolding of the story itself because of the very measured reveal. It had always been her style and it’s so effortless - it was just so wonderful to revel in it.
The plot of this book is simple, but there was also so much beneath the surface. How does she make us care? Anyway, it's about a mother telling her three daughters a story of who she was before she became their mother. Mostly about her brief stint as an actress, and romantic dalliance with a larger-than-life movie star. And how that led her to meeting thier father.
It would be pat to reduce this to a ‘love triangle’ because it is not, but there’s a contrast between the types of love you receive from a partner who loves you quietly and earnestly to a partner who loves you with all of the roaring and intense emotions.
That’s all I want to say about the plot because I think the book is so worth experiencing on your own as Patchett takes you on the journey. There’s something so safe and glorious in her masterful unveiling. It’s funny that I’m writing this on Mother’s Day as well because the main character’s role as a mother is also captured so well in this with her relationship with her three daughters. I would say that it's the main theme of this book, plot and mystery and twist aside.
Although Ann Patchett does not have children of her own, I felt like the relationship she has with her readers is one borne out of parental love: ‘Let me show you all the ugly and beautiful parts of life while I stand here solidly reminding you that it is OK to not know, to be confused, and that it’ll hurt but it will all also be solidly OK.’
Isn’t that what being a parent is? I wouldn’t know. But I’d imagine it’s something like this: solid love.
I’d already been a big fan of Ann Patchett for years now through her short stories but this was my first novel of hers. And I LOVED IT. And I’m always in awe of how she tells a story - one that is simple and bare, but with all of the expressions and language carrying the weight of all of untold emotions. The surprise is less in the plot but in the casual unfolding of the story itself because of the very measured reveal. It had always been her style and it’s so effortless - it was just so wonderful to revel in it.
The plot of this book is simple, but there was also so much beneath the surface. How does she make us care? Anyway, it's about a mother telling her three daughters a story of who she was before she became their mother. Mostly about her brief stint as an actress, and romantic dalliance with a larger-than-life movie star. And how that led her to meeting thier father.
It would be pat to reduce this to a ‘love triangle’ because it is not, but there’s a contrast between the types of love you receive from a partner who loves you quietly and earnestly to a partner who loves you with all of the roaring and intense emotions.
That’s all I want to say about the plot because I think the book is so worth experiencing on your own as Patchett takes you on the journey. There’s something so safe and glorious in her masterful unveiling. It’s funny that I’m writing this on Mother’s Day as well because the main character’s role as a mother is also captured so well in this with her relationship with her three daughters. I would say that it's the main theme of this book, plot and mystery and twist aside.
Although Ann Patchett does not have children of her own, I felt like the relationship she has with her readers is one borne out of parental love: ‘Let me show you all the ugly and beautiful parts of life while I stand here solidly reminding you that it is OK to not know, to be confused, and that it’ll hurt but it will all also be solidly OK.’
Isn’t that what being a parent is? I wouldn’t know. But I’d imagine it’s something like this: solid love.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
adventurebound7's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity and Alcoholism
Minor: Abortion, Cancer, and Injury/Injury detail
graceandrepeat's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Abortion, and Mental illness
moond4ncer's review against another edition
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
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
seastheday's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was much better than Dutch House. I thought the story was intriguing enough to follow and want to keep listening to. It’s definitely had its dark moments, but that’s just part of life- nothing the author did was weird or out of the blue for the story. It was a rhythmic read, and I enjoyed hearing the POV’s reflection on her life and choices as well as her daughter’s input/thoughts. It was enjoyable but nothing super special, which is why it’s a 3.5 to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Minor: Blood, Abortion, and Forced institutionalization
staceen's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Sobbed through the last 50 pages. So sweet and thoughtful, Ann Patchett really is such a queen. Listening to Meryl Streep do the audio was such a treat, but if I’m honest, her cadence got stale about 3/4 through and I switched to the text.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Minor: Abortion
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Misogyny
elenival's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
11 hours of the Meryl Streep telling me a story? Just wonderful<3
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship
bella_cavicchi's review against another edition
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.
+1 for showcasing summer stock theatre, what I lovingly call the “wild west” of the theatre industry. My heart! With it always.
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
emjay2021's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
5.0
I enjoyed <i>Tom Lake</i> very much. I listened to the audiobook for half of it and thought Meryl Streep’s narration was perfect. It’s interesting reading the other reviews; it seems quite polarizing. There are quite a few people who found it slow and boring, and found the main character dull and unrealistic in her perfect happiness. I did find the pace leisurely, but I was fine with that and definitely did not find it boring. I also felt there was more to the characters than was presented on the surface.
Essentially, this is the story of a mother, Lara, telling her grown daughters stories from a particular time in life to pass the time while they all harvest cherries on their farm in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Because of the lockdown, they aren’t able to hire the workers they normally would to help bring in the harvest, which has to be done in a very short span of time. So, the family has to do the harvest themselves, and it is tedious work. And so, in what I am sure is a time-honoured tradition, the farming family passes the time listening to someone tell a story..
There is so much about this that I find fascinating. So much here depends on Lara’s narration. I thought frequently about how she was framing her story, what she was leaving out, what she emphasized versus what she chose to minimize. How she takes her audience into account, and her daughters’ relationship with their father (who is doing work elsewhere on the farm most of the time, but makes an appearance here and there).
Some reviews have criticized Patchett for making Lara and her family too saintly and perfect. I didn’t see it that way at all. Because Lara is the one telling us the story, the reader needs to assess whether Lara is reliable. Sure, she doesn’t mention the disagreements her daughters have. She praises her husband as being saintly and perfect. But is he really? Do her daughters really never fight? Well yes, they do (oh my, the descriptions of the hormonally disturbed Emily thinking Duke is her father!), and eventually bit by bit we do see glimpses of ugliness in Lara’s previous life that she is keeping from her daughters. I understood that some of her eagerness to continually pronounce her husband as a good, kind man is because I don’t think she has ever really gotten over Duke completely despite knowing that he is a user and a narcissist. I think she has mostly gotten over him, but I also think there is a little tiny part of her that DOES give in to the “what ifs” that her daughters keep asking her about.
That’s not to say she doesn’t love her family as much as she says she does. I think she really does love them that much, and her husband really is a good, kind man. But I also think she understands somewhere deep down that she has a tiny part that longs for the asshole that was Duke, and I think she struggles with that. I think when she tells the story of how she and Duke met and got together at Tom Lake, she puts a gloss and fantasy sheen on it at first and then she acknowledges later on in the narrative (as an aside to us, the audience) the things Duke did from the beginning that she knew were not the hallmarks of a considerate boyfriend or a well person, for that matter. The story she tells her daughters is not the story that she eventually shares with us, her readers. She is much more honest with us—in some ways.
It’s a peaceful listen/read at first, but as we get a more “real” version of the story later on, the calm narration almost puts more of a horrifying spin on things. The chapter at the rehab centre is so bleak; it almost seems to come from another book. It’s as though here, Lara lets the happy mask slip and reveals some of the sordidness beneath. But then, the mask goes back up and she seems determined to put a good face on things. The final chapter with Sebastian is part of the “good face.” Far from finding it unrealistic, I could believe that the cherry farm was a place Duke <i>would</i> have romanticized as he got further and further away from normal life. But he always viewed it through his self-centred lens. Remember, when he first returns to the farm, he doesn’t even remember that he was first there with Lara. It wasn’t Lara he wanted to return to; it was literally the place and that golden, pleasant day he spent there. And so he would have talked with Sebastian many times about having bought the cemetery plot from Joe’s aunt and uncle, I’m sure [edit: and I realize now, probably included it in his will]. And, because Sebastian is so codependent (see the aftermath of the rehab visit), [edit: to be fair, even if not so codependent anymore, then almost certainly the executor of his estate] he would have tried to ensure his brother’s wishes could be carried out.
Edit: Re-reading my review, I think I was a little bit too cynical. There is another explanation for Lara’s seemingly exaggerated satisfaction with her perfect happy family life (including her marriage with Joe). It is possible that the reason behind it is not any kind of longing or what-if alternate path she imagines with Duke, but rather relief and wise recognition of how terrible things would’ve been if she had not chosen Joe and the calm, steady life of the farm. In fact, the more I think about it, the more certain I am but this is the correct interpretation. I am sure I am not alone in having made poor choices when choosing partners in my youth, and not everyone (including me) figures it out as quickly as Lara does that it is far better to be with someone who is kind and good than someone who is exciting and seductive but selfish and messed up.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this and in fact listened/read to the entire thing in just a couple of days. I’ll be interested to see what any of my friends who read it think of it.
(Content warnings: substance abuse, death, infidelity, coerced sex, abortion)
Essentially, this is the story of a mother, Lara, telling her grown daughters stories from a particular time in life to pass the time while they all harvest cherries on their farm in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Because of the lockdown, they aren’t able to hire the workers they normally would to help bring in the harvest, which has to be done in a very short span of time. So, the family has to do the harvest themselves, and it is tedious work. And so, in what I am sure is a time-honoured tradition, the farming family passes the time listening to someone tell a story..
There is so much about this that I find fascinating. So much here depends on Lara’s narration. I thought frequently about how she was framing her story, what she was leaving out, what she emphasized versus what she chose to minimize. How she takes her audience into account, and her daughters’ relationship with their father (who is doing work elsewhere on the farm most of the time, but makes an appearance here and there).
That’s not to say she doesn’t love her family as much as she says she does. I think she really does love them that much, and her husband really is a good, kind man. But I also think she understands somewhere deep down that she has a tiny part that longs for the asshole that was Duke, and I think she struggles with that. I think when she tells the story of how she and Duke met and got together at Tom Lake, she puts a gloss and fantasy sheen on it at first and then she acknowledges later on in the narrative (as an aside to us, the audience) the things Duke did from the beginning that she knew were not the hallmarks of a considerate boyfriend or a well person, for that matter. The story she tells her daughters is not the story that she eventually shares with us, her readers. She is much more honest with us—in some ways.
It’s a peaceful listen/read at first, but as we get a more “real” version of the story later on, the calm narration almost puts more of a horrifying spin on things. The chapter at the rehab centre is so bleak; it almost seems to come from another book. It’s as though here, Lara lets the happy mask slip and reveals some of the sordidness beneath. But then, the mask goes back up and she seems determined to put a good face on things. The final chapter with Sebastian is part of the “good face.” Far from finding it unrealistic, I could believe that the cherry farm was a place Duke <i>would</i> have romanticized as he got further and further away from normal life. But he always viewed it through his self-centred lens. Remember, when he first returns to the farm, he doesn’t even remember that he was first there with Lara. It wasn’t Lara he wanted to return to; it was literally the place and that golden, pleasant day he spent there. And so he would have talked with Sebastian many times about having bought the cemetery plot from Joe’s aunt and uncle, I’m sure [edit: and I realize now, probably included it in his will]. And, because Sebastian is so codependent (see the aftermath of the rehab visit), [edit: to be fair, even if not so codependent anymore, then almost certainly the executor of his estate] he would have tried to ensure his brother’s wishes could be carried out.
Edit: Re-reading my review, I think I was a little bit too cynical. There is another explanation for Lara’s seemingly exaggerated satisfaction with her perfect happy family life (including her marriage with Joe). It is possible that the reason behind it is not any kind of longing or what-if alternate path she imagines with Duke, but rather relief and wise recognition of how terrible things would’ve been if she had not chosen Joe and the calm, steady life of the farm. In fact, the more I think about it, the more certain I am but this is the correct interpretation. I am sure I am not alone in having made poor choices when choosing partners in my youth, and not everyone (including me) figures it out as quickly as Lara does that it is far better to be with someone who is kind and good than someone who is exciting and seductive but selfish and messed up.
Anyway, I really enjoyed this and in fact listened/read to the entire thing in just a couple of days. I’ll be interested to see what any of my friends who read it think of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Abortion