"Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett

As a huge fan of "The Dutch House" (reviewed here) -- best book I read in 2020 -- I eagerly scooped up Ann Patchett's latest novel, "Tom Lake," shortly after it came out last month. (I also read and enjoyed "These Precious Days,"  reviewed here.)  

I think this is the first novel I've read that references our recent/ongoing pandemic. It's set in the summer of 2020: Lara, her husband Joe and their three young adult daughters, home from college, are stuck on their fruit farm in northern Michigan. The workers who usually help to pick the cherries are unable to come, and so Emily, Maisie and Nell have been recruited to help their parents bring in the harvest. To help pass the time as they pick, they beg their mother to tell them the story of how she came to Tom Lake, Michigan, in 1988 to star in a summer stock production of "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder -- and her romance with her co-star Peter Duke, now a famous Hollywood actor. 

(I've never seen "Our Town," that I remember anyway, but I've seen bits & pieces of it on TV, I think -- I'm familiar with the basic premise -- and I think some knowledge of the play would probably help here, albeit it's probably not entirely necessary.) (There are also references & allusions to -- surprise!-- "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekov, as well as Sam Shepherd's "Fool For Love."  I haven't seen either of those, either.) 

Lara's story unfolds at a leisurely pace. She doesn't share everything with her daughters -- but luckily for us, we get to hear/read about the parts they don't.  :)  In between cherry-picking and storytelling sessions, we're also privy to her reflections on love and loss, marriage, motherhood and family, friendship and growing up, the choices we make along the way, the roads not taken, and the way one thing leads to another and another, without our realizing it at the time. The stories we tell ourselves -- the stories we tell about others -- and the stories others tell about us. A little more than halfway through, there's a "reveal" that had me going "aha!" and then paging back through the book to refresh my memory about a certain character. And then another, and another. 

It took me almost two (admittedly busy) weeks to get through the first nine chapters (131 pages), and all of today -- a wonderfully lazy Sunday, perfect for absorbing myself in a good book -- to finish it off (21 chapters total, 309 pages). Like Patchett's other work that I've read, it's beautifully and thoughtfully written. 

It was a slow start, but I wound up loving "Tom Lake" -- but if you're childless not by choice, be forewarned:  Lara's descriptions of happy motherhood and families might not be your cup of tea, depending on where you are in your grief journey.  (Interestingly, Patchett herself is childfree by choice, as are a couple of the characters in the book.) From that perspective, "The Dutch House" would probably be a better choice.  

I closed the book with tears in my eyes. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. 

If you're into audiobooks, I know that Meryl Streep narrates this one! 

This was Book #33 read to date in 2023 (and Book #1 finished in September), bringing me to 73% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 3 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2023 tagged as "2023 books."