Oh, this is a book of quiet wonder. It’s about a brush with fame and seeing through it. It is a story of contentment, and how to find it after a youthful adventure. Regular readers of this blog will know of my love for Ann Patchett’s writing and her mastery of quiet situations, her characterisation and eye for engaging details. Tom Lake is no different.
On the whole this is not about a lot. Set on a cherry farm in Michigan during the pandemic, the story concerns Lara whose three daughters are home to help with the cherry harvest and who pass the time asking her for the story of her youthful fling with a film star, Peter Duke. She relates the story slowly, and the retelling is interrupted by questions, family dinners, outings to the lake and other local family dramas. The story unfolds, there is drama, sex, injuries, betrayals and love, and then the story ends.
The book is closely tied up with Our Town, the play by Thornton Wilder and contains similar themes. I have heard Our Town cited in so many other things that I finally sought it out to discover why it was called “the greatest American play” by Edward Albee – you can watch the 2003 stage production with Paul Newman and Jane Curtin on Youtube. There are also several nods towards the actor Spalding Gray who is mentioned in the book, but perhaps the character of Duke may have been loosely based round him? I don’t know. Still, these connections were fun to find.
The writing is amazing. The characters are all smart and funny and emotionally literate, and yes, perhaps that’s a valid criticism of Patchett’s writing but it is still so very good that I don’t really care. Perhaps it was due to me reading it in a week when I was feeling particularly emotional as a parent but some of the passages really struck home for me. Patchett may not convey huge plotlines but the depth of emotion is all there.
This is a lovely quiet and wise read. Make time for it.
Susan E Barsby 