320 pages
English language
Published June 10, 2023 by HarperCollins Publishers, Harper.
This is a story about Peter Duke who went on to be a famous actor. This is a story about falling in love with Peter Duke who wasn't famous at all. It's about falling so wildly in love with him – the way one will at twenty-four – that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight. There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end.
It's spring and Lara's three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they've always longed to hear – of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means …
This is a story about Peter Duke who went on to be a famous actor. This is a story about falling in love with Peter Duke who wasn't famous at all. It's about falling so wildly in love with him – the way one will at twenty-four – that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight. There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end.
It's spring and Lara's three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they've always longed to hear – of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.
I haven’t read Ann Pachet before but this was lovely and I felt like I was in good hands. Easy and pleasant to read, and I got to stretch my emotional muscles.
I think now I need to read the play and then possibly the book again.
Edit: That muscle metaphor is Ann’s.
Meryl Streep is phenomenal in the audiobook narration of this series and the writing is fine. The story was a very nice listen and I was invested in learning what happens! The story was pretty captivating. Nothing amazing but pleasant and keeps you wondering. I knocked off another star because the writing of the college age girls was atrocious. They have the the maturity and dialogue of a six year old. Very unrealistic and bothered me throughout the whole book. Would still recommend as a simple read but thats it.
This is a simple story. No explosions. Only a few deaths. It's a story a mother tells her daughters. It's wonderful in its simplicity.
Patchett doesn’t disappoint. Her stories unfold elegantly, revealing her lovely characters in unique and subtle ways. Her prose is beautiful without being showy, and she embeds clever observations about the human experience. (And I liked her insights on performance, fresh as I was from another novel about actors and storytellers!)
