Tom Lake

This book paints a wonderful portrait of humanity through the lens of another work, "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. You can see the parallels between the average every day existence of most Americans, the characters of one of the greatest plays of all time, and the characters in this book. It is breathtaking, heartbreaking, and well worth the read!

3.75 compelling and well paced novel. Liked the time setting choice to impact the story.

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!)