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Tom Lake: A Novel Paperback – Large Print, August 1, 2023
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK
In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.
“Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature.” —The Guardian
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
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. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Large Print
- Publication dateAugust 1, 2023
- Dimensions6 x 1.05 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100063347725
- ISBN-13978-0063347724
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Tom Lake is a book to be savored—the once-in-a-blue-moon type." — San Francisco Chronicle
“A swoony, luminous reminder about the endurance of love and happiness in a broken world.” — Oprah Daily
“A tender, absorbing tale about becoming who we are.” — People
"A searching reflection on the relationships between theater and life, romance and realism, Tom Lake is perhaps Patchett’s finest novel yet.” — Boston Globe
"Tom Lake is about romantic love, marital love and maternal love, but also the love of animals, the love of stories, love of the land and trees and the tiny, red, cordiform object that is a cherry. . . . This generous writer hits the mark again with her ninth novel." — Washington Post
"Wise. Beautiful. With an elegant soft touch….Brilliant, of course.” — Good Morning America
“A quiet and reassuring book…highly conscious of…[the] human failure to appreciate the little things.” — New York Times
"One of our greatest living chroniclers of love and marriage—and its resounding impacts over generations—is back this summer … Expect wonder; Patchett always delivers." — Elle
"The perfect summer novel." — The Atlantic
"Tom Lake is about love in all its many forms. But it is also about death and the ephemeral and how everything goes by so damned fast. It is an elegy of sorts but also a promise that there will be magic no matter what.” — Los Angeles Review of Books
"Patchett’s intricate and subtle thematic web…enfolds the nature of storytelling, the evolving dynamics of a family, and the complex interaction between destiny and choice….These braided strands culminate in a denouement at once deeply sad and tenderly life-affirming. Poignant and reflective, cementing Patchett’s stature as one of our finest novelists." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"As this spellbinding and incisive novel unspools, Patchett brings every turn of mind and every setting to glorious, vibrant life, gracefully contrasting the dazzle of the ephemeral with the gravitas of the timeless, perceiving in cherries sweet and tart reflections of love and loss.” — Booklist (starred review)
"Patchett is at the top of her game." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Patchett is a writer of enormous warmth.” — Wall Street Journal
"A compelling narrative about the secret lives of parents—and how to find happiness in the midst of a long life.” — Time
"[A] poignant novel from Ann Patchett, caring as ever." — Vanity Fair
"Tom Lake…[takes] its time to marvel over the quiet drama of ordinary living: a strong marriage, a loving family, a place to gather at the end of the day.” — Houston Chronicle
"Tom Lake is a beautiful, stirring book that sneaks up on you and makes a deep impression, partly because you’re left asking yourself: “What have I just read?” The moment I finished it, I wanted to go back and start again." — Sunday Times (London)
"Tom Lakeis a warm, funny book about kind people who do the best they can." — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“[Patchett] writes with deep attention to our country’s changing culture while never taking her eye off narrative. Each book uses a traditional storytelling structure — lyrics, midrash, folk tales — while pushing at the edges of what a form can contain, cramming it with modern human concerns, triumphs and tragedies.” — Los Angeles Times
“Who is better, more nuanced, or more surprising on matters of love and family than Patchett?. . . . [A] heady voyage into the past, with a delicately observed story that is also constantly shifting the ground beneath our feet." — Literary Hub
"Subversively wise and self-aware." — New Yorker
"Fans of The Dutch House and Commonwealth will be more than satisfied with Ann Patchett's latest novelistic exploration of love and family dynamics." — Harper’s Bazaar
"Patchett's prose is elegant, her wit abundant, her sense of family dynamics and the complexities of love subtle and insightful. Tom Lake is an enthralling story." — Tampa Bay Times
"Across her oeuvre Patchett has proven herself a generous, meticulous mentor, and Tom Lake is one of this year’s triumphs.” — Chapter 16
"Patchett, beloved bookseller and chronicler of people thrown together in patched families and hostage situations, turns her attention to love — youthful, marital, fleeting, enduring." — NPR
“Meryl Streep…is ideal for narrating Tom Lake…. Streep delivers with her signature whimsy, her cadence lilting from wide-eyed innocence to winking wisdom, blurring the nostalgia for small-town Americana with dashes of big-city dreams." — New York Times Book Review
"Tom Lake is Ann Patchett’s best novel." — Hudson Review
"With her latest novel, Patchett is unabashedly Chekhovian…. If you’re so inclined, Meryl Streep narrates the audiobook, which allows you to savor every word as only a consummate actor like Streep can deliver them.” — Broadway Direct
"Intelligent, poignant,…absorbing….It channels great literature…[and] showcases storytelling expertise." — Washington Examiner
“Best of all in my reading experience this year was Ann Patchett's Tom Lake….It's a beautiful, loving story. And its echoes of Our Town are spot on.” — Daily Kos
"Reading the book feels, deliciously, like slipping into 'Our Town' and having a conversation with it; it’s both tribute to the play and a moving story of its own." — Seattle Times
"Patchett is a consummate storyteller whose fluid, naturalistic writing style makes reading her novels an effortless journey….Tom Lake does not disappoint."
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Ahh…Ann Patchett has a new read and we couldn’t be happier….It’s cozy, and feel-good, and we recommend reading with a bowl of cherries.” — The Skimm
"This rich and subtle tale is infused with insight into love, loss and the power of making the right decisions." — Woman & Home (UK)
"Patchett celebrates not just the smallest events of our lives, but “small” lives themselves." — Financial Times
"A new Ann Patchett novel is always cause for celebration... and Tom lake could be one of her best." — inews
“Patchett masterfully weaves an evocative story of love, hope, and familial bonds, offering a profound meditation on finding happiness amid life’s uncertainties.” — BookBub
“[This] quiet novel awakens gratitude for life’s lessons.” — Christian Science Monitor
About the Author
Ann Patchett is the author of novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, works of nonfiction, and children's books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner, the Women's Prize in the UK, and the Book Sense Book of the Year. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. President Biden awarded her the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is the owner of Parnassus Books.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Large Print; Large type / Large print edition (August 1, 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0063347725
- ISBN-13 : 978-0063347724
- Item Weight : 15 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.05 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #13,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #431 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)
- #553 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #1,507 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Ann Patchett is the author of six novels, including Bel Canto, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She writes for the New York Times Magazine, Elle, GQ, the Financial Times, the Paris Review and Vogue. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Lara is telling her three twenty-something daughters about her short stint as an actress in her twenties, and the brief romantic affair with Peter Duke, a famous movie star before he was a famous movie star. The gorgeous cherry farm backdrop is like a staid but vivid character, with Lara, husband Joe, and the three girls all together for the first time in a while. Due to the pandemic, they don’t have the usual crew to help pick the fruit, so the storytelling unfolds as the family works the orchard during harvest time. Like the cherries, some parts are sweet, some tart, and all of it is juicy.
I felt the air, inhaled the scents, the cherries, the land and the whole layout of the farm while reading. And there is the kindness, too, of this family, whose flaws are also part of their strengths. The chaos of Lara’s life as a young woman is juxtaposed with the serenity of her life now, and the two timelines fluidly alternate, sometimes gently, at other times with piercing intensity. And every storyline has at least two. So, when you read about Lara in the past, or present, you just can’t help sniffing around to see the connections, of what surprise is crouched in the corner or hidden behind the door. I verily slipped into Lara’s character and imagined what decisions I would make as her, given so many pressing options and dilemmas.
Ann Patchett nails it every time, her characters are complex and her graceful pace is measured even when events are brutal. Lara is a radiant work-in-progress during her young years, many readers will see themselves in her. I was a local stage actor in Austin during my twenties, so I immersed myself in Tom Lake, pretending to be Lara acting as Emily Gibbs and then back to Lara again. The two timelines showed the difference between the fiery summer love of youth and the deep, tender, and mature love of family that you helped to create. The high points were explosive, even when they were pin-drop quiet. Lara’s low points stirred me almost to tears; I could feel her pulse against mine.
If you’ve never seen a production or haven’t read Our Town, you’re about to get a spoiler’s worth in the novel. But I think Ms. Patchett has surmised that most of her readers are already familiar with Thornton Wilder’s play. She coalesced Our Town and Tom Lake together in a way that reveals her refined skill of integration. Tom Lake and Our Town were separate but conjoined. I know that doesn’t make sense, but it will when you read the book. She also quotes Chekhov at pique (and even peak) intervals; she shares the Russian writer’s work with spare but specific devotion.
I recently learned that Patchett has never owned a smart phone, and doesn’t herself do social media (she talks to the camera and her staff completes the rest). She has never used Google, or researched on Wiki—she does it the old-fashioned way. And perhaps she’s that slightly eccentric but lovely gentlewoman you see carrying paper road maps!
Tom Lake is thoughtful, deft, and life-affirming. (It isn’t a pandemic novel, even though it takes place during that time). There’s comedy, tragedy, drama—a look-back-at-your- own-life kind of book. It’s classic Ann Patchett.
There’s this passage that really tickled me from the book. It’s toward the end but not a spoiler, it’s thematic with the rest of the narrative. Lara was so busy recounting the past for her daughters that she forgot to make lunch, which she said she should have been working on while talking. “The past need not be so all-encompassing that it renders us incapable of making egg salad.” Priorities!
This was a beautiful little story, and it was all the more beautiful thanks to Meryl Streep’s narration!
Read this for:
🍒 a multidimensional story within a story
🌸 lovely prose, family dynamics, a love letter to a simple life, to small moments
☀️ quiet, sweet, soft, slow homage to Our Town
Lara’s three adult daughters are back home on the cherry orchard (thanks to the pandemic), and this book follows Lara as she recounts the time when she was (briefly) pursuing an acting career, and the summer when she dated someone who would become a known movie star.
Through time jumps, this novel takes on an expertly woven tale of Lara’s life, and how she tells her story to her three daughters. It’s full of joy, beauty, and cherries.
If you like to listen to books- give this one a listen 🍒
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024
This was a beautiful little story, and it was all the more beautiful thanks to Meryl Streep’s narration!
Read this for:
🍒 a multidimensional story within a story
🌸 lovely prose, family dynamics, a love letter to a simple life, to small moments
☀️ quiet, sweet, soft, slow homage to Our Town
Lara’s three adult daughters are back home on the cherry orchard (thanks to the pandemic), and this book follows Lara as she recounts the time when she was (briefly) pursuing an acting career, and the summer when she dated someone who would become a known movie star.
Through time jumps, this novel takes on an expertly woven tale of Lara’s life, and how she tells her story to her three daughters. It’s full of joy, beauty, and cherries.
If you like to listen to books- give this one a listen 🍒
All in all, Patchett’s writing is superb as always. Her way with words and her development of character is in a style all her own. If you love her writing give this book a go, but if you e never read Patchett before maybe try one of her other books first.
To me the interesting part is that her daughters are shocked by the pain in her memories, but neither she nor her husband (who is part of the past too) feel pain from the memories. They're in their late 50s, early 60s, so they're not affected in the same way in the recent years after the events. It's a really well done contrast between youth and late middle age. The girls don't quite understand a whole life has happened between the past story, and the current situation being on the family farm during Covid.
There is no big action in the book and sometimes the dialogue is almost too Romantic/not realistic, but it works beautifully.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Mexico on January 19, 2024
Told to her daughters during a Covid cherry picking summer.
Loved this book, the feel, family love, the ending. If I could have staved off sleep for the book’s duration, I’d have read it in one sitting.
Gripping although it is in the end a storyteller‘s story of telling a story:)
Loved it.