Rachel Reviews: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

My subheading tells you a lot about what this book is about and yet, it's so much more than just a woman telling her three girls about a fling with some now famous actor. It is about family and belonging and desire and ambition and the heady days of summer and freedom and choosing the path and the people that are right for you.

I went into this book a little skeptically as I've read Ann Patchett before and whilst I enjoyed the book, The Dutch House, I wasn't amazed by it - it was alright. The only reason that I read this is because of Vocal's Book Club and when I couldn't keep to the deadline, my reading of it languished until now.

But I decided to pick it up again and I'm really glad I did. It was a great book and if I try to put my finger on why, I think that it is partly due to its subject matter and the way that Patchett has the story unfold. But if I'm honest, the reason that it appealed to me so much was that it resonated with me on some sort of subconscious level that only the best books can - they reach inside you and identify something about yourself or bring your mind back to an experience or punch an emotion from you. There's just something about a good book which makes its reading personal and that can be for any number of reasons. Not that I've ever dated a movie star...

The story is told by Lara and starts with her being part of a production of "Our Town" in a high school in New Hampshire. She doesn't know this at the time but she is destined to play the role of Emily in the play and this is the first step on a path which leads her to Peter Duke and the affair around which the story of the book is centred.

But it's not just about some long ago fling with a now famous movie star. It's about family and the dynamics between siblings, both on the cherry farm where Lara now lives with her daughters and her husband, Joe and also between Peter Duke and his brother, Sebastian. It's about being at peace with yourself and knowing what you need to make yourself happy and whether or not you have the courage to do that in the face of everything else which is being offered to you. It's about treating people well despite your own urges. It's about coming home and knowing where that home is.

It starts slowly but it builds and there is drama which is brought to the forefront by degrees as the story progresses. But and this is interesting to note, there are also significant life moments which Patchett casually drops into the text, almost like asides, shocking in their content and their ability to shape the individuals involved. In some ways, I found these intriguing, in what they reveal which is quite considerable, without much time to dwell on them at all.

Really, a very good book.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ but a high 4