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Tom Lake by Ann Patchett Discussion/Spoilers
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Thanks for the links to the interviews, Barb. My sister taught French and German at the Interlochen Academy for 25 years, so I asked if she knew Erin Whiting. Turns out she had her as a student, so I sent her the interview link.It's been almost a year since I read Tom Lake for the first time, so I picked up a copy at the library today to refresh my memory. I'm looking forward to the discussion and will try to participate once I've had a chance to review the book again.
I loved the story. The love in that family was an inspiration that made me happy to keep listening to the story. It is rare to have a story of love that is not sappy like romance novels usually are.
Like Lynn, I read Tom Lake quite a while ago, and haven’t reread. I’ll hang in here to see the discussion, though.
Barb, thanks for the interviews. I look forward to reading the Erin Whiting interview. I had already listened to the NYT book Review Podcast. Patchett is really personable and down to earth. She's fun to listen to.I read TOM LAKE late last year. Then my interest was piqued again when I read OUR TOWN on Classics Corner. I heard Ann Patchett say how much she loved the play and how she read it every year. I got another copy of TOM LAKE to refresh my memory and look for the influences of the play itself. I soon found myself hooked again and ended up rereading the whole book in its entirety.
Obviously, I really liked this book. As others have mentioned, it was nice to read about a family that really loved each other. Sometimes I think that modern literary fiction has way too much tragedy.
My daughter-in-law did not like this book nearly as well as I did. I wonder if some of the appeal for older readers is that Lara does a kind of life review - something we tend to do more as we age. I could relate to that.
Lara looks back on her younger self and judges her talent quite harshly, but is pretty forgiving about the other people at Tom Lake. She feels so lucky about how her life turned out - even though it was not at all what she had anticipated.
I did have a couple of questions for other readers. In two places, Lara said the Stage Manager in Our Town represented God. That struck me because that thought hadn't occurred to me. How about the rest of you? Do you agree with Lara?
I also questioned why Lara made herself so sexually available to Duke at the mental institution. Plausible of not?
I enjoy Ann Patchett, but always there seems to be something implausible in each of her novels. Is it just me? I also questioned why Lara would be so compliant when she visited Duke while he was in treatment. Was her self-esteem that low?
Here's my Goodreads review of Tom Lake:Ann Patchett's writing is the opposite of flashy. It flows and seems simple, and the people and settings feel real. The artistic crafting and expert layering of the story she tells reveal themselves only in retrospect. I think my favorite thing about her writing is that she somehow makes room for all the moments and people in life to matter.
I enjoyed the novel. I liked that it was about happiness, both in Lara's (Laura's) early life (20s) and in her later life. I also liked that the ultimate happiness in Lara's life was not even something that she knew she wanted early on. “Ask that girl who left Tom Lake what she wanted out of life and she would never in a million years have said the … farm in Traverse City, Michigan, but as it turned out, it was all she wanted.” (p. 253)
I am so happy to have read Our Town with Constant Reader right before reading Tom Lake. I think it greatly enriched the reading experience having the play fresh on my mind. I cannot imagine reading the novel without being familiar with the play. I also appreciate the play even more now, after reading the novel.
I kept thinking while reading the novel that Lara essentially fulfilled many of the Our Town characters' lives and dreams, having children without dying (i.e., Emily in Our Town) and traveling all over the place, albeit not to Paris (Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town). And then Ann Patchett managed to work in so many other characters. For example, Uncle Wallace the drunk is reminiscent of Simon Stimson in the play, an otherwise normal person with a bad drinking problem, and like in the play where nobody does anything to help him, Lara regrets not having done more in the novel.
I was taken back by Lara's willingess to have sex with Peter Duke in the bathroom at rehab. On the other hand, it kind of seemed like the "rock bottom" part of the relationship, as if it was almost a necessary and final degradation (after not even being listed by her actual name on the vistor's list) so that she could finally move on from him.
I really enjoyed this book too. It just flowed from beginning to end for me. I think it may be one of the best multi-generational family stories I’ve ever read. There are so many that focus primarily on negative relationships, toxic parenting, etc, but here we see five adults who care about each other and are interested in their past and future. I agree that Lara “submitting” to Duke’s rather pathetic request/demand for sex in the bathroom at the mental health hospital struck me as wrong. Why she did it after considering leaving puzzled me. Perhaps, as Justin said, this was something she knew would be the last she would see of him. I guess it serves to let us see how deeply in thrall to him she had been. And, of course, He, the famous actor, had called Her.
I have been an Ann Patchett "fan-girl" for some time, and I truly loved this book. As mentioned elsewhere, I have had trouble concentrating on reading since my husband died in Sept. But listening to the voice of Meryl Streep narrate the audiobook was exactly what I needed to put balm on my aches. Even though Our Town is featured so prominently, I was able to read Tom Lake without deeply considering the difficult issues of life and death that Our Town presents. But after seeing the Patchett interviews I realize that I probably should reread Tom Lake more deeply.Here's a bit of irony: my in person book club loved Tom Lake. But one person reported on another book club that hated Tom Lake because "nothing happens". That reaction aligns with some of the early criticism of Our Town.
I think Duke's demand for sex at the treatment facility was the ultimate degradation for Lara and helped make her a stronger woman with her values more clearly defined.
I am glad to see everyone's comments. Justin, good catch about Uncle Wallace and Simon Stimson. And, while I am thinking about Uncle Wallace, that scene of he and Lara holding hands before going on stage has stayed with me. It's even more poignant given his death soon after. My first impression was that, even after all of his experience, he still had the same anxiety pre-performance. But, after what happened with his collapse on stage, it felt more like he was trying to get as much strength as possible to make it to the end of the play.Also, I've been thinking about Peter Duke all day. He is a pretty complex character. Lara seemed to have played Emily so well because, to some extent, she was Emily, and she had the good sense to realize that. Peter Duke could play anyone but he paid a stiff price for that. He had to completely immerse himself in each character to the extent that he lost himself. He also lost the ability to commit himself to any relationship, other than the ones on film. That scene in the film that everyone watched in the fields in which he seemed to actually be taking crack cocaine on film to portray the character doing it was chilling. Drinking tequila to play a role in summer stock was one thing, but this went to a whole new dangerous level. Do you think that his loss of self was the ultimate reason for his suicide?
One other thing about the sex scene at the treatment facility, I didn't think Duke was demanding it, he just assumed that she would give it. The fact that he was looking at himself in the mirror throughout made it even worse.
Patchett's novel resonated deeply with me, as I'm sure it did with many others. I was particularly struck by her adept handling of intricate themes such as family dynamics, youth, and love. What amazed me most was the seamless balance she achieved between the profound depth of her narrative and the effortless flow of her prose.The stark contrast between Lara's adventurous and carefree youth and the more cautious approach to life taken by her daughters struck me deeply. It served as a poignant reflection on how societal norms and values evolve over time, though I'm still pondering whether these changes are ultimately beneficial or detrimental.
Ethan, I noticed and thought about that too. I’m a generation older than Lara’s character and I think there is a definite cultural or social difference between the generations and how they approach certain relationships and how they are planning their lives. Definitely between mother and daughters here. Actually I can’t imagine Lara encouraging her daughters to follow the route she did. Mary Ann, I laughed when I read your comment about the readers who disliked Tom Lake because “nothing happened.” Many of my absolute favorite books can be described that way.
This was such a relaxing, low-key read; I really enjoyed it. Although I agree it was refreshing to read a novel in which members of a family actually loved each other, the "present day" life of the Nelson family was almost too idyllic. OTOH, there were a few references to the work everyone else was doing to keep Emily from going off the rails. So, it was a hard-won idyll!
When I read the account of Lara's last meeting with Peter Duke, I got annoyed with her: annoyed that she went, annoyed that she stayed in the bathroom to service him; it seemed the last passive straw that was breaking the back of my patience for Lara's passivity.
Her decision to try out for Emily in high school was the last major decision she made until, perhaps, she decided to join forces with Joe. (Even her move to New York kind of fell into her lap, right?)
I think one reason it was easier for her to be "carefree" than for her daughters was that good fortune followed her, helping her pick up the pieces after each loss: the parents who seem to have abandoned her (though she portrays this as no big deal); the discovery of her limits as an actress; the rend of her relationship with Duke; the death of her grandmother.
Perhaps because of my age (boomer here!), Emily's announcement that she (and her fiancé - can't remember his name & too lazy to look it up!) do not plan to have children because of climate change seemed to drop out of another book. Why do you think Ann Patchett put it in? To highlight generational difference? To compensate for the sunny view of a pandemic that was killing millions while Lara recounted her story?
Mary Ellen, I believe it was included because it reflects a genuine dialogue occurring among millennials and our parents. The once bright outlook for the future has dimmed significantly. Employment opportunities are sparse, owning a home feels nearly unattainable, and the looming specter of climate change poses a tangible threat to our existence. When compounded with the challenges brought by the pandemic, contemplating the idea of welcoming another generation into this world can be daunting.
Patchett herself chose not to have children, and this may have been influenced this part of her plot. I think Ethan is also correct that young people are discussing this choice more. At one point, my son told me he really questioned whether he should bring children into this disturbing world. Fortunately for us, he got married and changed his mind.
Mary Ellen, good observations on Lara's passivity. I could understand it when she first came to Tom Lake and was so overpowered by Duke's magnetism and charm. For a brief time, these were very happy days for her.
However, I still have problems with the sex scene at the mental institution. She knew what was coming when she went to the restroom, and even took off her tights. Sue suggested that her self-esteem must have been very low at that point, and others said that this degrading experience at least finally freed her from all ties to Duke. Good observations.
I think Patchett establishes early in the book that Lara was a bright girl with skills but, while her friends seemed to know what they wanted to do in life, she didn't. Part of that might have been that the choices for women were limited. Then, after making the choice to try out for Emily originally, everything else kind of fell together until she left Tom Lake and she took advantage of it. But, after Tom Lake and after her grandmother died, I was impressed by how she supported herself in New York City. And, that process of getting to Duke's treatment facility was impressive. One of the best things she did was her choice of Joe as her ultimate life partner. So, all in all, I didn't think of her as passive except in her decision to have sex with Duke in that last scene. I wonder if that was because she had loved him at Tom Lake and was trying to get back to that feeling. I do think that Patchett meant that to effectively kill it though.My oldest son and his wife have two little boys who are full of life and joy. However, both of them have mentioned to me that they wonder if they made the right choice in having them because of climate change. I think it's a common concern among young people.
Also, I think it was part of the whole understanding of the dynamics of running a farm. I grew up around farmers and know a number of them now. The majority of farmers' kids leave to do something else. Joe and Lara were so happy about Emily and Benny (is that the right name?) taking over the farm and they saw the generational history continuing. But, with that decision, it won't.
Barbara, I was thinking that part of Lara was glad to have been singled out for a call from Duke (though she really didn’t know the circumstances involved or motive). I think there probably was still some love left but, as you said, Duke killed it. Maybe that’s the only way her infatuation would have died.When I listen to my 30 something nieces and nephews talk, some are quite down about the future. Not constantly but consistently. I’ve also noticed that their children are more and more often plagued with odd health issues some of which are related to the environment and others to past pollution. Scary times for us all.
When my in person book club discussed this book, one member had read the other play that was being performed along with Our Town, Fool for Love, written by Sam Shepard. Could you get two such completely different plays in the same venue? The latter play involves sex, incest, violence, lots of yelling among family members, etc. It make me wonder why Patchett chose it to play alongside of Our Town. Was she trying to say that this, too is part of the human condition? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool_fo...
One thought off the top of my head, Mary Ann, is that the contrast between the plays revealed to Lara the limits of her acting skills; she could play Emily or perhaps “be” Emily but she couldn’t push beyond into that other territory. Or rather, she couldn’t pull it out of herself.As for why Patchett would select the play itself, I’ll have to think a bit more about that.
I hadn’t even thought much about the other play. That idea certainly makes sense, Sue. When I read this book several months ago, I was left wondering whether Lara's daughter Emily really was Duke's daughter. I reread, but felt Patchett wanted to leave that unclear. I'd like to hear what the rest of you think.
Also, there's the supreme irony of Duke’s burial in the Nelson family cemetery. As Lara said, it had nothing to do with her. It was all about the farm.
Duke was a convoluted character. It seems he had contradictory impulses. How would we describe him?
Shirley, not sure if I’m remembering correctly, and the book is back at the library now, but didn’t Lara mention something about having some sort of procedure not long after that last time she saw Duke? I think I just assumed she’d had an abortion. Hope I’m not making this up!
Sue, yes I read that passage too. It certainly seemed she did. But later I became unsure.
Ann, it hadn't occurred to me the impact of the author herself choosing not to have children. I'm curious about what influenced her decision, although I wouldn't want to intrude.I wish we could have delved more into Lara's husband's perspective. Despite being a significant presence in the story's history, he appears rather passive. I wonder how he feels about the prolonged recounting of his wife's past romance, especially since it unfolds in their home and involves their children.
Ethan, it was interesting to me that he brought it up in the first place. Also, he seemed a bit dazzled by Duke as well. Perhaps it was impossible not to be?
Ann Patchett discusses not having children in her essay collection, These Precious Days.
Sorry I have not been back in a while! Ethan & Ann D, I completely understand that Emily & Benny (?) expressed concerns that are not unusual for their generation. I just thought it was an odd note in a kind of idyllic, almost dreamy time, picking cherries, eating dinner and talking about Mom's first love.
(Earlier this week we caught about 1/2 hour of an early-21st-century PBS documentary on Love Canal. An earlier environmental crisis, completely human-made for the convenience of an American industry, and completely horrifying in its consequences. Cleaning up the environment was the focus in the latter 20th century and still needed!)
I often wondered what Joe was thinking about while doing chores - and hiding out - in that barn!
As I ponder Lara's role as the main character, my certainty about her diminishes. She appears remarkably passive throughout the story. While she recounts her past experiences, there's a sense of detachment present. Lara seems to drift along, going with the flow. She ventures into acting almost casually, finding some success but lacking a genuine passion for it. This passive demeanor extends to her romantic relationships, where she seems to lack deep emotional investment. Overall, I question whether Lara truly wielded an active voice in her own life or if she simply coasted through, allowing circumstances to dictate her path. Perhaps that also helps to answer the questions about why Patchett includes the part about Emily not wanting children. In contrast to her mother, she's taken her future into her own hands.
I did not like this book as much as I thought I would. Patchett is a fine writer so this surprised me. I thought it was uneven. It did not become interesting until about half way through. The characters were not that compelling and the story rather unbelievable. It was wonderful that Lara’s daughters were able to come home during the covid epidemic to help with the cherry harvest. But I could not believe that she would spend so much time answering their questions about her early acting career with an account of her love affair with the handsome, charming and very talented actor, Peter Duke, who eventually did become a big star. Finally, although not revealed to her daughters, was her final “tryst” with him in a bathroom at his treatment facility several years after their affair ended. As another reader wondered, where was Lara’s husband Joe as all these little talks were taking place? Michigan is a beautiful state but this was a strange story.
Ethan, your points about Lara's passivity seem to hit the mark. Like Emily, she is smart, but there's not much depth to her. She is smart enough to know that she doesn't have the acting skills to take on tougher acting roles, but willingly keeps her - and our - blinders on when she realizes that Pallace will take over the role of Mae in Fool for Love. She knows the script. Why wouldn't the reality of Pallace and Duke having sex occur to her prior to opening night? Unlike many readers, I did not feel any surprise by Lara & Duke's hook up at the mental hospital. Actually, I am surprised that anyone would be surprised. First of all, would anyone be surprised if the gender roles were reversed, and the male character visiting the female would want to have sex? I think not. Second, during that summer stock time, the lust was practically leaping off of the page. Both Lara and Duke can barely wait until rehearsal was over so they could rip off their constumes, jump in the lake, then have wet sex in her room. Then Patchett builds a wholesome home life on the cherry farm for Lara, Joe and their adult daughters. Perhaps when Lara knew that it was over we believed that the sex ended for Lara at Tom Lake?
In Our Town, Emily begs for and is given another day with the mortals, but it doesn't turn out to make her feel better. Years after the Tom Lake summer, Lara is contacted by Duke who begs her to visit him in the hospital. She knows that it is a mental hospital, but she is vague on the details, so she goes. She has a lousy job in NY and Joe is not yet on the scene. She is bored and a "fool for love". She is given the opportunity to relive an exciting day from her past and has to take it. It is when she gets there, she is trapped in the glass entry, and patients are making obscene gestures to her that she is truly trapped.
Duke also tries to relive a day from his past when he shows up at the Nelson farm unannounced and finds Lara and family holding down the farm. He keeps thinking about the one day during the Tom Lake summer when Lara, Pallace, Sabastian and Duke came to the farm. Duke can't stop thinking about how wonderful that day was and wants to buy a Michigan farm with a cherry orchard. They each try to relive their past but cannot.
One thing Patchett pulls off nicely is depicting the differences between the daughters. They are each distinctive characters. I love that Nell, the would be actress, is the "mentalist" and guesses important facts before the others. But it is curious that there are other people, such as Lara's parents and her brothers, neighbors, who we never get to meet. Patchett deems them unimportant to the story and that is that.
I found this reference to Our Town on p, 253, following a storm: I walk out past the kitchen garden. The lettuce and tomato plants and zinnias are already straightening up from the beating they've taken. Those tiny periwinkle butterflies are working their rounds. Where do the periwinkles go in rain like that? It's not that I am unaware of the suffering and the soon-to-be-more suffering in the world, it's that I know the suffering exists beside wet grass and a bright blue sky recently scrubbed by rain. The beauty and the suffering are equally true. Our Town taught me that. I had memorized the lessons before I understood what they meant. No matter how many years ago I'd stopped playing Emily, she is still here. All of Grover's Corners is in me.
Mary Anne, I just checked my copy of the book and found that I had underlined the very passage you quoted. Liked it a lot. As to Duke and Lara, I never saw love: Lara was star struck but Duke was focused on himself. It surprised me that Lara eventually saw Joe as the person she wanted, and how conveniently he materialized, certainly for the better. After all, what is happiness? Which makes the incident in the bathroom all the more puzzling to me. If it just another hook-up to Duke, what was it to Lara?
Was she paying dues in some way? I think the infatuation may have still existed since she never got a chance to really grow angry or irate about her losses. Or say goodbye. She couldn’t be part of either the end of Our Town or the beginning of Fool for Love, even if by some miracle she’d been the better actor. So she had no way to end her “summer fling” well or badly. I also don’t think she had grown enough emotionally until the very end to realize it was a summer fling. As for where Joe was when the stories were being told, as I recall he made a point of leaving for the barn office if he happened to be around the trees where Lara and their daughters were picking cherries. Occasionally he joined in during later conversations or in the evening. My interpretation of the situation is that the daughters had known that their parents, and especially their mother, had known Peter Duke a long time ago and that they learned this while watching Duke’s “family” movies when they were young. It felt to me like knowledge they grew up with. Now, as adults, they wanted more details.
The daughters had a wonderful father in Joe. I had a hard time accepting that one of them would want to believe that Duke was her father.
I imagine Emily was probably star struck seeing him in movies when she was young. Kids do fantasize about their families including the old story of being the adopted child out of all the children but never told. And it seemed that the girls knew as children that their mother knew Duke.
Ethan, thanks for your comment, both on Lara's passivity and her detachment on telling her story. Several times she mentions that she is doing some mental editing - some things she just won't share with her daughters - and I wonder if that is the reason she sounds so removed, almost as if she is telling a tale of someone of whom she is fond, someone she used to know a long time ago. Which, of course, is who our past selves are! Katy, I agree that I did not enjoy this as much as I hoped. I am not a fan of audio books, but hearing Meryl Streep tell this tale probably made for a richer experience.
Mary Ellen, I just finished listening to Meryl Streep’s narration and I agree it “made for a richer experience”. In many ways, I think it made me like the book more than I would have if I’d turned pages or listened to another narrator.
Just a couple of thoughts to add to the discussion…I’ve now read through these comments as well as those in the Our Town discussion. Last night I watched the 1940 movie and this weekend I’ll make time to see the Paul Newman performance. It struck me that what we see as Lara’s detached accounting of her early life story to her adult children is very similar in tone to that of the Stage Manager’s tone in Our Town. It also struck me that the plot of Tom Lake mirrors the acts of Our Town: Daily Life, Love and Marriage, Death and Eternity. And, of course, the rural/small town setting of their farm mirrors Grover’s Corners.
Mary, thanks for your response! Some day I may try Meryl!I should go back to Our Town; that, too, must make reading Tom Lake a richer experience.
Finally got to this wonderful book!Tom Lake – Ann Patchett – 5*****
This character-driven story set during the COVID pandemic is the kind of literary fiction that I love. I was completely captured by this tale about love - the reckless abandon of youth, the quiet strength of long-term relationships, the fierce protection of a parent for a child. I loved the relationships between the Nelson family members. Their solid foundation of love and respect gives them the grace to open their hearts to others, which is so beautifully shown in the ending.
LINK to my full review
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it too, BC.
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There are two interviews with Ann Patchett that I would recommend. The first one was conducted in Traverse City. The interviewer is Erin Whiting, a long time friend of Patchett's who grew up on a cherry farm there, studied acting at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and founded a professional theater company. As you can imagine, Whiting was a source for a lot of the research that went into this book. In addition to her own experiences, she introduced Patchett to another cherry farming family in Michigan. I've lived in Michigan since 1969 so I was on the lookout for errors, but I didn't find any. This is the link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3LYc... You can fast forward through the National Writers Series introduction at the beginning and also many of the audience questions at the end if you are only interested in this book. There's also a great interview with her from the New York Times Book Review podcast. You can sign up for a free account to hear it at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/bo....
There's lots to talk about here, but I'll start with a quote from Patchett from one of the interviews:
"Dystopian fiction has been done. We have a lot of that. But books in which the character loves their life and family? We don't have much of that in literary fiction." What are your thoughts about that?