Karen's Reviews > Tom Lake

So, here I am...

Today, is May 29, 2024. It is about 6 months later since I originally posted this review. This book has been haunting me. Has that ever happened to you? Where you read a book, and you thought you loved it, and it comes back (well, it was donated to my Little Free Library Shed), and I looked at it again, and I said to myself, you weren't honest about this book originally were you? And I said, "what do you mean?" And, I said, "You didn't like it as much as you said you did, did you?"

Well, at the time, I let it go. But now 6 months later, looking at it again, I realized, I couldn't. My guilty self really didn't like it as much as I thought I did. I will still keep my original review here, but I thought I would mention it in this intro paragraph, for anyone who happens to visit... I will also be readjusting my bookshelves to reflect the change.

Review...

We are experiencing the spring of 2020, the start of the Covid-19 lockdown with Lara, now 57. She is sheltering in place with her husband, Joe Nelson, and their 3 20-something daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell. With harvesters scarce, this opens the time up for Lara to tell her story about her brief career as an actor.

The highlight of her life as Emily Gibbs, the tragic heroine in “Our Town.”

The story is told in flashbacks.

And…It showcases Lara playing Emily in both high school and college in New Hampshire, with a brief detour to Hollywood, and then…

Summer stock at a theater company, the titular Tom Lake (hence: the title of the book), that happened to be near-ish the orchard.

At Tom Lake, Lara, who plays the character Emily, has eyes only for 28-year-old Peter Duke, another actor who played the father in the play.

He actually goes on to become a huge celebrity, a serious actor who eventually wins an Oscar, but also descends into addiction.

But… While at Tom Lake, Duke and Lara spend all their time together, rehearsing, having sex, or swimming in the lake.

Still…When the summer ends, so does everything else.

As mentioned, Duke is off to his successful Hollywood career.

Lara on the other hand quits acting, marries her cherry farmer, Joe, and becomes a mother.

Lara’s Emily grows convinced that Duke, was her actual father – so much so, that even readers are left in genuine suspense about whether it is possibly true, as well.

But…The larger theme is that it may not matter…

Children inherit the full range of our experience, as much as genetic traits.

This novel is folksy, cozy, domestic contentment.

When Nell laments the celebrity Lara could perhaps have been, she exclaims…

“Look at this! Look at the three of you! You think my life would have been better spent making commercials for lobster rolls?”

Each daughter is given their own personality. Emily – fiery; Maisie - sensible; and Nell - intuitive.

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, and their mother’s backstory, this book becomes a wistful meditation – a story of mothers and daughters. An opportunity for closure for Lara.

Maybe… Even an awakening of what is important to Lara – of what she is lucky to have – what any of us are lucky to have, in these circumstances.

Is this a peaceful existence? Is Lara really happy?

Or…Did she find a contentment, because that is what one settles for in life?

I understand that the audio version has Meryl Streep as the voice narrating. That must have been a real treat for readers of this book.

Added note... (5-29-24)

And perhaps that is what was missing for me...something was off. Would I have felt differently if I listened to Meryl Streep tell the story? I don't know. I don't care. But, for anyone who liked my original 5 stars, I am sorry if I am disappointing you now.

3.5 stars rounded down. I know. Sometimes re-visits aren't always nice.