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Tom Lake

3.5(73)
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About the book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICKIn 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 GuardianIn 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.

Editions (11)

ISBN9780063327535
PublisherHarperCollins
Publication Date04/01/25
Pages320

Reviews & Ratings

73 ratings

17 reviews

3.5

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  • miri_kiri
    miri_kiri

    12 Followers

    4.5

    There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you'd never be able to let go? Now you're not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else.

    Eine wunderschöne Geschichte über das Leben, Erinnerungen und was wirklich zählt. Das einzige was mich gestört hat, war der Bezug zu Covid - irgendwie finde ich Bücher, die während der Pandemie spielen, etwas befremdlich.

    Mar 28, 2026

  • corsakfan
    corsakfan

    23 Followers

    3.0

    This book is filled with nostalgia and not much else. Nostalgia isn't a bad thing, but I think relooping to the past constantly can be a dangerous trap to fall into for fictional and real people. Lara's recounts are interrupted by Joe/their three daughters, which makes sense given the COVID timestamp we're set it with the story, but the back-and-forth takes a while to get through. It's not bad, it's just not good enough for me to really like, either. Everything feels like it's either said to be reacted to or someone is leaving something unsaid to gauge a reaction. Not my speed, but your mileage may vary. "I want to tell her she will never be hurt, that everything will be fair, and that I will always, always be there to protect her. No one sees us but the swallows looming overhead."

    Jan 1, 2026

  • buecherteich
    buecherteich

    21 Followers

    5.0

    Definitiv eines meiner Jahreshighlights!

    Die Geschichte wird aus der Sicht von Lara erzählt. Dank der Pandemie sind ihre drei Töchter wieder zu Hause auf Farm der Familie. Um sich die Tage beim Kirschenpflücken zu vertreiben, bitten sie ihre Mutter, ihnen von ihrer kurzen Schauspielerkarriere und ihrer Romanze mit dem inzwischen berühmten Schauspieler Peter Duke zu erzählen. Die Geschichte ist gleichzeitig leicht und tiefgründig. Es geht um die Familie, die erste junge Liebe, Lebensentscheidungen und die Vergangenheit & Gegenwart. Und auch darum wie wir unsere Geschichte erzählen. Es ist eine Ode an das Leben selbst und die Entscheidungen die man im Leben trifft. Es ist ein relativ ruhiger und langsamer Roman mit tollen und durchdachten Charakteren. Der Schreibstil ist wunderschön. Er wechselt nahtlos zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, was hier wirklich gut gelingt und kein bisschen stört. Ich habe wirklich jeden Moment dieser Geschichte genossen und für mich gehört es definitiv zu meinen Jahreshighlights!

    Aug 25, 2023

3 of 17 reviews

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