Tom Lake By Ann Patchett Published 2023, 320 pages
What a heartwarming story this one is, heartwarming but not chirpy, with characters and a family life that are entirely believable and convincing. It is a third person narrative, related by an omniscient observer from the point of view of the heroine, Lara Nelson. Lara, aged 57, has a happy marriage (how often do you find that in a contemporary novel?) and three grown daughters. Being isolated on their cherry farm in what must be the COVID epidemic, the three daughters cajole their reluctant mother into telling the story of her youthful affair with a young man who turned out to be the most famous actor of his generation. The girls have seen all his movies, and they idolize him; one of them fantasizes that he is her father.
All of Patchett’s novels are noteworthy, but somehow this one touches the heart in a unique way. It isn’t a long book; it moves rapidly but smoothly from the present to the past and back again many times–a technique used often these days though also often resulting in a choppy and even confusing sequence of events. Not so with Tom Lake; its chronology is clear. Patchett is a skillful writer in every way, but most noticeably with dialogue. Her characters talk like we do – perhaps with more wit and snap, but still within our reach.
Tom Lake is not a person but a summer theater company in rural Michigan. The bucolic setting in which the novel is set contrasts sharply with the chaotic activity among the members of the theater company, which include both Lara and Duke. Duke, the aspiring and enormously gifted young actor, leads a frenetic and hyper-active kind of life, which appeals to Lara, at this stage still an innocent who hails from rural New Hampshire. As Lara tells the story of her brief fling with Duke, the reader senses a shadow beneath the narrative, a mysterious “something” which keeps surfacing in her thoughts but is never revealed to her family.
There are other interesting characters to meet as well: Sebastian, Duke’s brother; Pallace, an understudy in the theater company; Joe, who represents the best of humanity; and several other lesser but also relevant individuals, generally positive influences. The plot is dominated by Thornton Wilder’s classic play, Our Town, which nearly every reader of the Observer has seen at least once. It has been a staple for high school drama groups for generations. Lara’s stunted acting career begins and ends with the role of Emily in Our Town.
There’s lots to learn in this novel, about resilience, about families, about loyalty and tradition – and also, believe it or not, about cherry farming. But the happy thing is, the reader is not required to suffer excessively in the process. What a lovely combination of attributes!