Tom Lake

"This was a beautiful story. I give it 4 1/2 stars. I love how it started out and was consumed through the whole journey. "

"A story for her daughters, Lara relives her early life as an actress. "

"I loved this book! A heartwarming love story as told by a mother to her three girls about how she met and fell in love with their father. The audiobook was outstandingly performed by Meryl Streep. I loved it!"

"A sweet and gentle book told through memories and flashbacks. Lara regales her three grown daughters with stories about playing Emily in Our Town 20+ years earlier, falling in love with a fellow actor who later became a big star and later getting married to a cherry farmer. The story meanders along its way, its winsomeness steadily losing ground to a degree of sameness as Lara tries to convince her daughters (and maybe herself) that she loves the way her cherry-picking life turned out. I hoped Lara’s story would amount to something, but it did not. I listened to Meryl Streep’s narration on audio, at times feeling excited and other times lulled to sleep."

"(4.5 stars) This was my first experience with Ann Patchett, and I read this one for two main reasons: my mom recommended it, and it was blowing up on Goodreads. I got in line for the audiobook months ago and it finally came in. Patchett has beautiful prose and I felt instantly comfortable with the novel because of it. You get latched into how REAL everything feels. She writes fiction that feels like it's non-fiction. Lara is such a beautiful human being and seeing how I'm a big horror reader, it's been a while since I've read a MC that has so much joy and love in them. I can see how some of the major themes of this novel applied directly to my mom, it's huge on family. what makes a person happy, and making a life that you want to live. (Shes very similar to Lara) Some of this wasn't as directly correlated to me being a young adult man, and so went over my head a little, which is why this isn't a perfect five stars for me. I still had a blast, learned a thing or two, and enjoyed the theme of acting having experience myself. The scene at the end of the novel is devastating and is glossed over a little, but that's not a critique. Me and my mom talked about it and as she said, "the way Lara retells it to herself is the most realistic thing in the novel." Horrible things happen, sometimes by people we love, and life goes on. Time heals a great deal. That part of the book is what I'll remember in 20 years I can already tell. Excellent read, one that deserves all of the hype that money can buy."

"I read this for book club, and I actually really enjoyed it. The look at behind the scenes of the film and theater worlds was so interesting, as well as following the trajectory the main character’s life takes. There was a bit of an odd revelation in the third act, but it really was an enjoyable read. "

"Well worth the hype. 👍"

"This is the first novel I read from Ann and I have to share that I enjoy it. I am trying to get used to reading more novels this upcoming year and I thought it was a great idea to finish this year with this one, I am looking forward to reading more novels later on. Tom Lakes is a novel about Peter Duke a famous actor Lara met before he became famous. The book is Lara’s POV telling her three daughters about herself and how she met Duke and fell in love with him when they were young. The story is good and entertaining, and the characters are great. I like that Lara was able to come out of the heartbreaks, and the obstacles life kept putting her way and gave herself the chance to do better and create a life and a family she loves. 3 stars, because I found myself bored in some chapters, and by the end of the book I wasn't as invested. I don't think I'll be reading more novels by Ann Patchett for now. "

"Michigan "

"Lovely story of youth and love"