Cultural Dessert

'Tom Lake' by Ann Patchett

17 October 2024

I’ve never seen Thornton Wilder’s play ‘Our Town’ but I was aware of its ubiquitous status among repertory and community theatre groups across the USA. Ann Patchett’s latest novel ‘Tom Lake’ focuses on a production of ‘Our Town’ in which the actors seem increasingly confused with their characters. I was looking forward to ‘Tom Lake’, having enjoyed Patchett’s earlier books 'Bel Canto' (reviewed here in December 2023), 'State of Wonder' (reviewed here in January 2024) and ‘Run’ (reviewed here in June 2024). Not content with its allusions to ‘Our Town’, ‘Tom Lake’ features three sisters marooned with their parents, during the Covid-19 pandemic, in the family cherry orchard - creating a number of Chekhovian references. Ann Patchett uses lockdown as the excuse for a clever narrative structure in which Lara is finally telling her grown-up daughters the full story of her brief acting career and her relationship with a man who would go on to become a famous movie star. All of this happened before Lara married the girls’ father but, as in any family, the children have probably been told some of the story at an age when they didn’t fully understand or remember it. Their enforced family time during lockdown finally provides the opportunity to unpick the details of their mother’s youth - or as much as she decides to reveal to them. It’s a beautifully written and meticulously constructed novel, with its revelations carefully timed.

Labels: Books

posted by Robin Simpson @ 9:16 am