Book Club: Tom Lake

Having migrated from Zoom sessions during those closeted days of Covid self-quarantine, The Directors gathered yesterday at a lunch locale for wine toasts, shared desserts and a book discussion.  While unusual but delightfully so, we discovered that this library loving, book reading, wine-drinking group of retired friends had landed on a title that we all enjoyed – Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake.

While I have become a regular audiobook listener when knitting, I know I would score miserably low should I take an Iowa Basic Skills comprehension test for any of those titles.  I still gravitate towards a hard cover for book club selections.  However, for Tom Lake, I was intrigued by the prospect of hearing Meryl Streep read this story and wondered if I would I hear the actress or the voice of the main character?  I opted to both read and listen.  I read a few chapters and then listened to those same chapters in the audiobook format.  At times, I recognized the text well enough that I could anticipate the next phrase and, then again, a detail I missed in reading the ink on paper would be a surprise in my ear.  Even though reading² is time consuming, I may repeat this paper copy / audiobook combo for future book club selections.

Synopsis:  Three daughters listen and question their mother’s stories about her long-ago budding acting career on stage and screen, her first love, a spotlight on summer-stock, and her life choices; some made with intention and others by happenstance.  From the New York stage to poolside Hollywood to a cherry orchard in northern Michigan, the story gently shifts between past and present. Patchett artfully reveals common threads and the different hopes and dreams of each family member.