Tom Lake by Anne Patchett

Lara knows that the global pandemic is a huge tragedy, but it has brought her three young adult children back to the cherry farm and she can't help but rejoice at their presence. To fill the long days picking cherries, Lara tells the girls about one summer from her childhood when she had a fleeting affair with a man that later became a huge movie star. The girls, each on their own life's path, examine their choices and come to see their mother, and her first great passion, in a new light.

This book has been on the top 10 most requested books in the Libby App for a couple of months now. Ann Patchett is one of the most successful authors currently writing. Every character is fully drawn, utterly believable and heartbreakingly complex.  The story is at the same time tender and--in a few spots--brutal. The emotion is raw and intense in some places and gentle and subtle in others. As a whole, the story is hopeful.  It is a testament to Ms. Patchett's popularity and prowess that they got Meryl Streep to be the narrator of the book.  Ms Streep is masterful and it is hard to imagine a better performance of the text.

All that being said, I almost gave up on the book half way through.  It is hard for me to watch characters make stupid choices, and Lara, as a young hopeful actress, made some pretty stupid choices. I guess the reason the book feels hopeful is that the worst stupidity is in the past, and the reader knows, from the very beginning of the book, that she has both survived and overcome her youthful mistakes.   After I finished the book it haunted me so much that I couldn't fall asleep. I kept thinking, "I am so grateful that my religious upbringing helped me avoid some of the pitfalls Lara went through."
(2023, 320 p.)