Tom Lake: A Novel

It drew me in with its quiet, contemplative exploration of love and memory. The setting—a Michigan orchard in the summer—became a perfect backdrop for reflecting on how the past shapes us. The way the story toggles between the present and the narrator’s past was captivating, as she shares a poignant, life-defining love affair with her daughters. It’s a novel that lingers with you long after, evoking a mixture of nostalgia, regret, and appreciation for the moments that define who we are.

Enjoyable and well-written.

A lovely story that ends generations. It’s all about the lives that people had before they had children and before their adult life kicked in. I really enjoyed the back-and-forth perspective between the past and the present and how the story is narrated it is quite a different general to the one I’m used to reading, but honestly, I did not mind this one.

Slow but not in a good slow burn way. Slow like a turtle we knew along would finish the race and what the result would be.

2.5 stars.

Ho hum. I found this book to be a whole lot of nothing. After I got past the disgusting first few chapters where teenage Lara shits on everyone coming to try out for the community theater in the past timeline and glories in having her daughters home even while people were being shoved into morgue vans, dead of Covid, in the present timeline, I found everything about this novel to be inoffensive. Nothing made any impact on me. There was plenty of stuff that was supposed to but it just kind of… fell flat for me. She ruptured her Achilles tendon? Hmm okay. She cried over her boyfriend ghosting her. Alrighty. The thing that got me the most was her vet daughter talking so callously about dead puppies. Other reviewers have mentioned this and I think they’re right in that there doesn’t seem to be any real pushback, rebellion, or questioning. Anything difficult gets kind of glossed over. There’s this whole bit about the eldest daughter doesn’t want kids because climate change and the protagonist is like “but everyone always thinks the world’s going to end” and her husband is like “you’ll change your mind” and then someone is weeping but I’m not totally sure why and then we’re done with that thread and have washed our hands of it. It doesn’t ever feel like genuine emotion and I never felt moved by anything that happened in this novel (except the dead puppies). I’m never sorry to have read something because it all adds to your life experiences but I could have not read this one and been just fine with the absence.