Book Notes | ‘Tom Lake’
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett is set in the early summer of 2020 at a cherry orchard on the shores of Lake Michigan. The three daughters of the main character, Lara, have returned home during the COVID-19 pandemic to help harvest the cherry crop. The young women ask their mother to tell them the story of her relationship with a famous movie star, Peter Duke, with whom she shared a stage and a romance.
Over the course of a few weeks, Lara tells the story a bit each day. She begins with her first role, when she was a teenager, as Emily in Our Town by Thornton Wilder. She moved on to a small part in a Hollywood movie, and eventually came to star once again as Emily in Our Town in summer theater in Michigan with Duke. During her time in Michigan, Lara suffered a broken foot and was replaced in both the play and Duke’s affections with her understudy.
After that summer, Lara gave up acting and returned home to care for an aging grandmother. After her grandmother died, Lara became a seamstress for theater productions in New York. She reconnects with her former director from the Michigan Our Town production, marries him, and moves to his family’s cherry farm, where her daughters were born and raised.
The book has a surprise ending because there is a part of the story about Duke that Lara fails to share with her daughters.
The members of the UMRA Book Club all liked the book for its setting (cherry orchard) and story framing (telling a tale during a pandemic lock down). The “action” starts slowly and builds, which was a mild criticism that some had with the overall telling of the story. Some members listened to the book read by Meryl Streep, who brought the characters to life with her rendering of the novel.
—Kathryn Sedo, UMRA Book Club I
Book Club I in January
Fri, Jan 17, 2025, 2pm
Upcoming Events
Learn about writing memoirs, technology for seniors, campus architecture, and more at the fourth annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held in the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis on Monday, June 23.
Professor Kathryn Pearson will be a special guest at the UMRA breakfast in June. This will be an opportunity to hear Professor Pearson’s perspective on President Trumps’s first 100 days, and to engage in discussion about what we, as individual citizens, can do in these challenging times for democracy.
Catch up with friends and former colleagues, meet new UMRA members, enjoy delicious food, and participate in the third annual UMRA Summer Social Quiz at the Como Lakeside Pavilion in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 25.
H is for Hawk: A Memoir on Grief and Falconry by Helen Macdonald, published 2016.
The UMRA Hiking Club will hike two wonderful county parks in Monticello, MN on Monday, July 7. Lynn Anderson will lead the hikes and we will meet at her home at 9:30 a.m. and carpool from there.
Our July 14 "hike" is a kayaking adventure on Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun) and Lake of the Isles led by Barb Friedman and Bev Moe.
The UMRA Book Club will discuss Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid when it meets via Zoom on July 18.
Bill Doherty's April Living Well Workshop, Dealing with differences in a polarized world, inspired many UMRA members. He has very graciously agreed to hold a Skills for Disagreeing Better workshop for us in July. You will learn about the values and concerns of the other political side and practice skills for communicating more effectively in the presence of disagreement.
Still Life by Louise Penny.
Join hike leader Nanette Hanks on August 4th for a “Trail in Two Cities” hike.
The UMRA Book Club will discuss Blue Ribbon by Karal Ann Marling when it meets via Zoom on August 15.
Join Larry Micek, hike leader, on August 18th for a hike at Lake Elmo Park Reserve, located at 1515 Keats Avenue North, Lake Elmo, MN.
You are invited–join other UMRA members and friends for a late summer river cruise, this year on the Saint Croix River, departing from Stillwater Riverboat Company dock. Our lovely 2.5 hour private charter cruise on the Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway includes lunch, a cash bar, and the excellent company of friends and colleagues.
Daytrip Stillwater in the afternoon with friends! Make a day of it.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.