Tom Lake Book Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the blog! Today, I am back with another book review. I'm not going to lie I was drawn to this book solely because of the cover. This isn't my usual cup of tea, so let's get into it!
Tom Lake is a novel about siblings learning of their parent's lives before they were parents. We follow Lara, who along along her husband and daughters works on a cherry farm. While they spend the day picking cherries, Lara tells her daughters of her younger self. A young 20-something version of herself, who loved acting, who spent a summer at Tom Lake theater, and who spent a summer in love.
Its a really touching story about family and how life never turns out quite the way one expects. How the people we know or knew turn out differently than we once knew them to be.
I loved reading the flashbacks to Lara's life when she was young. I loved hearing about her life before kids, before being married, before working on the cherry farm. I loved seeing where she was and how she got to where we first meet her, as a mom and wife.
When I first picked this up, I was afraid it would be too boring for me. I thought I would have to drag myself through this, but I didn't. I loved every second of it, especially the end of Lara's storytelling. We know how it ends and to build up to the big climax, it was interesting to say the least.
This is also one of the first books I've ever read from a parent's point of view, from someone who is older, has lived a life, etc.
The other thing I found really interesting is that this takes place in the year 2020. We all know about the huge life-altering event that happened during that timeframe....It's briefly mentioned in the book, but its even named for what it is. It's only alluded to. Enough so we as readers get the pictured, and I thought it was so well done. Usually when real life events like that are called out by name, it pulls me from the story. It knocks the 4th wall down, and I hate it. But with this book, its so nonchalantly, casually mentioned that I think if you weren't paying attention, you might miss it. The writing was so beautiful and captivating in that way.
Overall, I give this 4/5 stars. I would highly recommend if you're looking for something that is outside of your comfort zone. I don't think this is the book to pick up when you're in the middle of a reading slump, but its good no doubt.
Alright folks, that is all I have for today! Come back next Wednesday for another blog post! As always, thank you for reading:)