Fave Reads | Book Chatter

Tom Lake
By Ann Patchett
Published by Harper,9780063327528, August 2023, 320pp

The Short of It:

Tom Lake will capture your heart.

The Rest of It:

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. ~ Indiebound

Oh, how I loved this one. It starts off a little slow but once you get into it, it’s very hard to put down. The family dynamic has a very strong pull. These sisters, sharing their stories, their hopes and dreams while working in the orchard will absolutely capture your heart. And their mother, Lara and how she chooses to share snippets of her wildly exciting times as an actress will satisfy any theater kid at heart.

I won’t lie though. It’s not all fun and games. As glamorous as being a lead in a show is, in this case a summer production of Our Town, it has its drawbacks as well. For one, Lara’s infatuation with Peter Duke has her throwing all caution to the wind. A young girl, so in love, is bound to find heartache. No?

As Lara shares bits of that summer with her girls, they begin to put things together and although they thought they knew their mother quite well, they realize that she is her own person and perhaps not everything is to be shared.

I was a theater kid in high school and of course, both my kids went down that same path so it was no surprise how much I enjoyed Tom Lake. You don’t have to be a die hard theater kid to love this story though. It’s about love, the importance of family, the friends we cherished as young adults, and how a life comes to be. Sometimes not exactly as we imagined it but sweet, nonetheless.

Do yourself a favor and find a copy of this book.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie
Published by Little Brown, 9780316013697, 2009, 288pp

The Short of It:

Very powerful account of life on the reservation.

The Rest of It:

Alexie shares his very personal experiences as a fourteen-year old boy on the reservation. Raised by two loving parents, he and his sister were two of the lucky ones. Most children on the reservation are abused in some way by their alcoholic parents. Beaten, hungry, often left to raise themselves. To survive, they hang with the wrong crowd and sometimes end up dead.

Alexie was relentlessly bullied due to water on the brain that he suffered at birth. The name calling, playground fights, the boy gangs that went out of their way to look for him made him very cautious when it came to spending time anywhere. Pow Wows were fun with a friend but would he become a target? Every day was a struggle and honestly, even his best friend, known as Rowdy, sometimes gave him a beat-down. What an odd friendship that was.

What struck me about this book is how accurate the storytelling is. As you may recall, my son’s last job in Seattle was for one of the tribes on the reservation, and what my son detailed to me in the way of rampant drug use, abuse, run ins with CPS and the like. All accurate.

The tribes have an abundance of money and provide a lot of much needed services. My son drove me through an area full of heath care offices, mental health resources, and the like, but in all honesty they offer it but don’t push it. If someone is in need of help, it’s on them to reach out for it and everyone else turns a blind eye to whatever is going on, even a kid who hasn’t eaten for days. Hearing these stories from my son made me so angry. It’s no wonder he had to leave such a toxic place.

Alexie was tired of it all. He knew that he’d die if he stayed on the reservation so he convinced his parents to let him go to a school off site. This was a huge deal because everyone on the res felt that he abandoned them. His friend Rowdy took this especially hard even though Alexie begged him to come with him.

Going to a predominately white school had its own problems but the teachers seemed to see past the Indian right into the person Alexie was. Alexie was smart. Brain damaged or not, he had something. His teachers saw it and some made it their goal to make something of him.

As you know from his accomplishments, Alexie is a highly regarded writer. I listened to part of this on audio and it was quite riveting. I highly recommend it. There is a lot to pick apart. We will be discussing this for book club this month.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…