It’s time! I cant wait to hear what you thought of Tom Lake. Are you convinced you need to spend some summer time in Northern Michigan?! It is more magical than even the book paints it.
To get started let’s first talk about the visuals of the book:
The visuals that stuck in my mind were on the cherry farm. While I did spend time imagining the wondrous camp, the cottages and sparkling lake, and the theatre, it wasn’t what stuck with me. Just like for Lara in the book, that all fell away for her, and the farm was the overarching focus of her life, the farm stole my heart.
Was it the same for you? Or did you take away visuals of her trips to LA or the camp?
Inside the house, my mind is heavy on the kitchen, a big oak table worn from passing plates, mugs of tea and coffee and weathered from the words shared between the people gathered around. It’s covered with fresh-baked bread, cherry pies, bouquets of flowers from the garden, and never ending bowls of sun warmed, fresh-picked cherries from the outside trees.
My mind wandered to imagine what the girls’ rooms looked like. They were home to their twin beds covered in Lara’s hand-sewn quilts. Rooms still filled with reminders from their childhood, fixed up enough to serve as guest rooms but left unchanged just the right amount by Lara to keep the girls home with her, always, in some way.
And how did you imagine the napkins Lara gave Maisie the first time she visited the farmhouse? I imagined them as wispy, thin linen with small embroidered edges and flowers. But looking back in the book, I realized they were blue!!
How do my collected images add up to the ones living in your head?
On to our discussion. Just like any bookclub these questions are just to get the convo started. Ignore what you’d like and add what comes to mind! I am sharing the questions below but will add each to the comments section. Click reply to discuss. See you there!
- The book opens with Lara’s first experience with the play Our Town. Do you have any experience with Our Town? Have you seen it or read it?
- What do you think of Peter Duke? What did you think of their relationship and of Duke as a character?What did you think of Emily’s obsession with Duke?
- Do you agree with this quote from the book, “We remember the people we hurt so much more clearly than the people who hurt us.”
- Did the setting of Covid-19 pandemic bring back any flashbacks for you? How did their pandemic experience compare to yours?
- The cherry farm is one of the most important parts in the story. It is a safe-haven, a comfort, for Lara’s family and other characters. I love when a “place” in a novel becomes more of a character. Do you have a place like this in your life?
- Have you ever been to a cherry farm? How did you imagine the farm?
- Lara’s life took a complete turn from living in the spotlight to slow farm life. What do you think of this?
- What did you think of Lara’s choice to give up acting? Do you think she regrets it at all?
- Reflecting on the path you’ve taken, what were your turning points? What are the ways your past is still part of you?
- If you had to (or if you have) retell your own past to your children (or others) are there parts you glaze over or kept secret?
- Ok the big secret at the end: what was your reaction to Lara’s big revelation? Something that she chose to keep from her daughters.
- Do you agree with this quote from the book? “Secrets are at times a necessary tool for peace.”
- Sebastian was such a dynamic character in the story. He was both supportive and terrible. What did you think of him?
- Tom Lake is a novel about a mother and her daughters. The daughters learn about who their mother was before she had them. What did you think of their relationship? Have you had any similar experiences with your own mother or other loved one?
AND I can’t forget to include some of my favorite quotes from the book. The ones that follow me around after it ended…
“The beauty and the suffering are equally true. We remember the people we hurt so much more clearly than the people who hurt us. There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it.”
“It’s about falling so wildly in love with him—the way one will at twenty-four—that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight. There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end, nor did it occur to me to care.”
“I look at my girls, my brilliant young women. I want them to think I was better than I was, and I want to tell them the truth in case the truth will be useful. Those two desires do not neatly coexist, but this is where we are in the story.”
“It’s not that I’m unaware of the suffering and the soon-to-be-more suffering in the world, it’s that I know the suffering exists beside wet grass and a bright blue sky recently scrubbed by rain. The beauty and the suffering are equally true.”
“Work for the good of the collective, root for the team, get over yourself.”
“Turned out to be the thing that saved me: the knowledge that I could get back by myself.”
“I want to tell her she will never be hurt, that everything will be fair, and that I will always, always be there to protect her. No one sees us but the swallows looping overhead. She puts her arms around my waist and we stand there, just like that, casting a single shadow across the grass.”
Keep an eye our for our NEXT bookclub pick. If you have a suggestion please add in the comments!
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alon koppel photography// alec helmer photography// tara donne
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The book opens with Lara’s first experience with the play Our Town. Do you have any experience with Our Town? Have you seen it or read it?
What do you think of Peter Duke? What did you think of their relationship and of Duke as a character?What did you think of Emily’s obsession with Duke?
I didn’t love his character but i understood why lara was attracted to him instantly. he was so different than she was and he was full of life. he had a strong sense of self and she didn’t (at least during the time they were together). i think his personality consumed her and she felt empty without it because she didn’t really know who she was. in my experience, most women go through a phase like that and as they get older they discover who they are.
100% and once she was away from it all and older I think what attracted her so much to her husband was his solid sense of self! Now I think of all the people who marry that person who they get lost in and end up feeling so lonely…
Do you agree with this quote from the book, “We remember the people we hurt so much more clearly than the people who hurt us.”
Did the setting of Covid-19 pandemic bring back any flashbacks for you? How did their pandemic experience compare to yours?
The cherry farm is one of the most important parts in the story. It is a safe-haven, a comfort, for Lara’s family and other characters. I love when a “place” in a novel becomes more of a character. Do you have a place like this in your life?
Have you ever been to a cherry farm? How did you imagine the farm?
Lara’s life took a complete turn from living in the spotlight to slow farm life. What do you think of this?
I think we have multiple fulfilling lives. I also love that she ened up with joe with his quiet, Stable sensibility. the part in the book where we realize that Joe is nelson and his daughters say that the hero has entered the story really got me.
yes!! I relate to this so much though. All the crazy/terrible (ok two were great) guys from her past and ends up with the quiet, gently, stable guy. josh is my joe!
What did you think of Lara’s choice to give up acting? Do you think she regrets it at all?
Reflecting on the path you’ve taken, what were your turning points? What are the ways your past is still part of you?
If you had to (or if you have) retell your own past to your children (or others) are there parts you glaze over or kept secret?
Yes! 😂
lol I don’t think I will! I mean at certain times in Birdie’s life I might glaze over certain details. But in general if I have an opportunity like Lara did, with the girls older etc, I wouldn’t glaze over ANYTHING. She can know it all, and I hope telling her will keep her from making some of the mistakes I made!
Ok the big secret at the end: what was your reaction to Lara’s big revelation? Something that she chose to keep from her daughters.
Do you agree with this quote from the book? “Secrets are at times a necessary tool for peace.”
Sebastian was such a dynamic character in the story. He was both supportive and terrible. What did you think of him?
Tom Lake is a novel about a mother and her daughters. The daughters learn about who their mother was before she had them. What did you think of their relationship? Have you had any similar experiences with your own mother or other loved one?
when i was in high school I found my mom’s diary from high school tuked away in a box in our basement. when she was gone i’d dig out out and read sections of it. She talked about boyfriends and my dad was even mentioned! It the time, it seemed wild that she was a teenager Like me navigating boys and friend drama. i think about this now with my boys and i how i want them to know that there was a me before them.