Saturday, August 24, 2024

Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett

 

Characters

Nelson family

Our Town – by Thornton Wilder

Lara Kenison Nelson

Joe – husband

Emily – oldest daughter, future farmer

Massie – middle, future veterinarian

Nell – youngest, actress

 

Farm – grew cherries “stone fruit”

 

Hazel – dog

 

Masie and Ken – Joe’s aunt and uncle

 

Benny Holzapetel – Emily’s boyfriend/fiancé

Characters:

Stage Manager

Emily Webb

Mr. and Mrs. Webb

Wally Webb

George Gibbs

Doc and Mrs. Gibbs

 

 

Others

Productions at Tom Lake

Sebastian Duke – Peter’s brother, tennis player and coach

 

Singularity – movie featuring Lara

 

Ripley – Lara’s uncle, movie director

Our Town

Peter Duke – Editor Webb

Lara – Emily

Albert Long “Uncle Wallace” – Stage Manager (11th production)

 

Joe Nelson – director, understudy for Stage Manager

 

Pallace – understudy for Emily

 

Fool for Love

Pallace and Peter Duke

 

NOTE: Page numbers are from the 2023 hardback edition.

1.       Did you have any trouble following the time line?  It took me awhile to figure out that the italicized print was a signal to the reader that the time had changed.

2.       Discuss the various characters.  Which did you like or not like?  What did you think of Peter Duke as a person, as an actor?

3.       Why was Emily so sure that Peter Duke was her father?

4.       Were you surprised at the ending when Duke wanted to be buried at the Nelson’s farm and that he had paid Joe’s aunt and uncle a considerable sum of money to buy the plot?

5.       Did the passage on page 119 about play rehearsals give you any insight into how much work goes into a production?  For example, Lara narrated “We spent hours in a dark theater, saying the same things to the same people again and again, finding ways to make the world new.”

 

6.       The author referenced Moby Dick twice.  Benny loaned his copy to Nell (page 99) and Lara read the book to her grandmother when she could no longer see well enough to read on her own (page 268).  Also, Nell references Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby the Scrivener when someone closed a door in another’s face (page 185).  Why did the author reference Melville and his work three times?

7.       Lara and Joe did not tell their three girls about their earlier lives until they were grown, and Lara still kept a secret from Joe and the girls.  Do you think it is common for parents to have previous secret lives and not share with their families?

8.       How important was knowledge about Our Town to the reader’s appreciation of the novel?

9.       Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?

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