Tom Lake
I recently read a New Yorker piece titled “Becoming You: Are you the same person you were when you were a child?” In it, writer Joshua Rothman references a study of 1,037 individuals in New Zealand who are interviewed by a psychologist periodically from childhood to midlife in an attempt to understand humans’ connections with their “past selves.” (This kind of thing fascinates me.)
I read this concurrent to Tom Lake, Ann Patchett’s latest. Tom Lake shifts time between 2020, as Lara and her husband Joe welcome their young adult daughters back to their cherry farm as Covid lockdowns commence, and the late 80s as Lara prepares to star as Emily in a summer stock production of Our Town (as shared with her daughters via reminiscing).
Although I’m sort of net neutral on time-shifting books — their appeal depends on so many factors, of course — this one worked for me. And that’s because I think Patchett is cleverly playing with and exploring the notion of time and its unevenness — time suspended during those early days of Covid, yet time passing so quickly during a lifespan. The subtle references to time and its confusing qualities are evident from the get-go:
“The reading lasted two minutes...”
“I look at my watch. It’s easy to forget how late it is because the sun stays up forever in the summer.”
{etcetc}
And it’s all underscored by the line from Our Town that is repeated ad nauseum as men audition for the role of Stage Manager: “Three years have gone by. Yes, the sun’s come up over a thousand times.”
To the criticism that Tom Lake feels a bit “sweeter” than Patchett’s other work: I wonder if using Our Town — a sentimental and homespun favorite that will soon be on Broadway for the SIXTH time — as a literary device illuminates our need for something familiar when time feels chaotic and confusing. If so? Kinda brilliant. After all, when time is indecipherable, it is the sameness of ritual that may get us through.
I have a favorite line in Tom Lake. It’s not poetic, it’s only 6 words, & anyone could write it. But it sums up what I think the book is getting at. Lara, reflecting on the crazy nature of time: “I am fifty-seven. I am twenty-four.” #whatistime
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