 | A WRITER'S WIT |  T. Hanh |
MY BOOK WORLD
Patchett, Ann. Tom Lake: A Novel. New York: HarperCollins, 2023.
I’ve never before read a novel whose existence depended almost entirely on another work of literature for its structure, its heart—but this one would seem to win all the awards for such a category. In the author’s note Patchett says: “I thank Thornton Wilder, who wrote the play that has been an enduring comfort, guide, and inspiration throughout my life. If this novel has a goal, it is to turn the reader back to Our Town, and to all of Wilder’s work. Therein lies the joy” (311). Her love and admiration palpitate throughout, far from utilizing the play as a gimmick but giving the work its sole purpose: how one actor relates to Our Town for her entire life.
In high school Lara plays the role of Emily in Wilder’s play. (I’ll assume that everyone here at one time has read, read for, played a part in, or witnessed a production and is familiar with all its characters.) Thus begins Lara’s career as an actor. Yet her career is not a typical one. Yes, she acquires an agent who gets her into Hollywood. She even auditions for some plays on Broadway. But in a summer stock production (staged at Tom Lake) in Traverse City, Michigan, she wins the part of Emily, as well as the female lead in Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, a role for which she is not suited. Peter Duke, a man not much older than Lara, plays Emily’s father onstage. He, too, is headed for stardom, but he is more serious than Lara. He keeps detailed notebooks on the characters he plays, reviewing his scribbles up to the minute before speaking his first line. Lara depends on the fact that in some sense she is Emily. She bunks with Duke and falls for the handsome, charming actor. He will marry three times and end up in rehab for alcohol addiction.
Patchett weaves all of Lara’s career within the fabric of her own adult family life. She has married a man she met during that run of summer stock but not until years later. They now have three adult daughters, one of whom is named Emily. The family owns and operates a cherry orchard farm, and it takes all of them to bring in the crop each year. As they toil, the daughters beg mom, Lara, to tell them all about her time with Peter Duke, her time in film. He is by now so famous that Emily, the eldest, believes somehow that Duke could be her father (which time will tell he is not).
This tightly knit novel is a joy to read aloud (which I did for my partner). When I taught tenth-grade pre-AP English, my pupils seemed to enjoy reading Wilder’s play aloud each year; thus, I studied it ten years straight years, having it engrained into my being. Patchett recalling the lines (Where’s my girl? Where’s my birthday girl?) causes them to echo throughout more than the halls of the school where I taught. They resound throughout our country’s schools. I once scoffed that the play was perfect for high schoolers, but what it is perfect for is to remind every adult that Our Town is quintessential America. It is the essence of the play’s universality. One character receives a letter addressed this way: United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the mind of God” (45). Each of us could be that addressee!
Up Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Italo Calvino
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Joseph Bruchac
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Elinor Lipman
FRI: My Book World | Elizabeth Strout, Olive Again
I’ve never before read a novel whose existence depended almost entirely on another work of literature for its structure, its heart—but this one would seem to win all the awards for such a category. In the author’s note Patchett says: “I thank Thornton Wilder, who wrote the play that has been an enduring comfort, guide, and inspiration throughout my life. If this novel has a goal, it is to turn the reader back to Our Town, and to all of Wilder’s work. Therein lies the joy” (311). Her love and admiration palpitate throughout, far from utilizing the play as a gimmick but giving the work its sole purpose: how one actor relates to Our Town for her entire life.
In high school Lara plays the role of Emily in Wilder’s play. (I’ll assume that everyone here at one time has read, read for, played a part in, or witnessed a production and is familiar with all its characters.) Thus begins Lara’s career as an actor. Yet her career is not a typical one. Yes, she acquires an agent who gets her into Hollywood. She even auditions for some plays on Broadway. But in a summer stock production (staged at Tom Lake) in Traverse City, Michigan, she wins the part of Emily, as well as the female lead in Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, a role for which she is not suited. Peter Duke, a man not much older than Lara, plays Emily’s father onstage. He, too, is headed for stardom, but he is more serious than Lara. He keeps detailed notebooks on the characters he plays, reviewing his scribbles up to the minute before speaking his first line. Lara depends on the fact that in some sense she is Emily. She bunks with Duke and falls for the handsome, charming actor. He will marry three times and end up in rehab for alcohol addiction.
Patchett weaves all of Lara’s career within the fabric of her own adult family life. She has married a man she met during that run of summer stock but not until years later. They now have three adult daughters, one of whom is named Emily. The family owns and operates a cherry orchard farm, and it takes all of them to bring in the crop each year. As they toil, the daughters beg mom, Lara, to tell them all about her time with Peter Duke, her time in film. He is by now so famous that Emily, the eldest, believes somehow that Duke could be her father (which time will tell he is not).
This tightly knit novel is a joy to read aloud (which I did for my partner). When I taught tenth-grade pre-AP English, my pupils seemed to enjoy reading Wilder’s play aloud each year; thus, I studied it ten years straight years, having it engrained into my being. Patchett recalling the lines (Where’s my girl? Where’s my birthday girl?) causes them to echo throughout more than the halls of the school where I taught. They resound throughout our country’s schools. I once scoffed that the play was perfect for high schoolers, but what it is perfect for is to remind every adult that Our Town is quintessential America. It is the essence of the play’s universality. One character receives a letter addressed this way: United States of America; Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the mind of God” (45). Each of us could be that addressee!
Up Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Italo Calvino
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Joseph Bruchac
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Elinor Lipman
FRI: My Book World | Elizabeth Strout, Olive Again
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