FAMILY DYNAMICS IN FICTION
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett’s latest book is just out and it’s a good one. Part of it is built around Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, long a staple of high school English classes. When I was that age and we read Wilder’s play, I thought it tedious and mostly boring. Later in life, I saw several stage productions and liked it somewhat more. Recently, the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota presented it and, it was wonderful! Whether it was age (mine) or the quality of the performance, I felt like I appreciated the play fully for the first time.
In Tom Lake, Lara, in a dreamlike way, slowly unwinds for her three adult daughters, the long-ago story of her brief career in summer stock and her love for now famous actor Peter Duke. She played the role of Emily in Our Town and another part in Fool for Love. Duke, older than Lara, is magnetic, attractive, and enamored of her, but perhaps not all he seems. With his steady reliable brother Sebastian and Lara’s dancer colleague Pallace, they make a foursome for swimming and tennis. Throughout, Lara tells her daughters more than she ever has about that summer, unspooling the events slowly, keeping them in suspense, but also holding back some memories too painful to divulge.
Set against the pandemic and the family’s cherry orchard in northern Michigan, Emily, Maisie, and Nell eagerly gobble up the details of their mother’s experiences interspersed with bouts of cherry picking. It’s a novel of young love, friendships made and ruptured, the lure of the stage, and the quiet joy of a stable marriage.
Lara played the role of Emily in Our Town in high school and then was sought out for Tom Lake. it’s helpful, but not essential, to be familiar with the play. Knowing it enriched the reading for me. With three sisters and a cherry orchard that soaks up hours and dollars, there are faint echoes of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
Without a lot of fuss, Patchett captures what it was like during the pandemic when time was suspended. These three young women, a farmer, a vet in training, and an aspiring actress, are “trapped” on the farm helping out their parents since their workers have left. I liked this novel the more I got into it with its slight twists and ended up loving it. Recommended! (~JWFarrington)
A MEMOIR OF LOVE MIDST ILLNESS
Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron
More people probably know about Nora Ephron, Delia’s more famous novelist sister who died of acute leukemia in 2012. Delia Ephron is also a novelist and playwright. When Delia’s first husband died of cancer several years after her sister’s death, she never expected to find love again and so soon. She and Peter Rutter got together quickly; he a psychiatrist, she a writer who had forgotten about dating him in a much earlier stage of life.
There is joy in this memoir and pain and fear when Delia develops leukemia, her sister’s disease. Hers is a variation. The medical sections of this memoir are not for the fainthearted, but Delia’s path was smoothed and made more bearable by the legions of friends from all stages of her life and the unending encouraging support of new husband Peter. It’s a bracing, fast-paced, involving story, and if you have the courage for it, it’s well worth it. I read it in a day! (~JWFarrington)
RECENT VIEWING
The Empress (Netflix)
A historical German drama, The Empress is about the making of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. In 1863, Elisabeth and her mother and sister Helene travel to meet the young Emperor Franz Joseph. Helene is expected to become the emperor’s bride. Instead Franz Joseph selects the unruly and rebellious Elisabeth.
Thus begins a battle of wills. Battles between Elisabeth and her mother-in-law Sophie who is accustomed to wielding all the power, between Elisabeth and Maximillian, Franz’s disruptive, but seductive younger brother, and between Elisabeth and Franz as she chafes against filling the mold of perfect empress.
The acting draws one in, the costumes are sumptuous, and it’s an engaging series. One might feel some comparisons with the Queen Charlotte season of Bridgerton; one review even praised the costumes here above those. Season 1 has eight episodes and a second season is planned. (~JWFarrington)
Manhattan (Amazon Prime–modest cost for ad free screening)
With the Oppenheimer movie attracting crowds, the availability of the 1981 documentary The Day After Trinity for streaming, it is probably not surprising that this 2014 series about the Manhattan Project popped up for viewing on Amazon. I don’t recall reading anything about it when it was first released.
In any case, Manhattan offers a different perspective on life in Los Alamos. It has fictional characters, but their activities are based on historic events. There are two competing groups of scientists working on the atomic bomb, one under the loose direction of the determined, almost maniacal Frank Winter and the other guided by Reed Akley and the arrogant and ambitious Charlie Issacs. But Los Alamos is run by the Army, so there are soldiers and numerous rules and regulations to ensure the secrecy of the mission.
And there are the wives and families of the scientists, many reluctantly and grudgingly trying to create a life midst dust and dirt with few amenities. Liza Winter is a PhD botanist frustrated at having had to give up her career, a character I find especially appealing. Abby Isaacs, high-toned mother of a 3-year old, becomes a switchboard operator.
Passion, both scientific and sexual, drives this compelling drama, and the Chief Penguin and I are completely hooked on it. Season 1 has thirteen episodes and Season 2, ten episodes, each about 45 minutes long. Highly recommended! (~JWFarrington)
DAILY BREAD
Sarasota has a brand new bakery on Osprey Avenue. Two guys from Canada are using European methods to create some wonderful breads and pastries. The Chief Penguin and I, he the very particular baker in our household, visited their shop the other morning and joined a line of six people at the counter. We went home with a loaf of sourdough for me and a loaf of multigrain for him plus several kinds of croissants, plain, almond, and chocolate almond. The breads make delicious toothsome toast. The lovely croissants have a crisp outer layer and are the best ones I’ve eaten in some years. So, if you’re up for a new treat, gander down and meet the Bread Bandits!
Note: Header image of fall foliage ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
