Welcome, WashU readers! These book discussions are offered on a quarterly basis throughout the year and are hosted by WashU alumni and parents. Connect and network with members of the WashU community through this online forum to discuss current books, pulled from a variety of genres. It's free to join! All you need is a copy of the book. The book selection for this quarter is "Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett.
Before the event, please take some time to review the discussion questions.
Meeting Host: Mary Yeldham, AB '93, WashU parent. This discussion will be held over Zoom. Groups of 8-10 will be put into breakout rooms to allow for smaller discussions and more participation among attendees. If you would like to lead one of these groups, please indicate your interest on the registration form below.
About the book
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters returned to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
Cost: Complimentary, registration required.
NOTE: You will receive a confirmation email after completing registration. If you do not receive one, please email alumninetworks@wustl.edu.
Sorry, but registration for this event has closed.