Mary Rhodes

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters were so well developed that I felt like I really knew all of them. Ann Patchett has a simple yet elegant way of writing. Many readers have commented that they were confused by the different eras & by the different Emily's. None of that bothered me. In fact, I'm now planning to read Patchett's other books. All in all, Tom Lake felt to me like a warm, comforting hug.

The book does an excellent job of depicting Wyoming life in 1876. More accurately, it describes prairie death in vivid detail. The characters are fully developed and the situations they find themselves in are interesting. Then, why did I give it only 3 stars? For me, it was monotonous. The author drove home certain points over & over again. It was not until I read the author's acknowledgements that I discovered that it was based on relatives of hers. That made me appreciate it more.

The storyline is compelling and well written. It offered me some insight into what life was like for Jews and Blacks in the 1930s. Each character is fully developed but how they will all come together remains a puzzlement until late into the novel. I found this novel to be an absolute delight!