The Curator: Ann Patchett is the Nancy Meyers of books
God save the queens of comfort stories and happy people. A mini guide to the books of Ann Patchett plus reviews of Tom Lake and The Dutch House.
Who DOESN’T love Nancy Meyers movies? If you don’t know who Nancy Meyers is, yes you do. Just look at her IMDB credits: Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride Part II, The Parent Trap 1998 remake (all three = my entire childhood), Something’s Gotta Give (Keaton! Nicholson!), The Intern (DeNiro’s most heartwarming performance), THE HOLIDAY (I could go on for hours about this one).
So yes, we know Nancy.
And we know the specific feeling we get when we watch these movies, even if it’s hard to name. There is joy, love, heartbreak, happiness, loss, yes, but there is also an underlying agreement that life and people are good. There is drama - there has to be some plot - but you know in the end everything will turn out fine. It’s also an aesthetic - cozy textiles, quiet luxury, neutral spaces - whatever assists in the hygge1 vibes. It’s how I imagine staying in the Hamptons with Ina Garten would be - absolutely fresh and no store-bought here [see this article here that breaks down the Nancy Meyers aesthetique].
Reading Ann Patchett is exactly like this.
Her stories are like looking through sweet amber glasses, turning the entire world a muted shade of calm. You can read cozy mysteries, gentle love stories, or sweet poetry but nothing compares to the people-centered family stories of Ann. When I need comfort in a crazy world, I turn to Ann’s words for a moment of peace and escape.
The book reviews this week are, of course, from Ann Patchett - one wonderful backlist title and the new release that is on every best-of list on the planet right now. So grab yourself a big glass of something special, get that Barefoot Dreams knock-off blanket from the decoration chair, and slip into a world where nothing really bad ever happens. Enjoy!
FURTHER READING 💻→
A mini-guide to the works of Ann Patchett (all books can be found here: Bookshop.org)
Early Novels: The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant. Published between 1992-’97, these three get less attention but are worthwhile backlist if you’ve read her more well-known titles already. The Patron Saint of Liars was adapted into a movie that has big Lifetime vibes so I’d skip that.
Start Here → Big Break: Bel Canto. It’s the most plot-forward and unique - terrorists crash a party in this big complicated people-centered drama. I highly recommend reading this one first, as it’s the least likely to get pegged as slow.
Middle Novels: Run, What Now?, State of Wonder. I haven’t read any of these titles, but the internet suggests Run is not one to miss. I would suggest coming back to these after reading at least one more hit…
Next Stop → Latest Hits: Commonwealth, The Dutch House, Tom Lake. All three are spectacular. Patchett loves to write about families and especially mothers, and all three live up to the hype. The Dutch House is particularly moving, if not very plot-driven. I would choose one of these after Bel Canto.
Non-Fiction/Essays: Truth and Beauty, Another Year, The Bookshop Strikes Back, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, These Precious Days: Essays. If you want to ease yourself into Patchett’s style of writing, you could also hop into some of her non-fiction. Truth and Beauty is a memoir about friendship and loss that is at the top of every best-of-Patchett list. I’ve only read a couple of essays in These Precious Days, but her signature style is replete throughout.
BOOK REVIEWS📚→
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
In fabulous Ann-Patchett-moonlighting-as-Nancy-Meyers fashion, she somehow convinced MERYL STREEP to narrate the audiobook of Tom Lake so you best believe I alternated reading with listening just to feel that soothing melodic voice cleanse my soul of sin…
As I was reading and listening, I realized two things: 1). Everyone in most stories is generally miserable or troubled, and 2). If they aren’t now, they surely will be soon. But not Lara and her daughters. They might as well be The Little Women for all the real challenges these women face. Or is there more we don’t immediately see?
The premise: It’s 2020 and Lara & Joe’s three adult daughters have returned to their Michigan cherry farm to ride out the pandemic. In their search to quench extreme cherry-picking boredom, Lara tells the girls the story of the summer she performed at Tom Lake and dated Duke, a current-day Hollywood movie star (who reminds me of a Robert Downey Jr./Leo DiCaprio bad boy mashup).
Of course, the story is about so much more than that. It’s about mothers and daughters, it’s about growing up, it’s about the choices we make and how life pulls us back to the past like buttons on a thread. As a 36-year-old woman in between my own growing up and the desire to start a family, I feel each perspective deeply; the girls who cannot believe someone would give up acting for a farmer’s life; the memory of a mother’s life BC (before children) faded and gray and sometimes painful.
I loved the banter between the girls, the format of the story within a story, the interludes and small character details. Patchett does such a wonderful job of making it all seem so real. But as sweet and gentle as the story is on the surface, it grapples with some complicated feelings about motherhood and growing up. The wondering, the choices, the uncertainty, the acceptance. Life is all of it. Tom Lake is another homerun for Ms. Patchett (and Ms. Streep too!).
Moodometer: For when you dearly miss your mom or your children or your youth or any combination of feelings & longings in between.
Rating: I give this a 5 Stars for Meryl Streep and 5 Stars for Mother/Daughter Relationships.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Dutch House is The Little Princess + Cinderella but for anxious gifted millennial adults, and being one myself, I was hooked from the start.
Maeve and Danny live in the Dutch House, a famous estate in the suburbs of Philadelphia shared with their father and new stepfamily. When their father dies, the pair are left with nothing but memories and each other. Over five decades, we see how the bond between these two siblings simultaneously saves their lives and keeps them stuck in the past.
In typical Patchett fashion, The Dutch House is minimal plot but maximal character. We get to know Maeve and Danny intimately through Danny’s narration. Their brother/sister relationship is beautiful but also fraught, as most are. Tension is created by jumping around in the timeline, moving between the current day and a past that neither can get over.
But the real joy of this story is the house. It is a character all its own. I see this book described as a “dark fairy tale” and if that’s true, it is all because of the Dutch House. The house is gaudy and eccentric and represents everything both wrong and wonderful about Danny and Maeve’s lives. The house is at once a living monument to their abandonment and a symbol for the only time they were ever safe and secure.
I probably haven’t made The Dutch House sound exciting, but I flew through it. Once again in typical Patchett fashion, she nabbed TOM HANKS to narrate the audiobook so give that one a try if books on tape read by superstars are your thing. This was one of my most favorite reads of 2022 and if you like people-centered stories, I think it will be a hit for you too.
Moodometer: When you want to be happy that you were never rich and therefore never had anything to lose.
Rating: I give this a 5 Stars for Tom Hanks and 5 Stars for Sibling Relationships.
READING 📖→
I wanted more light and sweet so I picked Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. It’s been on my Kindle TBR for ages since a friend told me it was one of her all-time favorite books, but everyone here knows how that goes… The cover is strange but so far it’s bewitching! Strong Practical Magic vibes.
BUYING💰→
Bookbeau is having a SPOOKY SEASON PRE-ORDER SALE on their new Halloween-ish designs and I needed one like yesterday. They are squishy, waterproof, and have zippers. What more do you need in book protection?
WATCHING 📽️→
Some way, somehow, Mark and I started rewatching all 900 million episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and I am not disappointed - still as funny as ever, and strangely aware, even the oldest episodes and even in today’s climate.
NEW BOOKS 📚→
Dark Corners by Megan Goldin - I was surprised by how much I loved The Night Swim, as it really should have been just an average thriller, but it was compelling and well-paced. Interested to see if she can hit a double with its sequel, Dark Corners. “Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin's acclaimed The Night Swim, returns to search for a popular influencer who disappears after visiting a suspected serial killer.”
Mister Magic by Kiersten White - It’s giving 90s, it’s giving pop culture, it’s giving horror Barbie - it’s giving in my shopping cart! Her recent book Hide had mixed reviews but this cover makes me want it regardless of the words inside… “Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show--and discover the secret of its enigmatic host--in this "skin-crawling story of pop culture fandom and '90s nostalgia.”
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride - I have been meaning to read Deacon King Kong for ages now - maybe the buzz over his new book will finally get me to read more than just the first chapter (sorry to this man! because he is really funny, from what I’ve read). “A novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.”
BOOK NEWS 📰→
The New Yorker reviews Tom Lake: “In other words, the ingredients have been assembled for a wistful meditation on mothers and daughters learning to handle the seasons of their lives.”
Vulture ranked all 92 episodes of
my lifeThe O.C., television’s favorite early 2000s beachside teen drama. The number one episode? The pilot episode, of course, because it has everything - fashion shows, extravagant wealth, jail, bullies, Mazzy Star, Peter Gallagher, Chino. My favorite? False, it was the intro song (Caaaaliforniiaaaaaaaaa here we come). Welcome to the O.C., bitch!In very meta-experience news, apparently everyone in the Hamptons is reading The Guest by Emma Cline, a book also vaguely about the Hamptons and what happens to one aspiring grifter. I wasn’t sure I would pick this one up based on early reviews, but New York Magazine just selected it as their first beach book club pick, so of course now I have FOMO...
RESTACK OF THE WEEK ♻️→
The inaugural restack of the week goes to Books on Gif who never fails to surprise and entertain, and always elicits a chuckle. This review for Possession had me immediately adding to cart. Enjoy!
LET’S CHAT☺→
This week: leave a comment with your favorite comfort movie/tv show/book/outfit/food, whatever you want! Mine is and will always be Harry Potter in all formats.
Or per ush, let me know what you’ve been reading in the comments. I’m always game for a good rec (or warning, grievances, etc. ). If you tell me your favorite TV show or movie lately, I’ll give you a book recommendation.
In Case You Missed It 🖤
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).
Agree about ‘The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store’ it sounds so good! It doesn’t come out until November in the UK so if you read it before then I’ll be eagerly waiting for your thoughts!
I’m excited and honored to be the first restack! Thanks so much!!