Tom Lake

As a fan of Thornton Wilder (I read a great biography of him a few years ago), I appreciated the “Our Town” thread that ran throughout TOM LAKE. Lara, the narrator, is from New Hampshire and appears in a production of the play in high school and later as a professional in summer stock at Tom Lake, an arts community in Michigan (a la Interlochen?). She falls in love (or is seduced off her feet) by the actor who plays her father, although he is only a couple of years older. The book is the story of their tortured relationship as told by her many years later to her daughters. One of the things I liked about this structure is that it is crystal clear why this narrator is telling this story and to whom it is being told. Still, I'm struggling to find depth in this story, as engaging a read as it was.