Tom Lake

Patchett’s (The Dutch House) latest is narrated by Meryl Streep, who, in addition to her A-list acting, narrated Nora Ephron’s Heartburn and garnered an Audie Award for her performance in E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. The inimitable Streep is Lara Kenison, whose three twentysomething daughters have come home during the COVID-19 lockdown. Between working in the family’s cherry orchard—without the usual seasonal employees—Lara regales her daughters (again) with pre-motherhood stories as a summer stock actor sharing the stage with the recently dead Peter Duke, just before he became a major Hollywood star. Streep effortlessly deploys her acting charms, creating enviable sleight-of-voice characterizations for a vast cast moving between decades past and the isolated present. The initially enthralling hours pass swiftly—until they don’t. Too many crystalline details, sharp musings, and reflective what-ifs overwhelm the narrative until even Streep struggles to enliven the pace.