Ann Patchett: "Tom Lake"

A bildungsroman is a coming-of-age story: "Stand by Me," or "Jim the Boy," or "David Copperfield," or "This Boy's Life."

Women write these, too; I'm thinking of "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital," "Lives of Girls and Women," and Alice McDermott's "Someone."

This is one way to understand Ann Patchett's new novel, "Tom Lake." A girl (Lara) volunteers to help at the desk for local "Our Town" auditions. She immediately recognizes that the prospective Emily Webbs are very, very bad; they "overcook" their lines. A vision of Emily occurs to Lara; soon, Lara is appearing on-stage.

From this moment on, we watch as Lara makes various relatable mistakes. She betrays a close friend. She offers her body to a Broadway producer; she thinks this is what you have to do to score a role opposite Spalding Gray. Lara falls for a dazzling De Niro-esque star-on-the-rise, although she understands nothing good can come of this. (Actually, I pictured James Franco in the role of the star.)

In the midst of unprotected sex at a Boston rehab, leaning against a restroom wall, Lara thinks, "I'm trying for a fairly common form of contraception: luck. It works about half the time."

Lara is both bright and sort of foolish; she reminds me of Linda Cardellini's character in "Freaks and Geeks."

Once again, a Patchett novel basically deserves its hype. There were moments that seemed a bit rose-tinted; I would have "amped up" the anger, at times. But I kept turning pages.

It's a keeper.

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