Gail is a 61-year-old administrator at a girl’s private school who will attend the wedding of her daughter Debbie tomorrow. Then her ex-husband Max shows up unannounced, with a cat. This is a tender relationship book about love and marriage, both the current situation and the past. As always, Ms. Tyler’s writing is sublime: “Gail wonders why she has so many irritating people in her life”. It is the very ordinariness of the story and characters that is so attractive. In short, a delightful mix of pathos and humour, and yes, even empathy.
Tag: Anne Tyler
Back When We Were Grownups – Anne Tyler
Ms. Tyler is a favorite author, having written classic novels like Breathing Lessons and The Accidental Tourist. Surprisingly, I had missed this 2001 novel and reading it now was just a joy. Rebecca is a 53-year-old widowed woman living in a Baltimore row house where the ground floor is used as a venue for parties. She is part of a large fractious family with one biological daughter, three stepdaughters, and a host of other relatives. Much of the story consists of poignant musings on a might-have-been existence. The language, as always, is exquisite (“newborn infants looking like wrapped burritos”, page 143), and the story culminates in an extraordinary birthday party for a 100-year-old family member that is must-read. Tyer’s writing is funny, sad and intelligent.
Ladder Of Years – Anne Tyler
A re-read of a book purchased in 1996! Delia is a 40-year-old married mother of three with a nondescript existence. At a beach vacation, she makes an unplanned and spontaneous decision to leave her family, to just walk away: not so much to leave someone or something but to start over. Her new existence is minimalist; she stares at dust motes in silence in her boarding house room (page 140). This is a compelling relationship story, both old and new: “they spoke without letting their eyes meet, like people in a play, whose words are meant for an audience”. Tyler’s insights into domestic intimacy are profound, unsettling at times, and often miraculous.
Redhead by the Side of the Road – Anne Tyler
Full disclosure: I love Anne Tyler’s writing. In this slim novel, she continues her theme of writing about ordinary but quirky people in Baltimore. Micah is a 42-year old man who lives a predictable life, constrained by precise patterns of behaviour. “Sometimes when he was dealing with people he felt like he was operating one of those claw machines on a boardwalk, those shovel things where you tried to scoop up prizes but the controls were too unwieldy and you worked at too great a remove”. Can Micah find happiness? Tyler describes funny and poignant situations with introspective wisdom.Vinegar Girl – Anne Tyler
A man has two daughters, the oldest is Kate, there is an attempted arranged marriage – yes, this is a delightful retelling of Shakespeare’s Taming Of The Shrew by Anne Tyler, an American treasure as a novelist. A total hoot.
A Spool Of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Tyler’s 20th novel is, once again, about a Baltimore family, 3 generations. The writing is elegant, with a subtle reveal of strong emotions: love but also bewilderment and surprising strengths in surprising situations. Characters that we initially dismiss as shallow turn out to be stronger than we expected or suspected. Tyler continues to be a literary treasure.
What David Read 