This is my first novel by Anne Tyler. I know. Where have I been? I
had seen it advertised and randomly picked it up at the library. What a
delight, from beginning to end. I knew she was a well-known and respected
master storyteller. She has won numerous book awards, including the Pulitzer
Prize for fiction in 1989 for Breathing
Lessons (next on my listJ). Also a film was made based on her novel, The Accidental Tourist.
This is a story of three
generations of an ordinary, flawed, endlessly fascinating family. There is so
much about them that is alien yet so much that is familiar. It has been a
long time since I didn’t want a book to end.
There are no explosions, no terror attacks, no spies or witches. It
is about life and all of its beauty, heartbreak, happiness, confusion,
misunderstanding and sadness. The characters are so beautifully drawn you want
to shake them, argue with them, then long to know what happens to them after you
read the last page. The house where these characters at various times live,
move through, and leave is as exceptionally created as any other character. It became as real as the one next door.
Finally, There is just enough of a sense of things unknown
and unseen in everyday life. A question of the mystery of it all. A reminder that no one has all the answers.
Highly recommend.
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