I am the resident Anne Tyler apologist here at CBR. I know she’s rather unpopular in these parts, but I love many of her books. Her prose and her characters’ inner lives often resonate with me. Her books comfort me, and I find them great company during difficult times. BUT–all that being said, I cannot and will not stand up for Ladder of Years and the truly despicable actions of the main character, Delia Grinstead. Delia, mother of three children (2 college aged and one […]
The Boring Lives of Medium-Level Jerks
Hi everyone! This is my very first review of my very first Cannonball! And… it nearly sank my ship. You know that thing people say about “when someone tells you who they are, believe them”? I should have taken that theory and applied it to this book. There’s a quote early on about the family whom this book revolves around: “There was nothing remarkable about the Whitshanks… But like most families, they imagined they were special.” The key word here is “imagined” because they aren’t […]
How to Fight Loneliness
Digging to America is the story of two Baltimore families who meet each other in an airport, pre-9/11, when they come to pick up their infant daughters they have adopted from South Korea. It’s similar to other Tyler novels, in that it’s an intimate examination of family dynamics, but it’s different than all the others, too–it’s bigger, as it also examines what it means to be an American. I know that makes it sound terrible and tiresome, but trust me, it is anything but. It’s […]
Slight but Engaging
The other day my mom texted me and asked, “Which Anne Tyler novel is the one about the strange family?” Easy, Mom–literally all of them. Tyler’s specialty is lovable eccentrics. In The Beginner’s Goodbye, Aaron Woolcott joins that list, although he’s not as memorable as some others. Aaron works for a publishing firm owned by his family, and is married to a doctor, Dorothy. After they’ve been married about 8 years, Dorothy is killed by a tree falling through the roof into their sunroom. Shortly […]