2006, 2007 Random House edition
Anne Tyler
Digging to America
Original price $14.95, purchase price 75 cents
Very worn paperback
B-
Just as Snicket's End isn't about wrapping up the Baudelaire saga, this book isn't, as you might think at first, about foreign adoption. It's not even about what it's like to be Iranian-American in the period a few years before to a few years after 9/11. It's mostly about how an aloof woman in late middle age learns to love and accept people she initially finds annoying. As such, it's not bad, and Tyler (whose late husband was Iranian) makes Maryam Yazdan sympathetic, if not exactly likable. She's less successful with the other characters, but even bossy Bitsy wins Maryam and the reader over a bit by the end.
This is Tyler's seventeenth novel, and the thirteenth and last I'm reviewing, although she's published a couple since. In my opinion, she never became a great writer, but she is at times a good one. She at least has come a long way since 1964's If Morning Ever Comes, although what I said of that novel, "In particular, I can't understand why any of the characters make the decisions about romance they do, including Ben Joe's elopement with an ex-girlfriend. So much of who ends up with whom feels arbitrary, and not in an ironic Jane Austen sort of manner," is just as applicable to this one.
This finishes off not only Anne Tyler and 2006, but the current bookcase, which began with Atwood's Robber Bride (1993).
Showing posts with label Tyler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tyler. Show all posts
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Ladder of Years
1995, 7th edition from later that year, from Knopf
Anne Tyler
Ladder of Years
Original and/or purchase price unknown
Hardcover in good condition but with worn dust jacket
C+
Tyler's thirteenth novel (the twelfth I'm reviewing) is her weakest since Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, although not as bad as that. The main character Delia runs away from her life as wife and mother to a new life in a new town, and then runs back to her old life. This in itself isn't necessarily bad (for her or the narrative), except that I never got the sense of what she liked in her old life, other than she finally feels needed there. The problem is, she's also needed in her new life. The fact that she can have two sets of people, not to mention two cats, who forgive her almost without question doesn't sit right with me.
I also found the story anachronistic, and not just because a twelve-year-old boy says "golly." It's a world with CDs and a few other items that seem to be from the late '80s or later, but the little town she moves to feels like it's out of the 1950s, or earlier, making her transition too easy. (She walks right into a lawyer's office and gets a job.) I also felt that, like Helen in Binchy's Glass Lake, only more so, Delia doesn't seem to miss her kids much, and she doesn't have Helen's excuse of running off with her lost love.
Still, I liked the book somewhat, especially things like Rick-Rack's (Tyler is good at imaginary restaurants and stores), and was set to give it a B-, but the ending felt arbitrary. Unlike in Accidental Tourist, where either of Macon's choices is plausible, but he and Tyler make the right one, here neither of Delia's choices feels right, and the one she makes is possibly worse, since it's clear she'll feel restless and neglected again in the future. She tells her husband, "All you had to do was ask," but the narrator admits, "Although, in fact, he still had not asked. Not in so many words." Even in Earthly Possessions, I bought the return to the husband more.
I'm missing the next few Tylers, and I think the next (and last) one I own is Digging to America, which is not till 2006....
Anne Tyler
Ladder of Years
Original and/or purchase price unknown
Hardcover in good condition but with worn dust jacket
C+
Tyler's thirteenth novel (the twelfth I'm reviewing) is her weakest since Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, although not as bad as that. The main character Delia runs away from her life as wife and mother to a new life in a new town, and then runs back to her old life. This in itself isn't necessarily bad (for her or the narrative), except that I never got the sense of what she liked in her old life, other than she finally feels needed there. The problem is, she's also needed in her new life. The fact that she can have two sets of people, not to mention two cats, who forgive her almost without question doesn't sit right with me.
I also found the story anachronistic, and not just because a twelve-year-old boy says "golly." It's a world with CDs and a few other items that seem to be from the late '80s or later, but the little town she moves to feels like it's out of the 1950s, or earlier, making her transition too easy. (She walks right into a lawyer's office and gets a job.) I also felt that, like Helen in Binchy's Glass Lake, only more so, Delia doesn't seem to miss her kids much, and she doesn't have Helen's excuse of running off with her lost love.
Still, I liked the book somewhat, especially things like Rick-Rack's (Tyler is good at imaginary restaurants and stores), and was set to give it a B-, but the ending felt arbitrary. Unlike in Accidental Tourist, where either of Macon's choices is plausible, but he and Tyler make the right one, here neither of Delia's choices feels right, and the one she makes is possibly worse, since it's clear she'll feel restless and neglected again in the future. She tells her husband, "All you had to do was ask," but the narrator admits, "Although, in fact, he still had not asked. Not in so many words." Even in Earthly Possessions, I bought the return to the husband more.
I'm missing the next few Tylers, and I think the next (and last) one I own is Digging to America, which is not till 2006....
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Saint Maybe
1991, 1992 Ivy Books edition
Anne Tyler
Saint Maybe
Possibly bought newish for $5.99
Very worn paperback
B-
The title character, Ian, starts out in 1965 as a typical teen with a typical family. Then he makes the mistake of jumping to a conclusion about his new sister-in-law, Lucy. (That her youngest child is not her husband's. Actually, Lucy is just a shoplifter.) Brother Danny kills himself, and Lucy dies a few months later. Out of guilt, and on advice from the reverend of the Church of the Second Chance, Ian ends up raising the baby and the two older children. Even after the children are grown, Ian hesitates to live an independent life, although he sometimes wonders if he made the right choices. (Joining the church, dropping out of college, giving up premarital sex, as well as raising the kids.) The third-person perspective alternates between him and the other family members, mostly Lucy's kids. And the story ends in 1990, when Ian is a new father by his younger wife, who's similar to Muriel of Accidental Tourist.
While there were things I liked about the book, not just most of the characters but the believable details (any late '60s to late '70s child knows those third-rate day camps), I did have issues with it, including Ian's passivity. (Ironically, Tourist's Mason makes more active decisions.) At one point, he almost agrees to go to Bible college, just because the reverend wants a successor. Also, I found the interchangeability, gizmo-loving, and fractured English of the "foreigners" a bit wacky-sitcom-neighborly. And I felt like we were asked to be invested in characters who disappeared from the novel (particularly Ian's first girlfriend, and to some extent his older sister and her alphabetically-named brood).
Overall, not Tyler at the top of her game, but still worth reading. Ladder of Years coming up in 1995. (Yes, the same year we'll return to Smiley and Tan.)
Anne Tyler
Saint Maybe
Possibly bought newish for $5.99
Very worn paperback
B-
The title character, Ian, starts out in 1965 as a typical teen with a typical family. Then he makes the mistake of jumping to a conclusion about his new sister-in-law, Lucy. (That her youngest child is not her husband's. Actually, Lucy is just a shoplifter.) Brother Danny kills himself, and Lucy dies a few months later. Out of guilt, and on advice from the reverend of the Church of the Second Chance, Ian ends up raising the baby and the two older children. Even after the children are grown, Ian hesitates to live an independent life, although he sometimes wonders if he made the right choices. (Joining the church, dropping out of college, giving up premarital sex, as well as raising the kids.) The third-person perspective alternates between him and the other family members, mostly Lucy's kids. And the story ends in 1990, when Ian is a new father by his younger wife, who's similar to Muriel of Accidental Tourist.
While there were things I liked about the book, not just most of the characters but the believable details (any late '60s to late '70s child knows those third-rate day camps), I did have issues with it, including Ian's passivity. (Ironically, Tourist's Mason makes more active decisions.) At one point, he almost agrees to go to Bible college, just because the reverend wants a successor. Also, I found the interchangeability, gizmo-loving, and fractured English of the "foreigners" a bit wacky-sitcom-neighborly. And I felt like we were asked to be invested in characters who disappeared from the novel (particularly Ian's first girlfriend, and to some extent his older sister and her alphabetically-named brood).
Overall, not Tyler at the top of her game, but still worth reading. Ladder of Years coming up in 1995. (Yes, the same year we'll return to Smiley and Tan.)
Friday, May 10, 2013
Breathing Lessons
1988, 1989 Berkley [sic] edition
Anne Tyler
Breathing Lessons
Possibly bought newish for $5.50
Very worn paperback
B
I found this equal to Accidental Tourist, which it resembles a bit. Again, we have a long-standing marriage, almost thirty years in this case, but it's closer to the relationship between Macon and Muriel than to that of Macon and Sarah. A reserved man and a "scatter-brained" woman, although Maggie believes that if she had married someone less sensible than Ira, she would've become more sensible. I believe this to some extent, because I can see how I sometimes will try to "balance" out my partner. I don't feel like I've changed all that much since my marriage, although I've grown up a bit in the last 19 years, but because he was the sensible one, he thought of me as a bit scattered, and now that I'm with someone who's less practical, he thinks of me as sensible.
Like other Tyler books, this novel is about what makes relationships work, or sometimes not work. E. M. Forster wrote, "Only connect!", but he knew as well as Tyler how difficult that can be sometimes. Maggie's son Jesse, who's like a nicer version of the rocker in Slipping-Down Life, was unable to sustain his teenaged marriage to Fiona. Maggie is a meddler, wanting to fix things but making them worse. Ira sometimes cleans up her messes and sometimes makes them worse yet by blurting out the truth. Yet we also see why Maggie and Ira got together, and why they stay together. Maggie's friend Serena and her recently deceased husband Max were also "opposites" who were right for each other.
The book covers just one day in their lives, although there are a lot of flashbacks. The traveling theme returns, although here it's just a road trip with side trips. ("Like life," you're supposed to think.) On the way to the funeral, Maggie lies to a bad driver and then feels guilty about it when she realizes he's old and black. She tries to make amends, but yes, it only makes a bigger mess.
I promised way back on Clock Winder that I would discuss Tyler and race. Mr. Otis is her first significant black character in awhile, and to some degree he's a stereotype, in the way he talks and acts, and his wife Duluth sounds stereotypically superstitious for being mad at him for something he did in one of her dreams. But I think Tyler fleshes out Mr. Otis, and his nephew, at least as much as she does the white waitress whose shoulder Maggie figuratively cries on. On the other hand, there are two hospital workers who seem black and are less nuanced. (They reminded me of the maybe-racism of 1987's Nice Girls Don't Explode, which I'll discuss when I have a movie blog someday.) On the other hand, Ira is one-eighth Native American and neither he nor his father seem to fit any stereotypes except maybe stoicism.
The title, by the way, has to do with Fiona's lessons while pregnant. Breathing should be easy and automatic, but like so much in life, it isn't always. This is the tenth Tyler novel for the project, and one I've read more than most. I enjoyed the 1994 Hallmark TV adaptation, with Joanne Woodward and James Garner, although I haven't seen it since it originally aired. Next Tyler, Saint Maybe in 1991....
Anne Tyler
Breathing Lessons
Possibly bought newish for $5.50
Very worn paperback
B
I found this equal to Accidental Tourist, which it resembles a bit. Again, we have a long-standing marriage, almost thirty years in this case, but it's closer to the relationship between Macon and Muriel than to that of Macon and Sarah. A reserved man and a "scatter-brained" woman, although Maggie believes that if she had married someone less sensible than Ira, she would've become more sensible. I believe this to some extent, because I can see how I sometimes will try to "balance" out my partner. I don't feel like I've changed all that much since my marriage, although I've grown up a bit in the last 19 years, but because he was the sensible one, he thought of me as a bit scattered, and now that I'm with someone who's less practical, he thinks of me as sensible.
Like other Tyler books, this novel is about what makes relationships work, or sometimes not work. E. M. Forster wrote, "Only connect!", but he knew as well as Tyler how difficult that can be sometimes. Maggie's son Jesse, who's like a nicer version of the rocker in Slipping-Down Life, was unable to sustain his teenaged marriage to Fiona. Maggie is a meddler, wanting to fix things but making them worse. Ira sometimes cleans up her messes and sometimes makes them worse yet by blurting out the truth. Yet we also see why Maggie and Ira got together, and why they stay together. Maggie's friend Serena and her recently deceased husband Max were also "opposites" who were right for each other.
The book covers just one day in their lives, although there are a lot of flashbacks. The traveling theme returns, although here it's just a road trip with side trips. ("Like life," you're supposed to think.) On the way to the funeral, Maggie lies to a bad driver and then feels guilty about it when she realizes he's old and black. She tries to make amends, but yes, it only makes a bigger mess.
I promised way back on Clock Winder that I would discuss Tyler and race. Mr. Otis is her first significant black character in awhile, and to some degree he's a stereotype, in the way he talks and acts, and his wife Duluth sounds stereotypically superstitious for being mad at him for something he did in one of her dreams. But I think Tyler fleshes out Mr. Otis, and his nephew, at least as much as she does the white waitress whose shoulder Maggie figuratively cries on. On the other hand, there are two hospital workers who seem black and are less nuanced. (They reminded me of the maybe-racism of 1987's Nice Girls Don't Explode, which I'll discuss when I have a movie blog someday.) On the other hand, Ira is one-eighth Native American and neither he nor his father seem to fit any stereotypes except maybe stoicism.
The title, by the way, has to do with Fiona's lessons while pregnant. Breathing should be easy and automatic, but like so much in life, it isn't always. This is the tenth Tyler novel for the project, and one I've read more than most. I enjoyed the 1994 Hallmark TV adaptation, with Joanne Woodward and James Garner, although I haven't seen it since it originally aired. Next Tyler, Saint Maybe in 1991....
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Accidental Tourist
1985, 1986 Berkley [sic] edition
Anne Tyler
The Accidental Tourist
Possibly bought newish for $4.50
Very worn paperback
B
In my review of Earthly Possessions, I quoted the line, "We have been traveling for years, traveled all our lives, we are traveling still." And I compared it to the message of Celestial Navigation, in which being unable to travel even off your own block means that you miss out on life. Here the message is more ambiguous than in either earlier novel. The main character, Macon, comes to think of himself as always married to his estranged wife Sarah, even as they split up for good. So in a sense they're still traveling "together," even when they're separate. Meanwhile, he decides to return to the quirky, irritating but brave and lovable Muriel. The title refers to Macon's series of travel guides for people who hate travel or anything unfamiliar, including Macon, although he changes under Muriel's influence. There also people, and pets, moving back and forth from one household to another, so that they're tourists even in different neighborhoods of Baltimore.
There are other echoes, sometimes distorted, of earlier novels, like the eccentric family living in the big old house, and the brothers who interfere with romances. Macon's family is very particular in their ways (and though I'm less of a grammar Nazi, I do agree with them on "disinterested"), but very likable, so it's believable that swinging single publisher Julian (who's a bit like the agent in Celestial Navigation) would want to marry Macon's sister Rose and even move in with her and the two oldest brothers. I did have some issues with Muriel following Macon to Paris, but she comes across as less of a stalker than Morgan in Morgan's Passing. Neither of Macon's romances are perfect, but I can see why he's drawn to these two very different women, and vice versa. At the time I first read the book, I didn't know how it would end. (I hadn't seen the movie yet, and it may not have even been released at that point.) I like that Macon recognizes how passive he's been, and that from now on, although his journey will be more spontaneous, he will also take a more active role in getting to his destination.
Breathing Lessons coming up in 1988....
Anne Tyler
The Accidental Tourist
Possibly bought newish for $4.50
Very worn paperback
B
In my review of Earthly Possessions, I quoted the line, "We have been traveling for years, traveled all our lives, we are traveling still." And I compared it to the message of Celestial Navigation, in which being unable to travel even off your own block means that you miss out on life. Here the message is more ambiguous than in either earlier novel. The main character, Macon, comes to think of himself as always married to his estranged wife Sarah, even as they split up for good. So in a sense they're still traveling "together," even when they're separate. Meanwhile, he decides to return to the quirky, irritating but brave and lovable Muriel. The title refers to Macon's series of travel guides for people who hate travel or anything unfamiliar, including Macon, although he changes under Muriel's influence. There also people, and pets, moving back and forth from one household to another, so that they're tourists even in different neighborhoods of Baltimore.
There are other echoes, sometimes distorted, of earlier novels, like the eccentric family living in the big old house, and the brothers who interfere with romances. Macon's family is very particular in their ways (and though I'm less of a grammar Nazi, I do agree with them on "disinterested"), but very likable, so it's believable that swinging single publisher Julian (who's a bit like the agent in Celestial Navigation) would want to marry Macon's sister Rose and even move in with her and the two oldest brothers. I did have some issues with Muriel following Macon to Paris, but she comes across as less of a stalker than Morgan in Morgan's Passing. Neither of Macon's romances are perfect, but I can see why he's drawn to these two very different women, and vice versa. At the time I first read the book, I didn't know how it would end. (I hadn't seen the movie yet, and it may not have even been released at that point.) I like that Macon recognizes how passive he's been, and that from now on, although his journey will be more spontaneous, he will also take a more active role in getting to his destination.
Breathing Lessons coming up in 1988....
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
1982
Anne Tyler
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
C
So it turns out that the only good story in Four Complete Novels is Morgan's Passing. I'll get rid of this hardcover omnibus and get a paperback of Morgan's.
While the writing in Dinner, particularly the imagery, is a great advance over the two mid-'60s novels, this contains what is probably the most unappealing family Tyler's yet come up with. Father Beck abandons the family for 35 years, and mother Pearl is at best insensitive, at worst abusive. Cody steals his sadsack brother Ezra's fiancée, but remains jealous of Ezra. Only sister Jenny is at all appealing, and even she has serious issues. The third generation don't seem quite as bad, but then we don't really get to know any of them except Luke, and there's a throwaway comment about Becky having "Anor Exia," so they're probably as screwed up as their elders. When Beck returns, he tries to paper over the pain, and there's the sense that Tyler wants to give her characters a happy, or happy-ish, ending, but it just isn't believable. The one thing I genuinely liked was the restaurant of the title, and I would've rather read more about that. But Tyler here is not what Cody would call a feeder, preferring to starve readers this time.
Luckily, the next Tyler novel coming up is The Accidental Tourist in 1985....
Anne Tyler
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
C
So it turns out that the only good story in Four Complete Novels is Morgan's Passing. I'll get rid of this hardcover omnibus and get a paperback of Morgan's.
While the writing in Dinner, particularly the imagery, is a great advance over the two mid-'60s novels, this contains what is probably the most unappealing family Tyler's yet come up with. Father Beck abandons the family for 35 years, and mother Pearl is at best insensitive, at worst abusive. Cody steals his sadsack brother Ezra's fiancée, but remains jealous of Ezra. Only sister Jenny is at all appealing, and even she has serious issues. The third generation don't seem quite as bad, but then we don't really get to know any of them except Luke, and there's a throwaway comment about Becky having "Anor Exia," so they're probably as screwed up as their elders. When Beck returns, he tries to paper over the pain, and there's the sense that Tyler wants to give her characters a happy, or happy-ish, ending, but it just isn't believable. The one thing I genuinely liked was the restaurant of the title, and I would've rather read more about that. But Tyler here is not what Cody would call a feeder, preferring to starve readers this time.
Luckily, the next Tyler novel coming up is The Accidental Tourist in 1985....
Monday, December 3, 2012
Morgan's Passing
1980
Anne Tyler
Morgan's Passing
B
This is part of that set of Four Complete Novels that we last visited in the mid-'60s, with Tyler's first two books. (Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is coming up in '82.) This is my favorite of her novels so far, and yet I can't say I exactly like the characters. They are in turns selfish, passive, and irritating.
Once again, Tyler presents a family of six or seven children (all or mostly female) that is both close-knit and chaotic, living in an old three-story house, a motif that goes back to Ben Joe's family in If Morning Ever Comes. I suppose there's even a self-referential pun, in that "morgen" means "morning" in German. But the Morgan that passes here is the eccentric husband/father/grandfather who passes as several different people, from doctor to minister to Leon, the (real) actor husband of Emily, the young woman he falls in love with, impregnates, and runs away with. So Morgan's wife places an obituary in the paper, feeling that his passing out of her life means that she should treat him as if he's passed away. (It's a hard book to describe, although more solid than Housekeeping of course.)
There are other minor motifs that echo earlier books, like photography and lost loves. I think the main theme of the novel is that people often prefer fantasy to reality, and that's sometimes bad, as when Morgan's sister Brindle marries her lost love and finds that he prefers her photograph to her presence, and sometimes OK, as with the puppet shows that Leon and Emily put on. Emily is an artist, like Jeremy in Celestial Navigation and some of Tyler's other characters, but she does try to cope with the world. She and Morgan have to cope with the differences between their images of each other (especially his of her) vs. reality. There's also a lot here about play-acting, not just Morgan's disguises and the puppets, and I think that's what I like best about the novel. Also, even when I don't quite like the characters, they're interesting to watch. And maybe that has to do with make-believe vs. reality, too.
Anne Tyler
Morgan's Passing
B
This is part of that set of Four Complete Novels that we last visited in the mid-'60s, with Tyler's first two books. (Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is coming up in '82.) This is my favorite of her novels so far, and yet I can't say I exactly like the characters. They are in turns selfish, passive, and irritating.
Once again, Tyler presents a family of six or seven children (all or mostly female) that is both close-knit and chaotic, living in an old three-story house, a motif that goes back to Ben Joe's family in If Morning Ever Comes. I suppose there's even a self-referential pun, in that "morgen" means "morning" in German. But the Morgan that passes here is the eccentric husband/father/grandfather who passes as several different people, from doctor to minister to Leon, the (real) actor husband of Emily, the young woman he falls in love with, impregnates, and runs away with. So Morgan's wife places an obituary in the paper, feeling that his passing out of her life means that she should treat him as if he's passed away. (It's a hard book to describe, although more solid than Housekeeping of course.)
There are other minor motifs that echo earlier books, like photography and lost loves. I think the main theme of the novel is that people often prefer fantasy to reality, and that's sometimes bad, as when Morgan's sister Brindle marries her lost love and finds that he prefers her photograph to her presence, and sometimes OK, as with the puppet shows that Leon and Emily put on. Emily is an artist, like Jeremy in Celestial Navigation and some of Tyler's other characters, but she does try to cope with the world. She and Morgan have to cope with the differences between their images of each other (especially his of her) vs. reality. There's also a lot here about play-acting, not just Morgan's disguises and the puppets, and I think that's what I like best about the novel. Also, even when I don't quite like the characters, they're interesting to watch. And maybe that has to do with make-believe vs. reality, too.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Earthly Possessions
1977, 1997 Vintage edition
Anne Tyler
Earthly Possessions
Original price unknown, purchase price 79 cents
Worn paperback
B-
This is the first of the Tyler novels I own that is entirely in first person, which is part of its appeal. Charlotte Emory tells of her strange but quiet life, as "surprise" daughter of the fattest woman in town, as agnostic wife of a preacher, as "temporary" photographer for over 15 years, and as kidnap victim. The title refers to her wish to rid herself of all belongings, so she can finally run away, but her experiences on the run with a bank robber, and eventually his pregnant teenaged girlfriend, help her appreciate her life. She's not exactly a sympathetic character, particularly when she tries to be indifferent to her own children, but I find her entertaining. The book ties with The Clock Winder as Tyler's best so far.
There are echoes of earlier books, as with the wife who manages a sprawling household of relatives and strangers, and the man who likes to make miniatures, both echoing Celestial Navigation, but I felt they were better done here, and even the mismatched spouses (recalling not only Celestial but Slipping-Down) didn't bother me as much as in the past, since the focus isn't really on the marriage anyway. What I liked least was the character of Jake, the bank robber. When he tries to show that he's not such a bad guy, he comes across as even more of a jerk, and I can't tell whether or not this is deliberate. I kept being annoyed when Charlotte would stop telling us her past and go back to relating the story of life on the run.
There's a line on the last page about why Charlotte tells her husband she no longer wants a vacation: "We have been traveling for years, traveled all our lives, we are traveling still." Her point is that life is a journey, even if you stay in the same physical place. This contradicts the message of Celestial Navigation, where being afraid to leave the house is related to being afraid of change. And it'll be interesting to see how this compares to the image of travel in The Accidental Tourist. But before we get to that in 1985, I've got a couple other Tyler novels to review....
Anne Tyler
Earthly Possessions
Original price unknown, purchase price 79 cents
Worn paperback
B-
This is the first of the Tyler novels I own that is entirely in first person, which is part of its appeal. Charlotte Emory tells of her strange but quiet life, as "surprise" daughter of the fattest woman in town, as agnostic wife of a preacher, as "temporary" photographer for over 15 years, and as kidnap victim. The title refers to her wish to rid herself of all belongings, so she can finally run away, but her experiences on the run with a bank robber, and eventually his pregnant teenaged girlfriend, help her appreciate her life. She's not exactly a sympathetic character, particularly when she tries to be indifferent to her own children, but I find her entertaining. The book ties with The Clock Winder as Tyler's best so far.
There are echoes of earlier books, as with the wife who manages a sprawling household of relatives and strangers, and the man who likes to make miniatures, both echoing Celestial Navigation, but I felt they were better done here, and even the mismatched spouses (recalling not only Celestial but Slipping-Down) didn't bother me as much as in the past, since the focus isn't really on the marriage anyway. What I liked least was the character of Jake, the bank robber. When he tries to show that he's not such a bad guy, he comes across as even more of a jerk, and I can't tell whether or not this is deliberate. I kept being annoyed when Charlotte would stop telling us her past and go back to relating the story of life on the run.
There's a line on the last page about why Charlotte tells her husband she no longer wants a vacation: "We have been traveling for years, traveled all our lives, we are traveling still." Her point is that life is a journey, even if you stay in the same physical place. This contradicts the message of Celestial Navigation, where being afraid to leave the house is related to being afraid of change. And it'll be interesting to see how this compares to the image of travel in The Accidental Tourist. But before we get to that in 1985, I've got a couple other Tyler novels to review....
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Celestial Navigation
1974, 1993 Ivy Books edition
Anne Tyler
Celestial Navigation
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
C+
The second of Tyler's novels set in Baltimore, in fact mostly set in one boarding house, is a slip in quality from The Clock Winder. Jeremy, an artist who is afraid to leave the block he lives on, falls in love with Mary, a competent but illogical woman who wants only to have lots more kids than the one she has. She's good at taking care of people, including Jeremy, but gets tired of him not participating more in life. They miscommunicate through the whole novel, and the only character who understands them hesitates to "interfere." It's a very frustrating, depressing book, although the characterization is well beyond Tyler's work in the '60s.
The story is set from 1960 to 1973, and it includes a hippie girl who believes in men's liberation. This attempt at relevancy make the novel feel more rather than less old-fashioned, particularly since Mary is an earth mother to even strangers. The title has to do with sailing by the stars, although the title drop explains that head-in-the-clouds Jeremy has his own celestial navigation. The problem is, everyone thinks he's wonderfully talented and that excuses his self-centeredness and neglect of his family. Also, Jeremy is so out of touch with reality, it's hard to picture him having enough sex to become a father of five.
Since I don't own Searching for Caleb (1975), we won't return to Tyler until 1977....
Anne Tyler
Celestial Navigation
Bought new for $5.99
Worn paperback
C+
The second of Tyler's novels set in Baltimore, in fact mostly set in one boarding house, is a slip in quality from The Clock Winder. Jeremy, an artist who is afraid to leave the block he lives on, falls in love with Mary, a competent but illogical woman who wants only to have lots more kids than the one she has. She's good at taking care of people, including Jeremy, but gets tired of him not participating more in life. They miscommunicate through the whole novel, and the only character who understands them hesitates to "interfere." It's a very frustrating, depressing book, although the characterization is well beyond Tyler's work in the '60s.
The story is set from 1960 to 1973, and it includes a hippie girl who believes in men's liberation. This attempt at relevancy make the novel feel more rather than less old-fashioned, particularly since Mary is an earth mother to even strangers. The title has to do with sailing by the stars, although the title drop explains that head-in-the-clouds Jeremy has his own celestial navigation. The problem is, everyone thinks he's wonderfully talented and that excuses his self-centeredness and neglect of his family. Also, Jeremy is so out of touch with reality, it's hard to picture him having enough sex to become a father of five.
Since I don't own Searching for Caleb (1975), we won't return to Tyler until 1977....
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Clock Winder
1972, 1992 Ivy Books edition
Anne Tyler
The Clock Winder
Probably purchased new, for $5.99
Worn paperback with lower corners torn off
B-
Tyler continues to improve in this, her fourth novel. The setting is now mostly Baltimore, although there is a section in which the title character, Elizabeth "the handyman," goes home to North Carolina. She feels overwhelmed by the problems of the eccentric Emerson family, particularly when Timothy Emerson commits suicide right in front of her. But the family, matriarch Mrs. Emerson especially, can't live without her, and she decides she needs them to need her. Some of the issues from the earlier books, like unappealing brothers interfering with the main romance, and a feeling that some of the characters are underdeveloped, are still a problem, but less so. Even that main romance, between Elizabeth and Matthew Emerson, is a vast improvement over anything in the first three books, although the story does show more reasons why they should be apart than why they should be together.
Most importantly, the dry, gentle Anne Tyler style has finally appeared, now that she's in her 30s, so that this is the first of her books that's recognizably hers. Before, she showed the flaws of her characters, but she didn't give us reasons to like them. Here, everyone is essentially likable, even when they're irritating.
I keep wanting to say something about the way she portrays blacks, because I feel like it's stereotypical, in the first two books in particular, but the white characters were so cardboard, it didn't seem like an important criticism. Here, as in Slipping-Down Life, the only black characters we see are servants (including the previous handyman, who "waters the roses" on the first page). Alvareen the cook misspells words in her letters to Elizabeth, but she's not stupid, probably just not well-educated. I don't think Anne Tyler is racist exactly, but she's not un-racist either. (Sort of like some of the male writers I've been reading, who are neither feminist nor anti-feminist.) As a white woman, I'm not the best judge, but it is something I think about. We're not talking obvious Silver Princess of Oz level racism, or even that in some of the Little House series. It's just a maybe-ish racism. And I'll come back to this, for Breathing Lessons (1988) at least.
Oh, and only 40 years left of this project! We just got through a long, crazy decade, and it's only going to get longer and crazier in the decade ahead.
Anne Tyler
The Clock Winder
Probably purchased new, for $5.99
Worn paperback with lower corners torn off
B-
Tyler continues to improve in this, her fourth novel. The setting is now mostly Baltimore, although there is a section in which the title character, Elizabeth "the handyman," goes home to North Carolina. She feels overwhelmed by the problems of the eccentric Emerson family, particularly when Timothy Emerson commits suicide right in front of her. But the family, matriarch Mrs. Emerson especially, can't live without her, and she decides she needs them to need her. Some of the issues from the earlier books, like unappealing brothers interfering with the main romance, and a feeling that some of the characters are underdeveloped, are still a problem, but less so. Even that main romance, between Elizabeth and Matthew Emerson, is a vast improvement over anything in the first three books, although the story does show more reasons why they should be apart than why they should be together.
Most importantly, the dry, gentle Anne Tyler style has finally appeared, now that she's in her 30s, so that this is the first of her books that's recognizably hers. Before, she showed the flaws of her characters, but she didn't give us reasons to like them. Here, everyone is essentially likable, even when they're irritating.
I keep wanting to say something about the way she portrays blacks, because I feel like it's stereotypical, in the first two books in particular, but the white characters were so cardboard, it didn't seem like an important criticism. Here, as in Slipping-Down Life, the only black characters we see are servants (including the previous handyman, who "waters the roses" on the first page). Alvareen the cook misspells words in her letters to Elizabeth, but she's not stupid, probably just not well-educated. I don't think Anne Tyler is racist exactly, but she's not un-racist either. (Sort of like some of the male writers I've been reading, who are neither feminist nor anti-feminist.) As a white woman, I'm not the best judge, but it is something I think about. We're not talking obvious Silver Princess of Oz level racism, or even that in some of the Little House series. It's just a maybe-ish racism. And I'll come back to this, for Breathing Lessons (1988) at least.
Oh, and only 40 years left of this project! We just got through a long, crazy decade, and it's only going to get longer and crazier in the decade ahead.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
A Slipping-Down Life
1969, 1971 Bantam edition
Anne Tyler
A Slipping-Down Life
Original price 95 cents, purchase price 50 cents
Very worn paperback
C+
Tyler's third novel tells of Evie, an overweight 17-year-old girl who carves the last name of a local rock singer into her own forehead (or had it carved by another girl, if we're to believe the final revelation), and then later marries him. He has just about no redeeming features, but the marriage doesn't break up until, within 24 hours, her father dies and her husband cheats on her. She's three months pregnant but he doesn't want to move out of their tar-paper shack into her father's house. She's got a part-time job at a library and her life will probably stop slipping down.
Tyler still hasn't found herself as a writer, but this is an improvement over her mid-'60s books. The setting is still the North Carolina of her youth, but a less isolated town than in If Morning and Tin Can Tree. The characters are about as good as in the former, but the plot is better. There are more topical references than in the earlier stories, because of the music plot, although the Monkees were already passe by '69, so the setting may be '66 to '68 instead of the then current year.
This novel was made into a Lili Taylor movie, which I just heard of a few minutes ago.
Anne Tyler
A Slipping-Down Life
Original price 95 cents, purchase price 50 cents
Very worn paperback
C+
Tyler's third novel tells of Evie, an overweight 17-year-old girl who carves the last name of a local rock singer into her own forehead (or had it carved by another girl, if we're to believe the final revelation), and then later marries him. He has just about no redeeming features, but the marriage doesn't break up until, within 24 hours, her father dies and her husband cheats on her. She's three months pregnant but he doesn't want to move out of their tar-paper shack into her father's house. She's got a part-time job at a library and her life will probably stop slipping down.
Tyler still hasn't found herself as a writer, but this is an improvement over her mid-'60s books. The setting is still the North Carolina of her youth, but a less isolated town than in If Morning and Tin Can Tree. The characters are about as good as in the former, but the plot is better. There are more topical references than in the earlier stories, because of the music plot, although the Monkees were already passe by '69, so the setting may be '66 to '68 instead of the then current year.
This novel was made into a Lili Taylor movie, which I just heard of a few minutes ago.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Tin Can Tree
1965
Anne Tyler
The Tin Can Tree
C-
It's an accomplishment of sorts that this is actually worse than If Morning Ever Comes. It contains one of her worst characters, Ansel Green, a boring, self-centered hypochondriac whose brother James feels obligated to take care of him, to the point that James will probably never marry the neighbor he loves. There's a 6-year-old whose death happens shortly before the novel begins, but I felt like the grief wasn't believable. There were mildly interesting parts, like James's photography, and to my surprise a part with Ansel (the pizza), but I just found it an unrewarding read.
Anne Tyler
The Tin Can Tree
C-
It's an accomplishment of sorts that this is actually worse than If Morning Ever Comes. It contains one of her worst characters, Ansel Green, a boring, self-centered hypochondriac whose brother James feels obligated to take care of him, to the point that James will probably never marry the neighbor he loves. There's a 6-year-old whose death happens shortly before the novel begins, but I felt like the grief wasn't believable. There were mildly interesting parts, like James's photography, and to my surprise a part with Ansel (the pizza), but I just found it an unrewarding read.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
If Morning Ever Comes
1964, as part of 1990 Wings Books edition of Anne Tyler: Four Complete Novels
Anne Tyler
If Morning Ever Comes
Purchased new for $11.99, marked down from $52.50
Good condition hardcover
C
This was 22-year-old Anne Tyler's debut, shortly after she began her long marriage to Taghi Mohammad Modarressi. Unlike her many Baltimore novels, it's set in the South, where Tyler grew up. So it's of interest for those reasons, but the characterization and plotting are weak. There were moments when I wanted to read more about Ben Joe's family, but nothing really came into focus. In particular, I can't understand why any of the characters make the decisions about romance they do, including Ben Joe's elopement with an ex-girlfriend. So much of who ends up with whom feels arbitrary, and not in an ironic Jane Austen sort of manner.
As I recall, I've kept this volume for Morgan's Passing, so I'm curious to see how the other two novels (The Tin Can Tree and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant) hold up.
Anne Tyler
If Morning Ever Comes
Purchased new for $11.99, marked down from $52.50
Good condition hardcover
C
This was 22-year-old Anne Tyler's debut, shortly after she began her long marriage to Taghi Mohammad Modarressi. Unlike her many Baltimore novels, it's set in the South, where Tyler grew up. So it's of interest for those reasons, but the characterization and plotting are weak. There were moments when I wanted to read more about Ben Joe's family, but nothing really came into focus. In particular, I can't understand why any of the characters make the decisions about romance they do, including Ben Joe's elopement with an ex-girlfriend. So much of who ends up with whom feels arbitrary, and not in an ironic Jane Austen sort of manner.
As I recall, I've kept this volume for Morgan's Passing, so I'm curious to see how the other two novels (The Tin Can Tree and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant) hold up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)