French Braid

In the past, I've really enjoyed the "ordinariness" of Anne Tyler's novels. Stories about ordinary people doing ordinary things. The characters she weaves stories about are so relatable. Sadly, her latest, French Braid, just didn't cut it for me. 

This is the story about the Garrett family. The mom, Mercy, the dad, Robin, the sisters, Alice and Lily, and younget brother, David. They come together, they drift apart, and they try to figure out the places the family has in their individual lives.

This could have been better, but I found there were too many little plot lines that didn't combine to make anything really cohesive. Or... maybe complete is the better word. It just didn't feel like a complete story.

I listened to French Braid since this is the type of novel  I love listening to. The reader was fine... except during dialog when the accents she used for each of the characters just seemed plain wrong! (There was also mention of 'her narrator said' or some reference of other to the narrator - three times- and I wondered if that was part of  the novel or just notes for the reader of the text and should not have been recorded.)

Unless you absolutely love Anne Tyler and read everything she writes, I can't really recommend this one.
 

The Accidental Tourist

I've been so focused on what Hurricane Irma is and isn't doing that I totally forgotten I'd never reviewed The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. It was recommended to me by several members of my community book club when we discussed A Spool of Blue Thread last month.

Before I forget, The Accidental Tourist became a movie in 1989, 4 years after it was published as a book. And while not major characters, there was a neighbor named Sue and a niece named Susan. It was also National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction that year.

Macon is a reluctant travel writer. He hates to travel and writes travel guides for businessmen whom he presumes don't like to travel either. His son has been murdered and his wife has left him. Macon was also born into a family that likes to keep things very routine. Macon and his siblings put the "quirk" in "quirky." This makes his entrance into single-dom after marriage quite entertaining.

Some of the most interesting scenes in the story were when Macon was still living home, trying to make things easier - sleeping in a sweatsuit so he wouldn't even need to get dressed. Oh, and yes, he did wash the sweatsuit - while he was wearing it in the shower! He created a crazy kind of laundry chute. At this moment I can't recall why he needed a laundry chute. He sewed sheets into sleeping bags so he wouldn't have to make the bed or change the linens. He washed his clothing in the bathtub while taking his shower.

This book was all about the characters. We see Macon go from unhappy married man and transition several times. We watch Macon's sister, Rose, develop into a full-fledged character. The brothers remain caricatures but they're of real people. My favorite characterization in the book was of Macon's boss, Julian. 'A dashing sailor, a speedy driver, a frequenter of singles bars, he was the kind of man who would make a purchase without consulting Consumer Reports.'  Imagine that!  (My dad wouldn't make a purchase without consulting Consumer Reports but he was not nearly as set in his way as Macon was.

Muriel, Macon's dog trainer, was a character herself. And I mean that in the non-literal sense! What a character! She had another one of my favorite lines.

"Sometimes late at night when I get desperate for someone to talk to I call the time signal," Muriel said. " 'At the tone the time will be eleven...forty-eight. And fifty seconds.' " Her voice took on a fruity fullness. " 'At the tone the time will be eleven... forty-nine. Exactly.'

Do you remember the days of calling TIME? A younger person reading the book - or reading this post - might not have a clue about what that's all about.

The people in Macon's life refer to Muriel as "this Muriel person." That made me smile, too. My mother had a friend that was referred to as "that Doris."

I liked the characters. This novel begs you to think about whether or not it's enough to like the person you when you're with someone and you don't necessarily need to feel love. Who brings out your best self?

As a divorced person - and as someone who loves to travel and in my early years had aspirations to be a travel writer - I liked Tyler's take on what it's like to be newly separated and not yet divorced as well as what it's like to be a travel writer who doesn't like to travel.

I would only recommend this book to people who don't need a lot of action in a story. There's a level of sadness in the novel. A child being murdered, elements of divorce, neglect by a parent. On the other hand, there are humorous warm moments dealing with relationships we have with others and with ourselves.

Let's talk about A Spool of Blue Thread

Just as I suspected, while A Spool of Blue Thread was just an okay book, the book club discussion was so much better. It was a great book to discuss.

A dozen members of my community book club met to chat about Anne Tyler’s latest novel, “A Spool of Blue Thread”.  Anne Tyler is famous for writing about family relationships. Over time, “the essential concern for family remains the same.” The facilitator of the discussion came prepared with lots of background information about Tyler. In addition to talking about the book, many aspects of the author’s life were discussed as well. One member of our group is a huge fan of Tyler’s and has read all twenty of her novels at least once. I think I've only read 3 or 4. Or maybe 5. After our discussion, I might want to check if I've read "The Accidental Tourist" or not. That sounds like a book I might enjoy, if I haven't enjoyed it already.

“A Spool of Blue Thread” is the story about a house. It’s also about the Whitshank family living in the house. The house was very much a character of the novel. And the story of how the house came to the family was quite compelling. One of the reviews shared said that Tyler’s characters are frequently described as “sweet, sentimental and cozy.” The book club disagreed with this account. They felt that most of Tyler’s characters are quirky and unpredictable. The quirkiness of the characters was a big appeal to many in the group. 

No one in attendance at the meeting disliked the book although some felt it was one of Tyler’s weakest books. Whether we loved the book or felt it was mediocre, there was so much to talk about. Big families have lots of drama. They also have interesting stories. The way the elder Whitshanks came to get married. The way the second generation Whitshanks came to get married. The way that Abby Whitshank picked up strays wherever she went, unless it was to the beach on family vacations. The way the Whitshank family considered themselves “special.” What does it mean to consider yourself part of a “special” family? That debate could have gone on for a good long time. One woman hated the word special. Another woman and I felt that being special wasn't always a good thing... but that's what made our family our own.

Aging was a theme of the novel. Some wondered aloud whether Anne Tyler’s own aging contributed to some parts of the story not quite jiving. There were some missing threads (pun intended). There were some stories that didn't quite seem necessary. Many felt that the ending seemed rushed. It also gave ample opportunities for the group to discuss related experiences. After the death of Abby, Red is very willing to move out of the house. How realistic is that? Why and how would he realize that staying in the beloved family home was no longer the correct choice? How does an older person know when it’s time to give up a house? We also talked about Denny being the prodigal son and about the roles that each of the adult children had within the family. Abby always wanted her children to be friends for life. Is that what we want for our children? I'm happy to report that my three adult children are very close and while I don't take credit for that, it makes me very happy and proud. What expectations do have parents have for their children as adults? What do we want most for our children?

“A Spool of Blue Thread” might or might not be Tyler’s final book. Rumor had it that she was never going to finish this one. But she did. And while there are no plans to publish a next work, she’s still writing.

Blue is my favorite color

Sometimes I need time to really think about a book before I write any sort of review about it. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler wasn't really that type of book, but I was away from my computer when I finished it. I only hope I can remember enough to write something worthy here. (I also pray that I can remember enough about the book to be able to discuss it at a book club meeting a few months from now!)

Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed A Spool of Blue Thread. I think it's a good book club book because there are a lot of things that can be discussed. But there was very little action in the book and it wasn't overly character-driven either. It's a family story about a quite ordinary family from Baltimore going back as far as Red's parents and going forward to Red's kids. (The grandchildren are minor characters in the story so it would really be a stretch to say that the plot covered 4 generations.)

Red and Abby Whitshank are a perfectly ordinary couple, parents of 4 children, living in a house that Red's father, Junior, built for wealthy clients but which Junior aspired to live in. He got his wish. The house is as much a character in the book as any of the children - or even Red, Abby, Junior or Linnie Mae.

(Another text-to-self connection here... my family is currently getting ready to sell a house that has been in our family for over 80 years... longer than the Whitshanks lived in their house. Tyler gives you an excellent idea of what the house means to Red. Did my family home mean that much to anyone who had ever lived there? I suppose I will never know.)

The Whitshank kids, Amanda, Jeannie, Denny and Stem, are worried about Abby and Red living in that big old house alone. Abby experiences blackouts and Red has trouble hearing. The kids decide that the parents need help. But the parents don't think they need help nor do they want any help. This allows Tyler to unfold the stories of the Whitshank family. How they got to where they are today, what drives the children, what explains the relationships between the siblings. It's all quite ordinary but it's not. On the surface, the story is simple... and probably more common than I know in the community in which I am now living. It also brought back memories of what I experienced at the point where I worried that my parents probably should not have been living on their own.

Tyler weaves the story back and forth through different periods of time. We start in 1994, jump forward to more current times, then back to learn the story of Red's parents in the 1930s. And then we're mostly back to the present. These movements through time make the story evolve in an unpredictable way. But isn't that the way real life is? The spool of thread that is the Whitshank family slowly unravels and we learn that all is not as it first appears.

I love family sagas. I love reading about ordinary (but not so ordinary) families. And I love Anne Tyler's style of writing. (My favorite book of hers is most likely Back When We Were Grownups.) A Spool of Blue Thread is the type of book that really demands to be read in one sitting. But because my reading time was broken up, it surprisingly took me over 2 weeks to finish.

And like I said, I hope I remember enough of what drew me in during my reading when it comes time to discuss this with my community book club.

P.S. Here's the link to my recap of the book club meeting where A Spool of Blue Thread was discussed.