Saint Maybe – Anne Tyler

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:03:21 +0000

I picked this book us from the library (in large print! – I quite like large print I wonder if that means I need reading glasses?).

I liked Anne Tyler. I like how her novels focus on more domestic themes – everyday life with all of its complexities.

Here is the book description …

In 1965, the happy Bedloe family is living an ideal, apple-pie existence in Baltimore. Then, in the blink of an eye, a single, tragic event occurs that will transform their lives forever — particularly that of seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe, the youngest son, who blames himself for the sudden “accidental” death of his older brother.Depressed and depleted, Ian is almost crushed under the weight of an unbearable, secret guilt. Then one crisp January evening, he catches sight of a window with glowing yellow neon, the Church of the Second Chance. He enters and soon discovers that forgiveness must be earned, through a bit of sacrifice and a lot of love.

The characters in this novel are wonderfully portrayed – they all seem to be real (and completely ordinary). This novel is about guilt and atonement, but also about family and where individuals fit into a family and what is required to be part of a family. Ian sacrifices greatly to atone for his brother’s death (which he thinks he caused). He raises his brother’s children (with some help from his parents) which involves giving up college and the life he might have imagined for himself.

‘Right,’ Ian told her. ‘I had both my parents helping, and still it wasn’t easy. A lot of it was just plain boring. Just providing a warm body, just being there; anyone could have done it. And then other parts were terrifying. Kids get into so much! They start to matter so much. Some days I felt like a fireman or a lifeguard or something – all that tedium, broken up by little spurts of high drama.’

I think that’s a fantastic quote about parenting. Sometimes it is boring – admiring the thirtieth picture of a dinosaur for that day, reading yet another Princess story and yet it does matter.

Having said that, I was a bit disappointed with the ending. I wanted something better for Ian – not just more of the same – still living at home (albeit with his wife), looking after another baby and his aging father.

Here’s a study guide …

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-saint-maybe/

and it was made into a TV movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168156/

Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:50:02 +0000

I’ve been making an effort to get books from the library and this is one I found while browsing (I was looking for Sarah Waters). It one the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

I liked this one – Maggie is so annoying. She interferes with the best of intentions and then just makes every thing worse. The characters are fabulous and the situations so believable. Ms Tyler works on a small canvas – not many characters and people don’t move far from their hometown. A bit like Austen’s ‘three or four families in a country village’.

Here is the blurb …

Maggie and Ira Moran have been married for twenty-eight years–and it shows: in their quarrels, in their routines, in their ability to tolerate with affection each other’s eccentricities. Maggie, a kooky, lovable meddler and an irrepressible optimist, wants nothing more than to fix her son’s broken marriage. Ira is infuriatingly practical, a man “who should have married Ann Landers.” And what begins as a day trip to a funeral becomes an adventure in the unexpected. As Maggie and Ira navigate the riotous twists and turns, they intersect with an assorted cast of eccentrics–and rediscover the magic of the road called life and the joy of having somebody next to you to share the ride . . . bumps and all.

This is a novel for people (like me) who don’t need a lot of action, but like to see the plot slowly unfold and reveal more and more about the characters.

Here are some other sites that might be of interest.

http://www.enotes.com/breathing-lessons

http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2009/02/breathing-lessons-by-anne-tyler.html#

http://literaturecrazy.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-review-breathing-lessons.html

My BookClub Reviews » anne tyler

Saint Maybe – Anne Tyler

Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler