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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Boring, very disappointed. I kept hoping to start enjoying it, but just never did.
I’ve enjoyed the other Anne Tyler books I’ve read, but this one just didn’t do much for me.
Mostly, it felt like a worse, dated version of her “Redhead by the Side of the Road” (which I know is unfair, since this one came first), which also featured a main character so focused on structuring everything about his day-to-day routine that he forgets to live.
I sympathized with Macon at first. His despair when he’s all alone in the house, and the coping mechanisms he clings to desperately, made him feel more real and relatable to me than he did at any point after that.
I know the whole point of the book was to show how he basically sleepwalked through life, but because of how little agency he’d shown, and all his half-hearted waffling back and forth, I didn’t really buy the ending. Or him as a character much of the time.
The book seemed to focus almost exclusively on their moments of conflict and disconnect, relegating most of the good times to quick summaries, so I really couldn’t see them working together. Personally, she annoyed me, and I also struggled to see her as someone who could be a real person. And, there were moments when it did seem like the main thing she was looking for in a man was someone to pay the bills.
I also found most of the side characters to be quirky caricatures, couldn’t muster up much interest in Julian and Rose, and by the end the only sympathy I had left was for Sarah. She and Macon seemed locked in their old unhealthy patterns together, but really, just needed someone to make the first move in being vulnerable and suggesting a new way forward. And given Macon’s journey in this book, such as it was, you’d think he could be the one to do it.
Much as I‘ve enjoyed other books in this vein that explore ordinary people in their ordinary lives, this one just fell flat and was … boring.
Mostly, it felt like a worse, dated version of her “Redhead by the Side of the Road” (which I know is unfair, since this one came first), which also featured a main character so focused on structuring everything about his day-to-day routine that he forgets to live.
I sympathized with Macon at first. His despair when he’s all alone in the house, and the coping mechanisms he clings to desperately, made him feel more real and relatable to me than he did at any point after that.
I know the whole point of the book was to show how he basically sleepwalked through life, but because of how little agency he’d shown, and all his half-hearted waffling back and forth, I didn’t really buy the ending. Or him as a character much of the time.
Spoiler
Or maybe I’m just not a fan of the Muriel/Macon relationship.I also found most of the side characters to be quirky caricatures, couldn’t muster up much interest in Julian and Rose, and by the end the only sympathy I had left was for Sarah. She and Macon seemed locked in their old unhealthy patterns together, but really, just needed someone to make the first move in being vulnerable and suggesting a new way forward. And given Macon’s journey in this book, such as it was, you’d think he could be the one to do it.
Much as I‘ve enjoyed other books in this vein that explore ordinary people in their ordinary lives, this one just fell flat and was … boring.
Changes that take place in one couple's life after their son is violently murdered.
Snooze fest and slightly annoying. I kept waiting for some epiphany or enlightening moment...but nope. Everyone just kind of floated along from one life event to the next in all their quirkiness. I probably missed something, but I thought it was bor-ing.
Nice writing, effortless read, provocative, complex. I liked it better than the movie which was somewhat forgettable.I'm inspired to check out some of her other novels.
3.5 stars. Anne Tyler is brilliant. Her prose and use of dialogue is exquisite. Her characters are genuinely flawed and complex. The only reason I'm rounding this down to 3 stars instead of up to 4 is that I personally related to the characters in [b:Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant|77699|Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant|Anne Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1401953526s/77699.jpg|75046] a whole lot more than this one. It's not that this book is any 'weaker' in construction, subject or tone, but that I simply 'liked' Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant more. Maybe this is just because I read that one first. I also wonder if Tyler regularly reuses recurring themes or similar character traits in her work. That's fine if you think of each novel as independent, but it may get repetitive if you attempt to read multiple novels by the author.
slow-paced
This is my first Anne Tyler read, and I only read it so I can watch the movie starring Geena Davis. The story started out very compelling but stalled once the characters started interacting with each other, which was odd. The m/c is a man going through a mid-life crisis after his son's death, but I didn't feel that I understood them or the choices they made. The only character that didn't seem 2-dimensional was Muriel, but I felt that a lot of opportunity was lost with her character; she existed to be the anti-thesis of Macon's wife and nothing else. The Accidental Tourist really went nowhere for me, and you can definitely tell it was written in 1985. :\
a man must choose to start living instead of just watching life. quirky and poignant
