eb_bookshelf 's review for:

French Braid by Anne Tyler

4.0

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Nothing happens and everything happens in this story of a family, and the way that parents, siblings, cousins, and grandchildren grow together and apart through the years. I loved how the somewhat cringey way the family doesn't address or effectively communicate about issues (elephants in the room) can also be seen as a way the family takes care of one another - by coming together over and over without fixating on all the difficult things. French Braid is a perfect title - it captures the "little kindnesses and little cruelties" that weave together in a family, and leave a crimp where they've been.