A review by escape_through_pages
Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

📖 REVIEW 📖

Redhead by the Side of the Road was my first experience reading Anne Tyler. This is an utterly charming book that is reminiscent of the style of Mary Lawson’s A Town Called Solace, if you enjoyed that I would recommend this book. 

Micah Mortimer is a man in his forties, he lives alone but has a female partner, Cassia - he refuses to refer to a woman over 30 as a girlfriend - and lives a very ordered life with a set routine. He likes what he knows and knows what he likes. He is a character regarded with fondness despite his oddities. 

His well structured life is thrown when he has a misunderstanding with Cassia, shortly followed by the arrival of a young man on his doorstep claiming to be his son.

This is a story of an ordinary man and his rather ordinary life, a story of mistakes, misunderstandings, relationships, loneliness and second chances, told with compassion. It’s an intimate character portrait; I’ve learned I really enjoy these kind of novels. Lawson and Sarah Moss are authors who really hit this nail on the head for me and if Anne Tyler’s other novels are of similar ilk, then I’ll be delighted to dive head first into her backlist.