Why Read a 33 year old Anne Tyler novel? Why read Anne Tyler?
Anne Tyler is for me a study in maturity – my maturity. She seems to have been writing well-received novels for as long as I can remember. I read one (cannot remember which) in my twenties and it clearly had little or no impact since it took almost forty years for me to return to her world of greater Baltimore, marriage, love and (mostly) women. The reviews of her most recent book, French Braid, were so filled with admiration for her life’s work that I searched our bookshelves at home and found a worn, lovely copy pf her 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Breathing Lessons. Jeannie had read it when it came out and maybe I did too. Regardless, it was all new to me and I flew through it. She is as gifted with dialogue as any writer I have read. Her plots are as simple as they are profound, and she is very funny when she is not breaking your heart. The novel is anachronistic in time and place and, as such, is a lovely time capsule. The characters are real and human as are their dilemmas and their misfortunes. Everything feels just right. She wrote this wise book at 47. At 67, I am now old enough to fully appreciate her gift and look forward to taking full advantage of her long and productive career.
Breathing Lessons
Anne Tyler
1988 345 pages
