The Tin Can Tree

by Anne Tyler

In the small town of Larksville, the Pike family is hopelessly out of step with the daily rhythms of life after the tragic, accidental death of six-year-old Janie Rose. Mrs Pike seldom speaks, blaming herself, while Mr. Pike is forced to come out of his long, comfortable silence. Then there is ten-year-old Simon, who is suddenly without a baby sister — and without understanding why she's gone.

Those closest to this shattered family must learn to comfort them — and confront their own private shadows of hidden grief. If time cannot draw them out of the dark, then love may be their only hope...

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, The United States Of America, Adult, Literature, Novels

201 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went on to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. She has published 20 novels, her debut novel being If Morning Ever Comes in (1964). Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons , was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Nadine Rose Larter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a weird relationship with Anne Tyler. I met her when I was nineteen. I was camping in Tennessee and she kept me company, and as she did so I began to discover that I really wanted to write. I have loved her since then, always, and am quick to mention that The Accidental Tourist is one of my favourite books. She is strange though. Possibly in a way that I can't quite express. While reading her other books (I have not gotten through all of them yet - not even all of hers that I own) I find myself wondering "why did you write this?" I cannot help but be curious about her motivations. What happened? What tiny little occurrence set you running off to tell this story? With the Tin Can Tree, you slip into the aftermath of the death of a child. It is a story filled with awkward conversations. It is strange, and yet readable. Relatable even if you cannot possibly relate. Anne Tyler baffles me. I can only imagine that she might have the true powers of an empath. She seems to understand things that she could not possibly have experienced - at least not all of them, though I imagine perhaps some. Her books seem to be just this though: a series of conversations that are so real you cannot stop yourself from hearing every word that she says. You get to the end and you think, "well not much happened in that story, everyone just sat around talking...." and then you go on to wonder how on earth her method works. Because it does work. And yet you can't imagine ever pulling it off yourself.

[Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid character study from Anne Tyler! I really enjoyed this as an examination of grief. It was a bit meandering and ended sort of flatly, but regardless the characters felt very real and alive on the page, which is why I love to read Tyler's work.

[Trishita (TrishReviews_ByTheBook) · Rating 3 out of 5]

At this point, I buy Anne Tyler’s books without even reading their blurbs. If it’s her name on the cover, I have to get it and read it, simple as that.

Sometimes I wonder, though, if her stories are too odd to be stories at all. Consider The Tin Can Tree - it’s the story of a family and two of their neighbouring families trying to find a new normal after a death that affects them all. What would be a sub-plot of any author’s novel, it’s her entire plot. Just a few days in the life of three somewhat-dysfunctional families. It isn’t even convincing enough for someone who doesn’t know her to be picked up for a reading.

It started off as a book I couldn’t imagine Tyler would write, with a strange and slow start, a bit too mystifying, and, oh I don’t want to admit this, but for the first 40-odd pages, pretty bland. Thankfully, that didn’t last. Slowly the story unfolded, mostly with keen perceptions of people and community, into a silent but shattering mess made by grief. There’s no drama, no showy scenes, no caustic confrontations, just a few people skulking somberly around the house, working a few hours on a tobacco farm, taking some pictures, staring at trees, drunken and sober talks with quiet realisations and reconciliations. The effect of all that remains as profound as her other novels with slightly more action.

The narrative doesn’t seem to be deliberately assembled with pace, plot and what not. It is more about the dialogues and the details, and both seem to deepen and diversify as the novel progresses. As ever, it’s as far removed from me and my world and yet and as ever so relatable and so readable, only it took a while to get there. But it was only her second book, and to have written it at about 20 years of age with such deftness is dazzling, to say the least.

Oh, how I wish I could look at the world with her eyes, ever so piercingly observant, clever and compassionate, and intricately artful. Once again, I come away from her novel elevated and exhilarated. 4 stars!

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really do like Anne Tyler's books. Her books (there are quite a few) are not so much plots, as in moving along story lines, as they are character studies. When you carefully read her words, you feel like you know these people. You feel like you're there with them. Very often her characters are sad, melancholy people doing ordinary, unexciting things, dealing with loss or disappointment. Sounds depressing, huh...

This book is about three (rather dysfunctional) family units living in a three unit row home. In one of the units there has been a loss, six year old Janie Rose who had fallen off a tractor. So the story is really about how her family, and the families in the other units, deal with her death. Could be depressing, as I said...

Maybe it's Tyler's style of writing I really like, or maybe it's because she really gets to the heart of people's actions, even if they are sad. If you know me, it's the complete opposite of my usual optimistic, happy self. So I can't explain it. I like Tyler's books.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her second novel from 1965, Anne Tyler hadn't developed her formula or her own distinct voice yet - but I found that refreshing. The keen interest in people's motivations and complicated family structures is already there, but the style reminded me a bit of someone trying imitate Steinbeck. But I also found this harder to read than her other novels, it took more time and energy, and it's not a novel to be read half asleep. But it worth it.


The Tin Can Tree (1965) - 4/5
Celestial Navigation (1974) - 4/5
Morgan's Passing (1980) - 4/5
The Accidental Tourist (1985) 3/5
Breathing Lessons (1988) 4/5
Ladder of Years (1995) - 4/5
A Patchwork Planet (1998) - 4/5
Back When We Were Grownups (2001) - 3/5
The Amateur Marriage (2004) - 3/5
The Beginner’s Goodbye (2012) - 3/5
A Spool of Blue Thread (2015) - 5/5
Vinegar Girl (2016) - 2/5
Clock Dance (2018) 3/5
Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020) - 3/5

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am gradually filling in the Anne Tyler books I've not read. The Tin Can Tree is her second novel.

Set in a small Southern town, it concerns the Pike family who have lost their six-year-old daughter in an accident involving a tractor. Ten-year-old Simon only knows that his mother has retreated into her bedroom and does not come out.

The Pikes live in a row house, three small homes attached to each other with a front porch that spans the whole building. The inhabitants have known each other for ages. These characters are all as individual and odd as Tyler's characters usually are.

Through awkward encounters with each other they muddle through the aftereffects of little Janie's death. It is a story of people doing only what they know how to do to deal with their own and each other's troubles and messy lives.

I loved it.

[Gary Garth McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another GR reviewer commented re this book that everything he thought was going to happen didn't. This seems to me usually true in Tyler, and isn't it what makes good fiction so interesting? It's like reading mystery, only the mystery is life itself. In The Tin Can Tree, as one family tries to heal from the death of one of their children, a neighbor lives under the burden of caring for his physically and mentally disabled brother, while he's in love with a woman who wants a life with him. The small town/rural North Carolina ambiance is a treasure, as, to my mind, is this slice-of-life view into the characters' lives. Faulkner came to mind as I read this novel.

[Thais · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il punto di forza dei romanzi di Anne Tyler non è mai la trama. E questo non fa eccezione: non succede praticamente niente. L'autrice racconta di come i vari personaggi interagiscono fra loro, affrontando la realtà e riprendosi dopo la morte della piccola Janie Rose, di soli sei anni. Tutto qui.
Ma lo fa in un modo talmente delicato e "umano" che non si può non sentirsi vicini a questi personaggi così teneri, realistici e buffi nella loro quotidianità, nel loro imbarazzo, con le loro piccole manie e debolezze.
Non è un brutto romanzo, ma nemmeno uno di quelli che mi sono piaciuti di più di quest'autrice, così brava a raccontare il nulla.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel was written in 1965 and it hasn't aged well. The dialogue is mostly people going on about nothing (apparently, as country folk are prone to do) and interrupting each other. There is enough plot for a short story, but that's it. The end is anti climatic. Half way through I was sick of every of other sentence beginning with "Well." I've read "The Accidental Tourist" by Anne Tyler and always hear great things about her other novels, so this was a real disappointment. Unless you're a serious Anne Tyler fan, I'd avoid this one.

[Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anne Tyler has been one of my favorite writers for the last 30 years. I don't think it's because I grew up a few neighborhoods away from her; I think it's because she's talented, tender, and wise. "The Tin Can Tree" is her second novel and will celebrate it's 50th anniversary next year. It's the story of several families and individuals 'trapped' in a small town in any state in the country, living their daily lives, wanting something better, but not really knowing how to grasp it. Almost sounds like a Springsteen song and, in this case, covers many of the themes found in his lyrics.

I would have given the book 4 stars except for its slow start. It took a while for her to establish the characters and to provide enough information to care about them. About halfway through the book, the conflicts become more inflated, although they are certainly not of grandiose proportions. Most interesting to me is the young Simon, who has just lost his little sister in a farming accident and wants to run away from home because his grieving mother is paying little attention to him. In essence, he wants to run away to see if she even notices. While Simon does not appear in most of the book, he is the most compelling character, with some very humorous observations about life and his community. What makes Tyler interesting in all of her novels is that nearly all of her characters also have a very deeply felt point of view about life.

Then there is Joan, the young woman who also packs her bags to leave town but finds that she is, for some reason, drawn back to her dull existence among even duller people. The lyrics "we got to get out while we're young" come to mind as Joan settles back and realizes she's not going anywhere.

I've often felt that a network like HBO could serve itself well by buying the rights to all of Ms. Tyler's books and giving them the wider audience that they deserve in the most unabashed way.

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strong early novel for Anne Tyler. It moved verrrry slowly, and the resolution kind of went over my head or was tacked on and artificial. However, the characters were interesting, and the story kept me engaged.

I have real problems with the character of Ansel -- was he chronically ill? Dying? A drunk? Selfish? Caring? A hypochondriac or a drunken hypochondriac? The answers to those questions never became clear to me. I don't really know, but as a chronically ill person, I was saddened to see yet another character who could have been a "gypsy-in-the-parlor" (a manipulative con man/woman who feigns illness to his/her own advantage). We've got far too many of those in books and movies already.

I'm sure there was something to the fact that Ansel's (as in Ansel Adams?) brother was a photographer and that he spent hours looking at the photographs his brother took, but it was too arcane for me to dope out.

Tyler's humanity and fondness for each of her characters comes through -- even in this early work.

[Michela De Bartolo · Rating 1 out of 5]

No no ho abbandonato la lettura di questo libro , pieno di discorsi forzati ed insulsi tra i protagonisti. Mi aspettavo più introspezione e sicuramente più analisi della personalità dei personaggi, invece nulla . Lascio perdere , il mio tempo è prezioso e non voglio perdere tempo con un libro poco appetibile .

[Lbball27 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bravest thing about people, Miss Joan, is how they go on loving mortal beings after finding out there's such a thing as dying."

[Leah Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I typically like this author, but this book was extremely boring ....

[Julie Richert-Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not know how to account for the steadily thrumming, resonating insistence of this little novel, because it is just.so.quiet. But quiet as an earthquake is. One senses something powerful coming-then it is already gone. So I keep looking back at these people to try to see how they are following me so insistently. Perhaps it is the pitch-perfect truth of the lost and very ordinary ways that they grieve together. Perhaps it is the astonishing ABSENCE of drama that creates a counterpoint to what we commonly think of as a powerful story. They go about their days after a family tragedy, fully expecting no one at all to notice them, fully accepting that their lives matter to no one at all in the world. Somehow, Tyler focuses our attention on this portrait long enough that we see or remember or learn or acknowledge that people getting through one day and then another is actually all that matters . . .

"In the finder of the camera Joan could see them moving, each person making his own set of motions. But the glass of the finder seemed to hold them there like figures in a snowflurry paperweight who would still be in their set positions when the snow settled down again. She thought whole years could pass, they could be born and die, they could leave and return, they could marry or live out their separate lives alone, and nothing in this finder would change. They were going to stay this way, she and all the rest of them, not because of anyone else but because it was what they had chosen, what they would keep a strong tight hold of."

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tin Can Tree is nothing like most of the novels I have read by Anne Tyler, but it's still just as wonderful. She is able to write characters that are at once so unique and yet completely familiar.

[Mickyt160 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Anne Tyler books but I just couldn't enjoy this one

[Britta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. (Hated Ansel here, what a whiney person!) Really need to write anything Mrs Tyler has ever written. It's such a joy, her language, her depictions of people.

[Julietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Tyler was 24 when she wrote "The Tin Can Tree." Seems impossible, but true. It was only her second book ever in a series of 24 novels. Her last was written this year 2025 at the age of 83. What a remarkable, longstanding talent.

She has become one of my favorite novelists along with Louise Erdrich of the "Love Medicine" series of novels. They have in common many strong female leads. I use the word "lead" because it's easy to imagine either author's books as movies: they paint such a strong picture in the reader's brain. In addition, Tyler's children wormed their way into my heart where they remained for days after finishing one of her books. In TTCT, the child character who grabbed my heart is Simon, an endearing 10 year old who is stoic, yet devastated by the death of his 6 year old sister in a tractor accident.

He walked stiffly and blindly, with his sharp little shoulder-bones sticking out through the back of his jacket.

I've read this description before about Thomas in "Saint Maybe" whose back was a sharp coat hanger.

In this case, the strong female lead is Joan Pike, a 26 year old young woman, who is living with Mr. and Mrs. Pike, her aunt and uncle, rather than with her elderly parents. She's living there because she became very attached to the children and was asked to stay. How could one NOT become attached to these children? In fact, Simon only becomes more endearing when Joan gives him a home haircut, leaving him with short tufts of hair all around his head. I just wanted to tousle his hair and tell him everything will turn out alright...I hope!

The Pikes (Aunt Lou, Uncle Roy, Joan, Simon, Janie Rose is deceased), the Greens (James and his handicapped brother Ansel), and the elderly Potter sisters all live together yet separately in something like a triplex. Apparently this kind of housing was common in small towns near Baltimore back in the day.

Joan and James have some sort of a romance going on.

In the evenings she sat with James, every evening talking of the same things and never moving forward or backwards with him.

James is a photographer and there is a lot of interesting discussion about how people would rather not have themselves captured in a picture because it's a frozen non-them. Aunt Hattie has this opinion of portraiture. Nevertheless, she is forced by her daughter to have her portrait taken by James. She greatly dislikes the idea. Furthermore, she's afraid because the last photographer came right up to me and pushed my face sideways but my shoulders full-front, and my knees sideways but my feet full-front, so I swear, I felt like something on an Egyptian wall. That description had me chortling unexpectedly. After all the poignancy, I was surprised by the humorous bits!

Meanwhile, Aunt Lou has gone comatose due to grief. There is a plot afoot to get her out of bed by returning her to her previous job as a seamstress in her home. Involved in the plot are Connie Hammond (Aunt Hattie's daughter), Joan, and Simon. Connie brings the pieces of a dress Lou was working on and does manage to get her out of bed, downstairs, and starting to work on it. Simon keeps up a steady stream of conversation/gossip to keep her engaged. It seems to be successful, until Lou suddenly falls headfirst onto her sewing machine and injures herself.

Most of the book is extremely sad. If you've recently experienced the death of a loved one or are generally feeling down, now might not be the time to read it. Wait until the time is right!

Here's some more about James and Joan. James has to take his pictures to the local newspaper. While in his darkroom, he sees the picture of Joan in a dust storm. Of course, it's his favorite.

Her figure made a straight, black line through a circle of wavery blurs, and her head was bent forward in that way she had when she walked. He didn't know how many hundreds of times he had seen her like that. He was really paying attention and her stride shows a lot about her strength of character.

They are very stuck. He can't really marry her because he has to take care of Ansel. She can't really enact any change in their relationship. What will they do? Will she leave? If Joan were to leave, James would want to say Come back. And will you marry me? But he can't because he has Ansel.

I can't tell you if the stuck will come unstuck. What will happen to Joan and James? Will Simon, Uncle Roy, and Aunt Lou begin to heal from Janie Rose's death? Here's one more quote about Simon showing the characterization.

He began walking in those small circles of his, with his eyes on his boots.

That's all till the next Anne Tyler or maybe a Raymond Carver or 2.

[Sarah Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may be worth four stars! My reading and enjoyment of it was interrupted and I found it difficult to pick up the threads after a break. It is a typical Anne Tyler: beautifully written with a strong empathy for family relationships affected by unfinished business and troubled times. I think it is as good as any of her others. I always want to read her latest book.

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tyler is a master of characterization. She has such a gentle touch, no info dumps or lengthy descriptions, but her people are always so clear to me. Even when they’re in completely different circumstances from my own. It's why I've read 22 of her books. (2 to go!)

[JimZ]

Pretty much like all of Anne Tyler's oeuvre. I briefly lived in Baltimore which made it even better because most if not all of her books are based there.

[Fiona Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book from Anne Tyler. The sudden death of a young girl has a profound impact on her family and close neighbours.

[Parikhit · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something magical about Anne Tyler's writing and her books. They aren't books that feel like someone is banging a booming thunderous drum inside your head but they are much like a slow, continuous tinkering gnawing at your senses, drawing you into the baritone, into a strange melancholic symphony that stay lodged inside your head for years to come. Albeit I have only read A Spool of Blue Thread prior to reading this book, I knew Anne Tyler will stay with me for a long time when reading the former!

The Tin Can Tree isn't a book about an incident that shakes the world but it is 'largely' about a family who has lost one of their younger members; I mention 'largely' because the book has so much more to it than a family coping with loss and coming to terms with the incident that has marred their lives. It is about an inconspicuous family, a group of people in a small town in America going about their daily lives. They are born there, die there, there are diners, there are trucks, there are neighbours-everyone knows everyone, some run away, some return and some never do. It is not about the bigger cities of New York City or San Francisco but about the lives in smaller towns, lives we don't read about much but lives that have so much to narrate to us-the sense of emptiness, the sense of happiness, of life going on at its pace, ever changing, ever the same. Layers upon layers-I have often wondered how does Anne Tyler do it, draw emotions from within the depths of our heart and leave it hanging. Any of Anne Tyler's books are highly recommended.

[Andréa Lechner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a truly disappointing novel - great start, building up to something that never was.
Why bother to write about bereavement if there is no inherent desire to explore the aftermath of a tragic death other than linearly? We feel for the Pikes, but other than the devastating and crippling consequences of it on Lou, the mother of the dead girl, what do we really learn about what life was like before the accident? Precious little.
I started reading the book with great anticipation, confident that Ms Tyler would delve into the dark corners of grief, expose us to all its ramifications. Instead, we get a slow and ponderous yarn about the inhabitants of three adjoining properties; one of them is where the survivors of the tragic accident attempt to carry on living.
It could have been a good novel, but, as far as I'm concerned, it was a treatment rather than a finished book. An idea, an embryo of a novel that might have been.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not one of her better books. Simon and Janie are the only likeable characters. The rest of them are all so dull, depressing and frustrating that by the end I felt they were all getting what they deserved by being stuck with one another.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet novel of heart, insight, acceptance and finding your way: ‘They were going to stay this way, she and all the rest of them, not because of anyone else but because it was what they had chosen, what they would keep a strong tight hold of.’

[Dianna Whitlock]

Not her best. Disappointing...

[Merim · Rating 2 out of 5]

IT was pretty boring to me