The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Redhead by the Side of the Road, by Anne Tyler

Please remember to read the Booker Folder Rules and post accordingly

I'm supposed to automatically love Anne Tyler, apparently, because I'm from Baltimore.

I've read a few, but they felt very same-y to me. However the Guardian review seemed to like this a lot, and any redhead on the side of the road seems about right for now.

Has anyone even thought about reading this one before the list came out?

My Mom is a huge Anne Tyler fan. I bought this for her when it first came out. She gave it 5 stars. I’ve read a few of her older ones and agree about the same-y. I haven’t read any of her newer releases.

Amanda wrote: "My Mom is a huge Anne Tyler fan. I bought this for her when it first came out. She gave it 5 stars. I’ve read a few of her older ones and agree about the same-y. I haven’t read any of her newer rel..."

I'm guilty of not having read her newer books, so I can't judge. I will say that Anne Tyler has a strong fan base, and people will go to the mat for her time and again, which is great. She doesn't live too far from me, though as she put it in one interview, "not many miles away, though the worlds are entirely separate." (She was talking about The Wire, not me, but that's my neighborhood.)

Ella wrote: "Has anyone even thought about reading this one before the list came out?"

Yes, I love her books and searched my shelves because I could have sworn I bought this in US edition when it came out. It appears I didn't and it isn't easy to get now so I ordered the signed UK edition from Foyles.

Ang wrote: "Ella wrote: "Has anyone even thought about reading this one before the list came out?"

Yes, I love her books and searched my shelves because I could have sworn I bought this in US edition when it ..."

That's good to know! I thought she'd been ignored by our group - qué tragic! I'm planning to read it too.

I read it when it came out. I love her books, but this one felt a bit slight. It had some of the characteristics I love about Tyler (mainly her ability to draw characters who feel real in just a few strokes), but I basically forgot about it as soon as I'd finished it.

The only Anne Tyler I’ve read is A Spool of Blue Thread, reading that is typical Anne Tyler about boring middle aged tech guy makes me think A Spool of Blue Thread will remain the only book I’ve read by Anne Tyler. Maybe I’m just annoyed that instead of drawing the world’s attention to Agnes Shakespeare with Hamnet, it’s being made aware of yet another middle aged white man.

I get wanting to substitute this book out for Hamnet, but your criticism that this book just brings attention to another middle aged white man seems harsh as applied to this panel of judges that selected this book. The long list, both in terms of authors and subject matter, is so much more diverse than any Booker long list I can think of.

I should add that I get that Anne Tyler, due to her long career that has consistently explored family relationships in Baltimore and its suburbs, can make her appear to be writing books from a couple of generations ago; but she is usually going about other issues and I think they’re more varied than the blurbs give them credit for. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of her work, but I usually admire it. Again, I can see wanting to replace this with a number of other books, and I haven’t read this one, but your criticism got me thinking and responding regardless, Wndy!

WndyJW wrote: "The only Anne Tyler I’ve read is A Spool of Blue Thread, reading that is typical Anne Tyler about boring middle aged tech guy makes me think A Spool of Blue Thread will remain the o..."

The only one I've read as well. Perfectly fine but it didn't feel Booker material, and rather surprised to see this one here given the big names that have missed out (and yes, that is unfair, it is not the author's fault others missed out, just one can justify a lot of the choices by a desire for a diverse list of relatively unknown authors)

The one I'm least keen to read, I've never actually read any Anne Tyler. But hey I'm open to it and will do my best to keep an open mind.

John wrote: "The one I'm least keen to read, I've never actually read any Anne Tyler. But hey I'm open to it and will do my best to keep an open mind."

She's good, very well crafted novels which explore human behaviour . Baltimore features heavily.

I agree with Robert, and they are hardly ever what you expect they are going to be, especially if it is your first of hers (though I haven't read this one yet to say).

They can actually go along for many chapters being exactly what you expect they are going to be from the blurb, and then "Wham!" I am thinking specifically about A Spool of Blue Thread which I thought was fabulous.

Ang wrote: "I agree with Robert, and they are hardly ever what you expect they are going to be, especially if it is your first of hers (though I haven't read this one yet to say).

They can actually go along f..."

The Accidental Tourist remains a favourite. I'm looking forward to this one

Happy to give her another try and have ordered the new one immediately but I was very underwhelmed with A Spool of Blue Thread.

I have never read Tyler and I am looking forward to rectifying that.

That’s unfair by me - I enjoyed it, just did not find it very literary. I prefer Red to Blue so that’s hopeful.

Ella wrote: "I'm supposed to automatically love Anne Tyler, apparently, because I'm from Baltimore.

I've read a few, but they felt very same-y to me. However the Guardian review seemed to like this a lot, and..."

Hi Ella,
I read this as part of my local Waterstones Book Club zoom discussion in May.
I wont make any comments about the book at this stage (negative or positive), but only to say that Anne Tyler herself is very amusing on the subject of her writing. She has already started writing her next novel and its set in Baltimore (funnily enough- this is a Tyler staple).
When we discussed the book the most interesting and divisive part of our debate concerned newspaper reviews of the book (one in particular- not the Guardian one), and I personally would recommend not reading reviews of Redhead in advance (it was just one of our members who had done so, and hence the debate was all the more fascinating).

Jonathan wrote: "...not to read reviews..."

I will stick to this advice. I only read the first paragraph or so of the Guardian piece, but either the headline or that paragraph said something like 'her best in years' or something similar. I stopped reading when they started recapping the book. (I'm not a fan of big recaps in reviews anyway, so that probably saved me.) I will have this very soon b/c, well - everyone has it in stock around here. It's Anne Tyler's Baltimore, after all. Thanks for the tip!

Trevor is right, I was unnecessarily snarky about a book I haven’t read by an author I’ve only read once, and there are certainly a few middle-aged white men that I care very much about. I could sense negativity creeping into my responses to the listed books as I read through them last night for the childish reason that I was disappointed there weren’t many that I had heard of or wanted, so stopped reading them; as it turns out, after looking through them today, I’m already interested in a few I had no interest in last night. Sorry for my negativity on a much anticipated evening! Moving forward if I can’t something nice...

I do want to read more women authors from the U.S., what better than a Booker nominee?

Oh no worries at all Wndy! I myself have been heartened by many readers’ good opinions over the last 24 hours. I think I will end up trying to read six or seven of the books where yesterday I wondered if I’d read any (mainly because I really hadn’t done much due diligence on any of them prior to the announcement). One I am interested in is this one. It’s been some time since I read Anne Tyler. One I still remember quite well is Saint Maybe.

Gumble's Yard wrote: "I prefer Red to Blue so that’s hopeful."

Generally I feel the same, but in America it seems to be the other way around.

Me too. I ordered 3 or 4 today and have a few more I’ll order next week.

I will definitely give this one a read and perhaps I'll become an Anne Tyler fan and want to read the rest. I am something of an Ann Patchett fan (haven't got to Dutch House yet either). Not saying they are similar but friends have said if you like Patchett likely you will also Tyler.

MisterHobgoblin wrote: "Gumble's Yard wrote: "I prefer Red to Blue so that’s hopeful."

Generally I feel the same, but in America it seems to be the other way around."

We're trying to avoid references to a country's politics. The exception would be if it relates to a particular book but I don't think that's the case with Redhead.

You are by no means the only people to do this so please don't take it personally. You may have seen a similar response from me on the longlist thread yesterday. It's just something we are trying to stop this year.

My reference was sports based - Arsenal, Ferrari, Welsh rugby team

But I just realised - isn’t Abby in Spool of Blue Thread married to Red?

Hi, first post in this group.

I am a long-time (20 years) Anne Tyler devotee and have read every novel she's published. This isn't among her best, and I was surprised (though pleased, just because it's Tyler) to see it on the list.

Welcome, Jessie! Thanks for sharing and we look forward to hearing more from you.

Which are your favourite novels by her Jessie?

Thank you Ang :)

Gumble, my favorites are Searching for Caleb, The Accidental Tourist, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Breathing Lessons won the Pulitzer; I like that one but don't love it.

It saddens me, though I understand, when readers who have only read one or two of her more recent ones (Clock Dance, SoBT, Noah's Compass) give up on her. These books are not a good indicator of her talents.

I don’t remember the details but I remember that I loved Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

Jessie wrote: "Thank you Ang :)

Gumble, my favorites are Searching for Caleb, The Accidental Tourist, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Breathing Lessons won the Pulitzer; I like that one but don't love it."

I am a big Anne Tyler fan and have read virtually all of her novels (including Vinegar Girl, her Hogarth Press take on Taming of the Shrew). I generally agree with Jessie's favorites. Redhead by the Side of the Road was a delight -- a perfect 200 page microcosm of an Anne Tyler novel. In many ways, it was a great book for the pandemic, especially for people who were struggling to concentrate on reading. It is not hard to read, has characters you'd like to know and tells a meaningful story in a quiet, unassuming way. I was very surprised to see it on the longlist, but it made me happy to read, and so I am happy for it to get this extra recognition.

From the Anne Tyler devotees, it seems like maybe she was listed in a similar way as Atwood was last year -- for her career rather than one book, though I have no idea b/c my copy isn't yet ready for me. (I'm very much looking forward to it.)

I have read all of those Jessie & Cynthia mentioned as favorites - welcome Jessie! They seem like they were so very long ago, and I'm not even sure why I stopped picking up her books. It may actually have had something to do with Breathing Lessons -- it wasn't the book, just my life went sort of crazy at publication time, so I have a gap in my reading overall, and I seem to have left her off the list when I picked up again.

Either way, I'm glad she's finally getting some recognition because she is a national and Baltimore treasure in many ways, and she's often been called "women's fiction" and "non-literary" and all sorts of slightly off-putting terms, so I'm very happy for her. (And my library has 400 copies, but they still have a 300-person waiting list for this one. That says something about her popularity here in her hometown.)

Wow! That is a lot of stock at the library! My library has one which is currently checked out. I'm next in line :-)

In my younger days Anne Tyler and Margaret Atwood were both up and coming in the lit world and their novels would be displayed near one another in windows or on endcaps. For a short while, Anne Tyler became the favorite but since then Atwood has reached celebrity status primarily based on The Handmaid's Tale. I think Tyler came out with Accidental Tourist around the same time. Just reflecting on time passing.

Trevor wrote: "Wow! That is a lot of stock at the library! My library has one which is currently checked out. I'm next in line :-)"

Trevor - at the main Baltimore City branch, she practically has her own huge room, but at the county system, she is even more popular. They tend to keep them all at once branch of the library (I live nearest the "James Patterson holding branch") and then they ship them to the various locations, but yes, I was a bit astonished to see so many copies already when I logged in to ask for it. Baltimore tends to be absurdly proud of our hometown heros, and we go overboard, so I suppose I should have expected that. (The waiting list gets longer and longer - and in the last hour or two, they've just listed the e-book copies as "can't wait", which means I'll be able to get it right now. But I will wait until after I finish work tonight...)

Ella, I have also heard her referred to as "women's fiction", once by someone who merely glanced at the cover of the book in my hand (Tourist, with its winged armchair) and knew nothing about it beyond that. Irritating!

I think Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is particularly good at evoking Baltimore.

I read this in audio - twice, back to back. I like Tyler's writing and I like this book. She's really good with telling stories about the messiness of life. Micah Mortimer is a most interesting, not interesting character. Tyler does a wonderful job bringing him to life (no pun intended) in this short novel. She does something here that I don't remember in her other novels I've read that I mention in my review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... I'm not sure where I'll rank this book - most likely top half of the list.

Intriguing ….

I loved the "most interesting, not interesting" comment

I'll resist the urge to say more ... but it's hard.

I am reading now so will check your review tomorrow.

Look forward to your thoughts on the book.

Just finished so will write a review tomorrow probably.

LindaJ^ wrote: "I read this in audio - twice, back to back. I like Tyler's writing and I like this book. She's really good with telling stories about the messiness of life. Micah Mortimer is a most interesting, no..."

Is There's no plot here. Just a slice of real life. There is a narrator at the beginning and near the end who provides a Dickensesque (think Scrooge) overview and prediction. what’s different in this Tyler novel?

Sorry Tyler fans - not for me as part of this longlist - although I did mainly enjoy reading it last night

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I should be getting my copy from the library today or early next week. It's been a long time since I read anything by Tyler -- I didn't read the last one longlisted for the prize -- but I find the prospect appealing. I also find the prospect of a very short book appealing! I see the audiobook length is 4 hours 50 minutes!

I love that you included an MBTI label in your review, Gumble.

I feel like it captured the character a little too exactly.