SLP
I read this book as a young person, closer to the time that it was published, and I really liked it. It was a coherent piece of science fiction. Re-reading it 40 years later, I find that the plot is predictable and the writing commonplace, to my dismay. I fear that this book is not surviving the test of time.
Anne Tyler specializes in female characters who don't have much control over their lives. The protagonist in Ladder of Years leaves her family - just wanders down the beach - on day, sure that they won't care, and that they probably won't notice for days.
The characters are well-developed over time, and described in an amusing tone of voice. “Her hair curled at the bottom like the S-hole in a violin” (paraphrase) comes to mind first.
I particularly appreciated how the protagonist comes to terms with herself as a person, after many years of seeing herself as an extension of others: her father's receptionist, her husband's wife, the mother of three. She learned to be comfortable by herself and with herself, which helped her be better in her roles as parent, wife & employee.
This was my second reading of this book, and this time, I upgraded from 4 stars to 5 stars.
An interesting story line - a woman takes her fiance's daughter to Ocean Beach, and while taking photos on the beach, the child disappears. How she agonizes over what happened, how the relationship with her fiance changes after this event, the months and months and months of looking, losing hope, is the core of the book.
I thought it was well-written, well-constructed and true to life, which is what we are looking for in a book, right?
Emma is not a likable protagonist. In fact, as a group we thought that few, if any, of the characters were likable. This book was the first of the ‘realistic' novels, describing the lives of the emerging bourgousie in France. Different translations lead to a slightly different reading experience. My personal choice is Steegmuller.
This is a great book to learn applique from. Techniques are practiced on a heart shape, which is the perfect shape to practice applique - it has straight sides, curved areas, inside points and outside points. A group of us practiced our techniques with book at the rate of a technique a week, or one heart a week.
The author says “I did not have a year in Provence or a villa under the Tuscan sun. I did not have a farm in Africa. It turned out that my life was not someone else's book.” This was a delightful little book, only 178 pages, and a paperback-sized hardback. She tells about her life throughout about 2 years, as she recovers from a divorce, is forced to sell her home, lives with a 13-year-old and renovates a ramshackle cottage. She promised her daughter chickens, and they are the theme throughout the book. How are the chickens doing? how are the humans doing?
A very enjoyable read, especially if you have ever had or wanted to have chickens.
This was a book group read. I am curious to see if it had any interest for younger women, as it is about older women. A woman dies of cancer, and two of her friends are called to her attorney's office. They are given the key to a safe deposit box and instructions that they are to open it together. And what is inside? The contents of the safe deposit box drive much of the rest of the story. This is about lifelong Manhattan women.
This book came to the attention of the nation through Oprah, who thought it was fabulous. However, when she discovered that parts of this memoir were fictional, she had a fit, brought the author back onto the show, and read him the riot act. I thought that it was an amazing first book, WAY out there, a report back from the depths of drug addiction. I assumed that some of it was invented, only because it was so wildly fantastic at times. The reader needs to be prepared for a painful and overwhelming experience.
