Digging to America

Luckily, this was a short book and a quick read, or I wouldn't have finished it.

I am disappointed in Tyler for this book - although I haven't read any of her other books to compare her research methods. In the author's interview which was printed in the back of my edition, she loftily says she didn't feel the need to talk to anyone who had either adopted a child or who had been adopted into a different culture. Indeed, although she starts her book following the lives of the adopted children, it quickly becomes apparent that she's much more interested in the nonexistant love lives of their grandparents - and could easily have skipped the entire international adoption for all it mattered to the second half of the book.

I haven't read Anne Tyler in about 3 years, and I definitely missed her. As usual, I hated it when it ended, I wanted it to continue...which is a good sign.

I loved the multi-cultural aspect of this book. It starts with an American family and an Iranian family (now in the US) both waiting to adopt babies from South Korea. The two families only come to know either other because the babies to be adopted are coming to the US on the same plane. It starts in the airport with the boisterous greeting by the adoptive American family and the quiet, but equally happy, greeting by the Iranian family. Because of this common thread, the two families become friends.

One of my best friends escaped Iran when the Shah fell, so having the main characters both American and Iranian made me curious about the veracity of the story. Could Tyler, obviously an American author, pull of a tale that reflects the understanding and depth of another culture? In my book, I think she has, but I'm passing my book to my Iranian friend for the litmus test.

It was interesting to see how Iranians viewed Americans. . . not far off from how I view them, but definitely adding some insight. It's true we are more likely to noisily celebrate anything American than to be excited about something from another culture. It was interesting to see how this was perceived by “outsiders,” as the Iranian emigrants viewed themselves, even after becoming US citizens and living in American for decades. This one viewpoint held true with what I know about my Iranian friend.

It's a good to view your culture from the outside from time to time, and I think this book does this well while telling an excellent story. The vast number of characters became daunting at times, but overall, just remembering the two main families was all that was important. The author was good about keeping the reader reminded about how the minor characters fit into the storyline.

I particularly liked the ending, when I was almost certain it wouldn't be fulfilling. Well done!