The Beginner's Goodbye
Ratings13
Average rating3.8
3.5
Not Tyler's strongest by any means, but I missed her writing style and her world in Baltimore.
Anne Tyler never disappoints. This love story about an unlikely pair is as unconventional as the couple. What intrigued me was the beginning, when the reader learns that Aaron's wife is back from the dead, after dying unexpectedly and in an unusual way in their home. I wondered how could that be.I know it's fiction, but death is death. The way Anne Tyler shows a man grieving the loss of his wife, and how his mind works to keep her alive was a delight to read. This is a book I could easily read again.
The story of an anti-social widower and his relationship with the wife who appears unexpectedly in various places not as a ghost but as if she were still alive, his relationship with his co-workers and sister, and how he ends up finally getting a life.
I almost decided I didn't want to finish it. I agreed to be part of a bookray for this book. I was a fourth of the way into the story and I wasn't interested at all. I didn't care about the characters, I realized; I'll just close the book and send the book on to the next reader.
Only there was no sending the book on. I was the last reader and the
instructions specified that the last reader was to keep the book and pass
it on as she wished.
It just didn't seem respectful to pass on a book that I didn't like enough
to finish. What to do? What to do?
So it was with great reluctance that I read on.
And I warmed to the story, slowly, slowly, with every page read starting to
like the story more. As I read on, I could feel the Anne Tyler-ness of the
story start to build, the loneliness of the characters, the quirkiness of
the characters, and the way the characters finally were able to overcome
their loneliness and quirkiness by finding other lonely, quirky people to
love.
And, in the end, I liked it very much. A satisfying read. Not my favorite Anne Tyler, but a satisfying read.