Product Description

How does a man addicted to routine - a man who flosses his teeth before love-making - cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon's attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9870 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
How do "impossible" couples evolve? In this most recent, luminous novel by Tyler, a "fairly chilly" man, muffled in loneliness, learns that a man and a woman can come together "for reasons the rest of the world would never guess." One can leave the principality of self to tour another's - to love "the surprise of her. . .the surprise of himself when he was with her." Macon Leary, married to Sarah, is an author of travel books for businessmen whose "concern was how to pretend they had never left home" - who want safe and comforting accommodations and food, who want to travel "without a jolt." Macon and Sarah, devastated by the senseless murder of their 12-year-old son in a fast-food shop holdup, are about to part. Sarah will leave this man that she claims remains "unchanged," who refuses to argue with the knowledge that the world is vile. Immobilized by a broken leg (was that accident an unconscious wish?), Macon will settle in with the family he started with - two brothers (one divorced) and sister Rose - in ultimate safety, where like plump, brooding fowl, the four deliberate in soothing converse, rearrange the straws of domesticity, Enter the "impossible" Muriel Pritchett, shrill as a macaw, single mother of a pale, wretched young boy, scrabbling for a living at various jobs, and existing messily on a cacophonous Baltimore street. Muriel has arrived at the Leary compound to whip into line Edward, Macon's pugnacious Welsh corgi who's fond of treeing bicyclists and family members. Muriel cows Edward while talking nonstop, and gradually Macon will find himself in "another country" of noise and color, where red slippers with feathers are necessary accessories to a woman in the morning. From a perspective where Macon feels he's a "vast distance from everyone who mattered" and a marriage where he and his wife seem to have "used each other up," Macon will find in foreignness his own "soft heart." Again in Tyler's tender, quiet prose, a delicate sounding of the odd and accidental incursions of the heart. Tone-perfect, and probably her best to date. (Kirkus Reviews)

From the Publisher
One of five Anne Tyler novels reissued in stunning new jackets

About the Author
Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her first novel, If Morning Ever Comes, was published in 1964 whilst her 11th novel, Breathing Lessons, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. In 1994, Tyler was nominated 'the greatest living novelist writing in English' by Roddy Doyle and Nick Hornby. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful sensitive story with a terrific ending
I got into this book slowly but ended up reading it straight through twice over. The theme of love and why we love different people is brilliantly handled. "Maybe the important thing is who you are when you're with someone not whether you love them." The central character spends the book coming to terms with his feelings about love and who he loves. The final sentence packs an amazing punch and illuminates the whole book.

I adored this book
Macon and Sarah have lost a child, Ethan, and this tragedy has torn them apart and Sarah decides to leave. Macon is a very quirky person, unconventional and unsociable. He likes everything to be very controlled and organized. He works as a travel guide writer for business men who really don't want to be away from home and advises on how to cope in strange cities by keeping everything as similar as possible to life at home.

Macon's dog is uncontrollable and frequently attacks people and this is how he comes to meet Muriel who works as a dog trainer. She is the opposite of him - casual, untidy, talkative and sociable. He is drawn to her and her child, Alexander, a weakly child who in turn warms to Macon.

I adored this book. There are some beautiful characterisations - a whole range of quirky, oddball people. I found myself empathising with Macon's heartbreak at losing his son and his genuine confusion about life. I desperately wanted to get to the end to find out what happened!

There is even a heartwarming subplot of his siblings and his editor....

A superb read - absorbing and funny
I thought this book was absolutely superb. I loved the way the characters were portrayed: real 3-dimensional people, with real human characteristics and foibles. I found the book more and more enjoyable as I got to know the individuals and was sorry to close the book for the last time. The only (minor) irritation was the pronounciation of Macon, but perhaps that was just part of his character. I am a great fan of Anne Tyler's books. She writes about ordinary people with style and panache.