Book Review: A Spool Of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler

Genre: Contemporary fiction
Date Published: February 2015
Publisher: Bond Street Books
# Of Pages: 358 pages

Goodreads

Synopsis: "It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon." This is how Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness: an indefinable, enviable kind of specialness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture. Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. from Red's father and mother, newly-arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red's grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor.
Brimming with all the insight, humour, and generosity of spirit that are the hallmarks of Anne Tyler's work, A Spool of Blue Thread tells a poignant yet unsentimental story in praise of family in all its emotional complexity. It is a novel to cherish.

My Rating:

 ★★★★

.....For surprising me with how much I liked it

My Thoughts:

You gotta love book clubs. A good book club can introduce you to some great books.

And this book, as you may have guessed by now, was a recommended by a good book club.

I've never tried an Anne Tyler novel before. And I'm glad I was given an opportunity to read this one. It's a story about family dynamics, something I don't normally go for. Yet Anne Tyler has a talent for creating families that you end up wanting to read about.

What I found particularly good about this book was how realistic and normal this family was. You don't realize it at first, but as the story progresses, you start to recognize similarities between the characters and members of your own family (or at least people you know). I found myself thinking "this character reminds me a little of my mother-in-law", or "this character sounds a lot like my brother". The fact that these characters are so relatable is a huge part of what makes this book so good.

Even the house (practically a character in itself), was something I could relate to: a home that feels like home. The place where your grandparents live. The house you would feel guilty giving up because your family put so much effort and life into it.

The whole plot and story revolved around these characters (including the house) and how they interacted with each other. It surprised me how fascinated I was reading about how these members coped with each other and cared for each other. Seriously, it was brilliant how real it all felt! This book makes me curious to read other novels by Anne Tyler, and see what other families she can create.

If you're an Anne Tyler fan already, well this book is definitely for you. If you like stories about family drama and family history, you might want to try this one. It will definitely capture your interest.