The Accidental Tourist

I went in expecting a light read, and while I mostly got that, I also didn't expect a sometimes tender, delicate portrayal of a middle-aged man struggling to cope with the failure of a marriage and the death of his only child. A bit overstretched for the most part; however, there's a really good novella to 200-page story here, but certainly not a 350-page one.

This novel is a subtle romance by an author who understands the complexity of human relationships. When Macon's wife Sarah walks out, he's stunned and slightly clueless. Sure, nothing was perfect in their marriage, especially lately. Very little in fact. After their only child died, they really were going through the emotions. Macon moves back in with his quirky siblings, bringing along his dog, Edward.

Edward seems as thrown by life events as Macon. So much so, he's started biting. Enter an unusual dog trainer, Muriel. Unlike Macon, Muriel has perfected rolling with the punches to an art form. When nothing really works out in your life, you start to accept that as normal and find a way to go on.

The book goes on to pose, and eventually answer, the question, who is Macon? Is he the stable, unemotional guy Sarah knows or is he the lover that Muriel invents? Anne Tyler's ability to give us all the clues we need to understand the answer is what makes her a remarkable author and a master observer of human behavior.

One of the interesting side notes of this book, is Macon's profession as a travel writer. It's Tyler's attention to deadlines and how he creates that makes him more believable. She knows whereof she writes in this case.

Pick up this book, sit down, and enjoy a little journey in your favorite armchair. You'll be glad you did.

After years of general hype, “The Accidental Tourist” ended up being a rather boring book; I was surprised to learn the book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Anne Tyler has said that she figured out her characters and then just lets them go, without worrying too much about plot. It shows. And that doesn't mean the characters are fantastic, either. It just means that you can see she mushed some characters together into a setting. Macon seems to grow a bit by letting things go, but is shrugging at the complete ruin of the home you've walked away from mentally healthy? We know that he's lost the son and, later, wife with whom he shared said home, but the lack of reaction to the flooded home is a bit odd.

Every character seems much older, perhaps by 20-30 years, than their advertised ages. I realize that the book was written over 30 years before I read it, but I don't remember people around age 40 acting like they were in their dotage. The behavior of the characters is certainly not a function of antiquated names. The characters' names seemed like odd choices, particularly for the four Learys produced by a free-spirited mother. Does Anne Tyler have issues painting younger characters? I cannot say as this is my first foray into her cannon.

Despite bags of OCD in my own family, I found that the sections describing Macon's systems to organize/improve everyday tasks ho hum. OCD can be very interesting when painted with the right brush.

Back to setting for a moment. Tyler selected Baltimore, which I found not to make much sense. Although my personal knowledge of Baltimore is limited to a few, short visits, it has always seemed a bit quirky and a mix of north and south, without really being either. In other words, a unique city. The author is also said to be friendly with John Waters; while personal friendships may have no bearing on Anne Tyler's art, why chose such a singular city for these characters to roam about? Do any of them seem particularly Baltimorian? Honestly, they seem like flinty, but insular, New Englanders (a region that they did not seem to live). We learn that the Learys lived nomadicly with their mother before she abandoned her four children to their grandparents. While their seeming continued adolescence and ability to maintain adult, romantic relationships may be a reaction to their unsettled upbringing, is there anything Baltimorian about them? Or, perhaps all of the references to Baltimore are intended to be meaningless since the Learys are generally strangers to all but their tribe.

Some have described this book as fitting into modern realism or even Eudora Welty's brand of Southern gothic. I cannot agree with comparing Anne Tyler's rather dull writing style to Eudora Welty's brilliant prose. And her characterizations, settings, etc. do not seem particularly southern or somewhat off-kilter to fall into that genre. Although this book came out before the advent of chick-lit (or, at least, a separate genre), I'd classify it there.

Why 2 stars instead of 1? I liked the card game the Learys invented and thought its Byzantine rules exactly right for the family. I also guffawed when Rose was shelving groceries and asked her brother for items around “m” or “n,” he complied with noodles. For which, she scolded him because elbow macaroni noodles belong in “e!”

Our Great Books Book Club includes a sprinkling of books outside the cannon in order to lighten up the list and include more works by female or foreign authors. Here's the list of questions from today's meeting:

1. How would you categorize the genre of this novel? Did the style remind you of any other authors?


2. Tyler's Quaker parents moved the family to a commune in North Carolina. Her mother was a social worker, and her husband was an Iranian psychiatrist. Do you see any of these influences in the novel?


3. Does the emphasis on the Baltimore locale add or detract from the story? Tyler is friendly with John Waters, another Baltimore fixture. Do they seem to have anything in common?


4. Macon thinks he has never really “taken steps and acted”. Does this insight seem accurate or is it colored by the helplessness he feels about his son's death?


5. What symbols does the author use to reinforce Macon's sense of isolation and passivity?


6. Larry McMurty noted that Tyler's characters tend to be “semi-attentive males and semi-obsessed females....Her men slump around like tired tourists” needing prompting. Do the characters seem fully developed? Which characters seemed to grow and which stayed in their “grooves”?


7. Does Macon's compulsive search for order make him an annoying character? Was his style of mourning understandable? Do you empathize with Sarah when she decides to leave him?


8. How is humor used in the novel? Did any passages make you laugh?


9. Were there any weaknesses in the novel? Was Edward's breakdown more interesting than Macon's?


10. Would you recommend this book? Did it seem too romantic or sentimental?