THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S FICTION PRIZE A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 'It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon...' This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she and Red fell in love that summer's day in 1959. The whole family on the porch, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. From that porch we spool back through the generations, witnessing the events, ... Read More
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S FICTION PRIZE A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 'It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon...' This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she and Red fell in love that summer's day in 1959. The whole family on the porch, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. From that porch we spool back through the generations, witnessing the events, secrets and unguarded moments that have come to define the family. 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 - four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their home... 'One of my favourite authors' Liane Moriarty 'She spins gold' Elizabeth Buchan 'Anne Tyler has no peer' Anita Shreve 'Anne Tyler is one of my favourite writers and this is a delicious book' Rachel Joyce Read Less
Add this copy of A Spool of Blue Thread: a Novel to cart. $0.99, very good condition, Sold by Greenworld Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Knopf.
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Add this copy of A Spool of Blue Thread: a Novel to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by Greenworld Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
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Good condition. It may show normal signs of use such as light writing highlighting or library markings but all pages are intact and the book is fully readable. A solid complete copy that's ready to enjoy.
Add this copy of A Spool of Blue Thread: a Novel to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by Greenworld Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Knopf.
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A large old-fashioned house in Baltimore is both the scene of and a primary character in "A Spool of Blue Thread" (2015) the 20th novel of Anne Tyler. The novel follows the course of the house from its construction by the Whitshank family, a family of builders and contractors. The Whitshanks soon acquire the house from its original owners and occupy it for decades. Age ultimately catches up with all. With the death of the family matriarch, Abby, and the growing infirmity of her husband, Red, the family is forced to leave the house as the family members go their ways.
It is a broad but simple story and shares much with Tyler's earlier novels. The book focuses on family life and on family members as well as on the old house as a unifying force. The book flips back and forth in time between the 1920s and the early 21st Century. The book consists of four parts, with the first and far the longest part set in contemporary Baltimore, the second and third parts going back in time to the courtships of the two primary Whitshank couples, and the brief final part returning to contemporary life.
Most of the focus is on the present generation of Whitshanks, with the mother, Abby, and the father, Red, and their family of four children, two boys and two girls. Three of the children have married with families of their own while the fourth, Denny, is the odd and most intriguing character. He has never fit in, wanders away from the family, quarrels, and has difficulty finding work. He has also been his mother's favorite. Denny and Abby receive most of the attention in this book. Denny in his aloneness resembles many men in other Tyler novels such as Ezra Tull in "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" and Barnaby Gitlin in "A Patchwork Planet" as well as the wayward son Jack Boughton in the "Gilead" novels of Marilynne Robinson. For all of the book's emphasis on family, the wayward, solitary, Denny is clearly the character that most captures Tyler's heart.
The book develops the long story of family tensions and heartbreaks and of moments of togetherness and attempt to find unity. Tyler portrays each of the characters as individuals. The book moves slowly and includes some large communal family scenes, especially long dinners. The old age of Abby and Red is the glue that brings the family together as each of the children and their own families return to the old house to help their parents and to return to the tensions of old among them.
The earlier generation of Whitshanks, Junior and Linne, also play crucial roles in the story. They had met when young and got back together later. both under less than ideal circumstances. Their reunion takes place in Depression-Era Baltimore with the scenes of that time beautifully described. Junior establishes himself in the construction business and builds and maintains the old house, only to purchase it from its original owners as the family home. Much of the book shows the difference in classes between working people such as the Whitshanks and the more educated community where the old house is situated. The Whitshanks never fit in with their surroundings and become convinced of their own uniqueness.
"What a world, what a world" the title of Part two of the novel aptly describes the book and its story of the everyday. ."A Spool of Blue Thread" is a moving story of family and people, although it moves slowly in places. It is longer and more spacious than most of Tyler's novels. It took time, but I was drawn into the story and into the family. Tyler understands people and human frailty well. The book offers its moments of humor together with a clearsighted, view of people with their faults -- told without anger or criticism. Individuals, such as Denny, still must struggle to find their way. "What a world, what a world", indeed.
