Review: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler is the queen of making something extraordinary out of the ordinary. In her most recent novel, A Spool of Blue Thread, she introduces us to four generations of the Whitshank family and the Baltimore, Maryland, house that has been at their center throughout the years.

At the core of the novel stand Abby and Red Whitshank, and through their story, we meet the rest of the family and learn how they came to live in the house on Bouton Road. As Abby gets increasing forgetful and Red begins to feel his age, their adult children offer different levels of support, sometimes increasing the stress instead of alleviating it.

Abby, in her seventies, is the heart of A Spool of Blue Thread. Like many women of her generation, she holds the family together, keeping the traditions going, giving unconditional love, and buffering discord. At the same time, she is strong and independent, not afraid to speak her mind or to pursue her own interests. She is also the link between the public and private sides not only of her family but also of others, who tend to open up to her, sharing their secrets.

As is often the case when people guard their truths from others, when Abby dies, so will pieces of the Whitshank history. But new generations and new traditions will fill in the gaps, repairing the bonds and creating new threads.

What makes Tyler such a pleasure to read is her focus on everyday concerns. The familiarity of the Whitshanks' issues help sharpen our perspectives because we see ourselves in the characters. The Whitshanks' stories are our own, and Anne Tyler's magic is to turn the ultimate human myth--that "like most families, they imagined they were special"--into truth.

Whether A Spool of Blue Thread is your first or your twentieth Anne Tyler novel, you'll be dazzled by her storytelling.

Note on the audiobook: I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Random House Audio; 13 hr 23 min) read by Kimberly Farr, whose expressive narration and excellent pacing were perfect for Tyler's characters. My full review of the audiobook production is available from AudioFile magazine.

Published by Random House / Knopf, February 10, 2015
ISBN-13: 9781101874271
Source: Review (see review policy)
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