Cover Image: Clock Dance

Clock Dance

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I love anything that Anne Tyler writes! I enjoyed reading about Willa who at age 61 finally decided that she would live her life the way she wanted. I would have liked the book to continue as I felt there were a few loose ends.

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Willa’s life hasn’t been extraordinary, but it also hasn’t been uneventful either. When she was 11, her mother’s sudden, but thankfully temporary disappearance, was an experience marked Willa’s young life. When she was in college, she married her sweetheart and abandoned her education to raise a family. When she was only 41, her husband died in a tragic car accident. Now, 20 years later, one phone call from a total stranger is about to change Willa’s life once again.

Once again, Anne Tyler brings us a late-stage, coming-of-age story of a woman who you might have seen dozens of time on the street, but who you might never strike up a conversation with, and more the pity. Because if you did get to know her, maybe she might be very different than you might have thought. What Tyler likes to do in her novels is draw people who surprise us, and sometimes themselves along the way. In fact, although Willa is the center of attention here, almost all of Tyler’s characters in this novel start out to be seemingly one thing and then, turn towards being something else. Yes, there are some more predictable characters here, such as Willa’s second husband, who never seems to stray from being self-centered; but in general, most of Tyler’s characters have a tendency to do unlikely things, and at the most unexpected times.

This is one of the attractions of Tyler’s books, and while we’ve come to expect this from these novels, Tyler succeeds in keeping from falling into any type of formula in her books. This is a good thing, because formulaic novels can be boring. Yes, they say that there are only a couple handfuls of essential plots in the world, but if an author can find a way to frame their stories to include some type of twist, they will continue to entice readers to grab their next work. For example, in Tyler’s 2015 novel “A Spool of Blue Thread,” she tells the story backwards, starting from the most contemporary part, and then moving backwards in time (until Tyler decided she’d gone far enough). Here, the three short pieces of Willa’s earlier life – at age 11, at age 21 and once again at age 41 – leave many gaps in her narrative when the story jumps to Willa aged 61. This, of course, was one of the major points of this novel. That being, that you never know which of the things you experience during your younger days will be the ones that end up shaping your later life. The other major point of this novel is that you may have taken the wrong thing away from any or all those formative experiences, but it’s never too late to realize the lessons you learned back then, might have been the wrong one.

Another thing that I always enjoy in Tyler’s novels is her very open and straight-forward prose style. It always feels like I’m listening to a friend tell me a story, it feels that welcoming and honest. While Tyler’s prose may feel simple on the surface, that friendly feeling is also underlaid with just enough of a poetic touch to make things feel alive and colorful. Add to this the way Tyler uses her language to set the atmosphere in her novels, and you have a winning combination. Mind you, Tyler’s stories aren’t always up-beat and this one has a somewhat gray tone to it that seems to prevail. It is almost like Willa is living in a type of fog, but as the story progresses, that fog starts to clear, leading up to a very concise ending that allows the reader to imagine what will happen to Willa and the other characters after the last page, which is exactly the way I like novels to end.

I should add here that even with all this praise, I didn’t find this novel to be as rich as her last one, “A Spool of Blue Thread.” As mentioned above, before we get to the main story of Willa at age 61, there are the three snippets from her past. These were wonderful but, I think she should have given us a little bit more of that, maybe even just one more to introduce us to her second husband, so we could understand better her later relationship with her sons. Also, perhaps in lieu of another snippet (or in addition to one), she could have done a bit more to developed the metaphor of the Saguaro cactus that appears on some of the covers. That said, who can resist sitting down with an old friend and hearing a captivating story that’s both delightfully told and heartwarming? That's why I still can very warmly recommend this novel and give it four and a half stars out of five.

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Willa lived her life meekly. She loved her father, but her boisterous mother mystified her. From the time she was young she adored her calm, gentle father. Throughout her life, the men she selected to be in her life - including her own sons - were much more controlling and volatile. Her first husband was killed in an instance of road rage. Her second husband was domineering and controlling, even selfish in his lack of consideration for her. The women in her life baffle her; her sister grows in an opposite direction from Willa, and her mother remain's a mystery all of her life.

We meet Willa in stages; first when she is 11, and her mother has abandoned her family for some adventure from which she returns after a few days. Willa is content to take care of her father and younger sister, and is relieved when her mother returns home, and yet not. Throughout the progression of her life Willa is portrayed as meek and mild mannered, even-tempered. She steps away from conflict, accepting that others are more dominant and she allows her will to be bent to suit their needs. Until one day, when the course of her life changes with a phone call from a stranger to come and help the ex-girlfriend and young daughter of her distant son. Willa is compelled to go; she is secretly thrilled with an opportunity to disrupt the sameness of her life and daily routines.

This is the story of a small life lived in big steps, and about the opportunities for self-discovery, self-realization and the chance to change ones path. As a fan of Anne Tyler's previous books, I was thrilled with the chance to receive this preview copy in advance from Net Galley. It is a book I will be recommending for my monthly book group to read.

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Willa Drake is only eleven when her mother suddenly disappears and leaves her two daughters and husband to themselves. Since their father is a good man but incapable of managing the household, Willa has to take over the mother’s role. Ten years later, she has almost finished her studies and dreams of a career in linguistics when her boy-friend proposes and expects her to give up her studies. Another twenty years later, a preventable accident kills her husband and leaves her alone with their two sons. When she is already sixty, again somebody makes a decision which has a deep impact on her life. A neighbour of Denise calls her – the ex-girl-friend of her son has been shot in the leg and now her 9-year-old daughter Cheryl is left to her own devices in Baltimore. Willa decides that she is needed even though she neither knows Denise nor Cheryl and heads to Baltimore accompanied by her second husband Peter. What she finds there is what she has been longing for for years: somebody who is grateful for what she does and a group of people who are, on the one hand, lonesome, but on the other hand, take care of each other.

In the first part of Anne Tyler’s novel, we only get short episodes, decisive moments which will make a change in Willa’s life: the mother’s disappearance, the proposal and the death of her husband. What they have in common is not only the impact on Willa, but first and foremost the fact that she is on a position where she has no power over her own life, it is others who make a decision for her without consulting her and without taking her own opinion into consideration. First her parents, then her husbands and she never openly opposes them, but gives in by far too soon. The second part is quite different since here, we accompany Willa travelling to Baltimore and taking care of Cheryl and Denise. Even though she was always there for her husbands and sons, Willa does not really seem to be loved and appreciated by them. It is those strangers that give her the impression of being important and needed and what she does is not taken for granted.

Willa is not a perfect woman, she also has her flaws and seems to be rather ordinary in many ways: the life she leads is the one many thousands of women of her generation lead, her view of herself and her place in the world is also shared by millions. She regrets the weak bonds she has with her sister and also with her sons when they are grown up and hardly stay in contact with their mother. However, this does not have to be like this and there is always the chance of escape as Anne Tyler shows. It is not the big sudden decision, but a long and slow process which also has some steps backwards and isn’t easy at all. It is hard not to like the protagonist, even though at times I had the strong urge to push her a bit to stand up for herself, but this would have been completely against her character.

“Clock dance” is a novel narrated in a very lively way. The dialogues as well as Willa’s thoughts seem to be absolutely authentic and easy to imagine. The characters are realistic in the way they are modelled, none of them is really outstanding from the crowd, but this makes them this interesting: Anne Tyler captures those particular aspects, the traits easily to be overlooked that make them loveable and important to someone. Her style of writing is smooth and makes you just rush through the novel. It is one of those novel which do not need the big event or outstanding character but captivates the reader through its authenticity which shows that the average person can make a change.

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Very easy read and pleasant. This is the second book I have read by this author. She has the ability to take ordinary people and get beneath the surface.

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Well written in Anne Tyler's signature style. Clock Dance is a sweet story regarding the complications of life -- the things we must accept, and those that we are able to choose.

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Extremely well written. Having lived near Baltimore, MD for most of my adult life, I could easily relate to the characters in this book. I grew to love the situations and people. A must read if you are an Anne Tyler fan!

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Like many Anne Tyler books, "Clock Dance" is quietly satisfying, making mundane events and ordinary people strangely interesting or at least comforting. This book reminded me in some ways of my favorite Anne Tyler book, "Ladder of Years." She excels in creating characters that are quirky, but not to the point of being annoying. She writes about them so lovingly that it's hard not to feel a fondness for them and their foibles. Although this was not a book I just couldn't wait to get back to, I found it an enjoyable read, mostly because Ms. Tyler writes so beautifully. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy of this book.

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Anne Tyler has created another irresistible read about a loosely knit community in Baltimore. Willa Drake has never fully fit into her life, first as wife and mother to difficult men, then as widow and finally as remarried senior citizen. For reasons unknown, she travels from her home in Phoenix to care for the child of her son’s ex-girlfriend who is hospitalized. In Baltimore she finds a purpose she did not realize she lacked. This is a charming addition to Tyler’s body of work and a must read for her fans.

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We get a glimpse into Willa's life as a little girl and her undependable mother and her loving father. As she goes off to college and marries and has children, events come into play that change her life forever. Later in life, she longs for grandchildren. Sometimes you find what you are looking for where you never thought to look. I loved this story and the author's conversational way of writing. Kind of like you are sitting down with an old friend.

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This book is pure Anne Tyler from page one. Anne Tyler fans will like this one just as much. It's exactly what you expect. A nice one for book club discussions.

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Unbelieveably, this is my first read of an Anne Tyler novel. I found "Clock Dance" to be enjoyable once well into the text. The first 1/3rd felt like slow going, but it related well to the rest of the novel, and served to develop the mindset of the main character, Willa. The snippets of her major life experiences revealed her personality and underscored her fears and ambitions. The true meat of the story falls in the last 2/3rds, where she makes a rash decision to assist a woman who used to date her son after an accident, half a country away. Right to the very end I questions the motive and goals of Willa, but after all was said and done, I think she find herself, so to speak, and found a way to be true to herself.
Highly recommend, especially for fans of Anne Tyler (I will be reading more!), literary fiction, current day settings. Also for fans of Elizabeth Berg, Margaret Atwood, Richard Russo, and similar authors.

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This book will deliver exactly what you expect from Anne Tyler. Solid domestic fiction with interesting family dynamics. A gently told, thoughtful story. If you appreciate these qualities in a book, you will find this to be a satisfying and comforting read.

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I've read almost all of Anne Tyler's books, and they're always good in a quiet, gently funny way. I feel like she's partly formed how I see the world at this point. (I once hoped that my brother-in-law would be saved from his closed-off life by an encounter with my circle of friends, but ah well. Life can't always be an Anne Tyler novel.)

Willa is one of Tyler's many characters who is living one of those closed-off lives. She long ago observed her dramatic, abusive mother and endlessly soothing, agreeable father and decided that the choice is this: you can be a disruptor or an accommodator, and she chose the latter. Which causes her to never engage very much, even though conflict is necessary in real, honest relationships. Until...

Until that moment that comes in almost every Tyler novel when the person starts to change. In this one, it comes when Willa is (I think) 61, with a random phone call from someone she's never met, someone who needs help. So she winds up in Baltimore (of course), with a bunch of well-drawn characters, including a very singular 9-year-old.

This is full of pleasures- the TV show they watch, about a bunch of different characters abducted by aliens! Willa's awful, awful taste in husbands, and the way her adult son talks about her current husband. I liked the dog, Airplane, too.

I thought the ending seemed a little abrupt, but maybe partly because the last one, A Spool of Blue Thread was so unusually expansive and inter-generational. This was more of a return to form. But I still liked it!

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Ann Tyler is one of my favorite authors, and she does not disappoint in writing a well-detailed character-driven story. I would definitely recommend this title to my fiends.

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The beginning of this book felt like Some Luck by Jane Smiley, which I love! You are following a character quickly through time and jumping decades. She’s just a slow burn, moving through the decades without dramatic plots or events. So at first I was thinking, this is going to be great. But then, there was a semi-dramatic plot event. And that’s where the book focused. I didn’t even like the plot twist. It seemed so unusual. However, I like how Willa grew as a character and that she ended up finding herself and what she wanted without other’s influence. Along with Jane Smiley, I’d say it’s also similar to Stewart O’Nan or Kent Haruf.

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Anne Tyler has spun a tale of male dominance in a women’s life so subtle you’ll hardly recognize the theme until you’re almost done. It’s so beautifully crafted you’ll be confused as to why you were supporting some of the characters at first.
Willa has been in the shadows her entire life; first by her overdramatic mother and even her passive father. Then to her college boyfriend who becomes her confident husband. But in 2017, she is called unexpectedly to care for her adult son’s ex-girlfriend, and her unrelated child, in another state. Yes, you read that sentence correctly.
Willa travels to Baltimore, Maryland from her home in Arizona to help care for complete strangers. (The dialogue of how this event unfolds is pure gold.) There, Willa will slowly discover the shadows of people she has been living under, and realizes she’s never lived as herself. She’s never shown her intelligence, has never worked at what she’s fully capable for, and has never been asked what she likes or dislikes.
Maybe at 60 years of age it’s her turn! Find out if she takes this opportunity to take it or not. You must read this. Enlightening and encouraging.

Thank you NetGalley, Alfred A. Knopf, Div. Of Penguin Random House LLC.
and Anne Tyler

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Anne Tyler’s Clock Dance.is an interesting read about Willa, an empty nester whose life gets into gear when her son’s ex girlfriend Denise is shot in the leg. Denise’s neighbor, Callie calls Willa when she finds her name on an emergency list in Denise's home, Callie figures Willa would take over the care of Denise’s child and dog not realizing or just not caring that Willa really isn’t next of kin. Willa along with her second husband Peter, fly to Arizona to temporarily take care the child and dog until Denise is out of the hospital. Peter is not thrilled to have Willa doing this but insists on going along with her. He thinks that they can stay a short while and then fly back. Ultimately things don’t go as planned. Clock Dance is a quiet study of characters and the need to be wanted/needed. This is a good choice for a Book Discussion group.

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Willa Drake wants to be happy and successful. What begins as a life full of promise in a rewarding career as a linguist ends as an unfulfilled and tragic life as a wife and mother to two boys who do not appreciate her. So, Willa takes the seemingly bizarre role as a pseudo-grandmother to a child she has never met. This story is delightful and thought-provoking. Tyler, per usual, keeps the reader in the story and makes the reader ponder her own life’s ambitions and work. A joy to read!

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Anne Tyler is a fascinating author. Her characters are always unique & different. It's a great way to experience other people in new settings. I didnt really relate to Willa but I liked Cheryl & Denise. I knew where it was leading up to but I was expecting the ending to be a little more elaborate and dramatic. Overall a lovely novel, but needed a little more.

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