3.5 Stars

French Braid by Anne Tyler is a historical novel that digs deep into what makes families tick. This book has lots of drama and some interesting moments that are relatable and beautifully written, and as it spans 60 years, the story of the Garrett family is told from many different perspectives. While I enjoyed the family focus, the story’s slow pacing didn’t capture my attention as much as I had hoped, and I was left feeling disappointed.

When the story begins, the Garrett family is on a rare holiday–an event that seems to hint at some exciting moments in the plot. Rather than excitement, however, I found that the narrative becomes a bit tedious. Each chapter is written in the same way, and as I was reading, I was hoping that there would be a pay-off at some point. When this never came and the story never really went anywhere, it felt very mundane. If it weren’t for Tyler’s eloquent writing, I don’t think this would have been a book I would have finished.

❀ MULTIPLE NARRATORS

With so many different narrators, one would think that there would be a character within the pages that resonates with the reader. While this is normally true for me, I found it difficult to really root for any of these characters, and at times some of them are quite frustrating. Mercy in particular is a matriarch who is just plain awful. Her selfishness and disinterest in both her children and husband is very off-putting, and as I struggled to connect with her character, I further lost interest in the plot.

❀ DISAPPOINTING

French Braid by Anne Tyler is a book that I had high hopes for, but I was left wanting more. As a fan of the author’s other works, I am left disappointed as this latest work doesn’t quite measure up. However, while this one wasn’t for me, I am still interested in finding out what Anne Tyler has in store for us next.

Anne Tyler brings us another insightful story about family. Robin and Mercy Garrett live in Baltimore with their three children. Robin runs the plumbing supply store Mercy inherited from her father. Mercy is an artist first and a mother and homemaker second.
In the late 1950s the Garretts go on their one and only family vacation. They rent a cottage on a lake. It is during this vacation the intricacies of the Garrett family dynamics is revealed. Alice the oldest daughter is the reliable one. She makes sure the family is fed and taken care of while her mother pursues her art. Lily is the party girl. She quickly finds a boy that interests her forgetting all about her boyfriend back home that she was heartbroken to leave behind. David, the youngest is a quiet and studious little boy who has no trouble amusing himself.
As always Anne Tyler brings a seemingly ordinary group of people to life. Her characters are engaging and interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed FRENCH BRAID. I think it would make a good book club selection.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced digital edition of this book.

Long an Anne Tyler fan, this book does not disappoint. Going on their first holiday to Deep Creek Lake, the family members come to know each other in ways they had not imagined possible. Well worth reading.

At the beginning of this novel, Serena and James compare families, and Serena realizes hers is a narrow, not-open family which James describes as giving “’a whole new meaning to the phrase “once removed” when Serena doesn’t recognize a cousin. An in-law thinks of the family as “’narrow and unfriendly and judgmental.” That family, the Garretts, is the focus of this book.

Beginning in 1959 and ending in 2020, the book zeroes in on various members of the family beginning with Mercy and Robin, a rather mismatched couple who have three children: Alice, Lily, and David. Eventually, we meet the next generation as the three Garrett children marry and have children of their own. As time passes, the family becomes more and more disconnected; though there are not that many extended family members and though they live fairly close together, they get together only for weddings and funerals. The novel examines how the family comes to be so fractured.

This is very much a character novel. Each character whose perspective is given emerges as a round character with traits, flaws, and eccentricities made obvious. For example, Alice is the serious sibling who believes she knows best while, Lily is the wild child and David is the sensitive one. Once their personalities are formed, they behave consistently. Alice is the one who always likes to take charge and makes judgments about others whereas Lily often behaves unconventionally.

The characters are not always likeable, but the reader can usually empathize because s/he understands their personalities and motivations. Mercy, for instance, is not maternal; Alice thinks of herself as “older than her mother” and Lily doesn’t feel that “Mercy was any kind of mother.” Alice prepares the meals and worries when her 15-year-old sister is besotted with a 21-year-old. When her last child leaves home, Mercy slowly moves out of the house and spends more and more time in her studio pursuing her dream of being an artist. She suffers from “that helpless, sinking, beleaguered feeling, that weighted feeling of everything crowding in on you and strangling you and demanding from you, all at the same time.” Looking after a cat proves to be too much for her, and she doesn’t want a houseplant because it’s “’too much to take care of.’” I found myself identifying with her desire for freedom from responsibilities, to live a “suit-herself life,” just as I cringed at some of her negligence.

The family is dysfunctional but only to an extent that all families can be dysfunctional. They are not filled with animosity or anger, though they don’t always like each other. Lily when she was a child thought of her brother as self-centered and a nuisance and as an adult thinks of him as self-centered, close-mouthed and secretive. According to Lily, “Alice was the difficult one while Lily herself was easy, meaning carefree and relaxed.” Of course, Alice sees herself as the easy one, meaning sensible: “each of them meant something different.”

The family members just don’t communicate about the important things and go to great lengths “so as not to spoil the picture of how things were supposed to be.” Mercy’s children know that their mother has moved out of the family home, but they never discuss it and never let on to their parents that they know, just as Mercy and her husband never honestly discuss the change in living arrangements. One Garrett grandchild is gay but in forty years has never revealed his sexuality, though he eventually realizes everyone knows because no one ever asks about his getting married and one cousin “abruptly switched channels when somebody onscreen called somebody else a faggot.” Though both Alice and Lily wonder about why David distances himself from his parent and sisters, they never broach the subject with him.

The reason for David’s distancing which is revealed in the last chapter is not some horrific trauma. And isn’t that the way it is in real life? It is often ordinary moments and events and our interpretation or misinterpretation of those that shape us. A character may act out of kindness only to learn that s/he has been hurtful. An unintentional “’minutest reaction’” can shape an entire relationship.

It is the insights into family dynamics that make this an exceptional novel. Family relationships may be difficult because families are comprised of people with different “styles of being,” but it is impossible to totally escape from family: families are like French braids in that even when unwound “’the ripples are crimped forever.’” So genuine connections, though perhaps only momentary or for short periods of time, are possible. I love the conversation about family that ends the novel: “’This is what families do for each other – hide a few uncomfortable truths, allow a few self-deceptions. Little kindnesses. . . . And little cruelties.’”

With its unobtrusive style, realistic dialogue, non-judgmental attitude, focus on an ordinary family, and wise insights, this is a typical Anne Tyler novel. And that makes it one that is enjoyable and relatable.

Note: I received a digital galley (provided by the publisher via NetGalley) so quotations may not be exactly as they appear in the final copy.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is beautifully written and characterized, although I'm not sure what it is about exactly. It covers the story of a family from 1959 to the beginning of the pandemic, although the opening chapter (for reasons I do not understand) harks back to 2010. After that it goes forward in time with leaps of years to next generations. I seem finally to have got to the point where references to the pandemic are bearable and would recommend this as a thoughtful and gentle read.

Was happy to include this novel in March’s edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for Zoomer magazine. (at link)

As a huge Anne Tyler fan, I was very excited to read this book. And Tyler did not disappoint. In typical Tyler style, the novel follows many generations of a family from 1959 through 2020. Each chapter focuses on a certain character at a certain point with large gaps of time between. The structure reminded by of another of Tyler's novels, The Accidental Marriage. I thought this one was much better though. Tyler has such a talent for saying so much in a just a few words and also creating such complex, yet relatable characters. I also appreciated how the pandemic was incorporate into this novel. It wasn't sensationalized or overwrought, but it did bring back a lot of those feelings of the early days of COVID-19. I think it rings true to the experience of many people.