Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

Redhead by the Side of the Road is Anne Tyler's twenty-third novel and it’s quintessentially Tyler with a quirky protagonist, a wry slice-of-life view of a chaotic family, an abundance of quotidian details, redemption, and the joy of the unexpected. Micah Mortimer is a self-described tech hermit who fixes people’s computer woes. He lives a carefully constructed life.

“He lives alone; he keeps to himself; his routine is etched in stone. At seven fifteen every morning you see him set out on his run. Along about ten or ten thirty he slaps the magnetic TECH HERMIT sign onto the roof of his Kia. The times he leaves on his calls will vary, but not a day seems to go by without several clients requiring his services. Afternoons he can be spotted working around the apartment building; he moonlights as the super. He’ll be sweeping the walk or shaking out the mat or conferring with the plumber. Monday nights, before trash day, he hauls the garbage bins to the alley; Wednesday nights, the recycling bins. At ten p.m. or so the three squinty windows behind the foundation plantings go dark. (His apartment is in the basement. It is probably not very cheery.)”

Micah is in his early forties and he mops his floors on Mondays and has specific tasks for each of the other days of the week. His routines leave little room for surprise yet, as always in Tyler’s novels, the unexpected finds and upends him when Cass, his “woman-friend,” is threatened with eviction and his response to her dilemma threatens their relationship and when the college-age son of an old girlfriend appears at his door thinking Micah is his father. He isn’t, but Micah misses clues that might have helped him better address their situation.

Some readers have questioned whether Micah with his devotion to detail might have autism spectrum disorder or another disorder — to me he does not; instead he’s Everyman, my husband and many men I know. These men may not hide behind overly cautious rituals, but a plethora of them still miss seeing who the redheads in life actually are and are struck dumb when cues they don’t see derail relationships. Micah gets along well with his clients and the other residents of his building. He appreciates kindness and practices it himself. His actions show his connection to others, yet it's not always a connection that he nurtures with intentionality. Tyler presents Micah as a detached and distracted man of the twenty-first century. Everyone of Tyler’s novels could be titled Ordinary People, but this one also hints at Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus as Micah often fits in the category of a modern man missing the clues right in front of him.

Anne Tyler’s characters show you who they are without unnecessary embellishment so she delivers in 178 pages what it takes most writers over 300 pages to express. In those 178 pages that I gobbled down in one afternoon and evening, Tyler created a world I’ve pondered much longer than it took me to devour her words. I hope I won’t walk down metaphorical streets or travel familiar routes again without considering what I’ve been missing about the redheads by the side of the road that cloud my vision. 

Today, as every day in the last 45 in which I’ve sheltered in place, I’ve wished this strange pandemic quarantine would end, but on this day I particularly want it to end so I can glance across a table at a friend and talk about Micah and life. 

Summing it Up: Redhead by the Side of the Road is vintage Anne Tyler. It, like Saint Maybe, another of my favorites, introduces a male character who subtly captures the reader with an unanticipated combination of oddball compassion and decency. In an uncertain world, Anne Tyler’s twenty-third novel offers grace, simply grace. In Redhead by the Side of the Road, Tyler shows her readers that even in darkness, light can shine. Read this wonder of a book for yourself then select it for your book club as you'll want to discuss it.

Rating: 5 stars   

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Gourmet, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Book Club

Publication date: April 7, 2020

Read an Excerpt: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/books/review/redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road-by-anne-tyler-an-excerpt.html 

Interview with the Author: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/11/anne-tyler-up-close-youll-always-see-things-to-be-optimistic-about

What Others are Saying:

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/30/anne-tyler-redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road-review 

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anne-tyler/redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road/

The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/books/review/redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road-anne-tyler.html 

Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-525-65841-2 

The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/anne-tylers-redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road-is-light-on-drama-not-that-we-could-handle-more-drama-now-anyway/2020/04/06/b0c32cb4-742c-11ea-a9bd-9f8b593300d0_story.html 

Hid From Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Hid from Our Eyes: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery by Julia Spencer-Fleming is out today. This is a short review to let those of you who adore this series (and I'm one of you) that this the ninth in the series is available today to ease your quarantine blues. My review is short because I don't want to include spoilers.

If you haven’t read any in this series, start with In the Bleak Midwinter and you’ll soon race to read all nine. Clare is an Episcopal priest in a small town in the Adirondacks. Russ is the Chief of Police and their town is considering turning over policing to the State Police when a murder that mimics two unsolved possible homicides -- one in 1972 and one in 1952 -- threatens to reduce confidence in the local squad. Issues including PTSD, treatment of women, and sobriety make this book more than a clever romp. Clare has personal concerns that I can't share as they'd ruin the series for those who haven't yet read the earlier books. The problems of her job and her life are overwhelming though. The local minor characters in this series never disappoint the reader. These books are simply perfect for our times. I found the ending a touch too tidy, but I loved revisiting Clare and Russ and look forward to seeing what happens next.

Summing It Up: The Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries offer a clever premise, interestingly flawed characters, a fascinating small town, and plots that always deliver. Begin with In the Bleak Midwinter unless you've read the others. If you have, you won't need encouragement to begin Hid From Our Eyes immediately.

Rating: 4 stars    

Category: Chinese Carryout, Fiction, Grandma's Pot Roast, Soul Food

Publication date: April 7, 2020

Author Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/juliaspencerfleming/

Read an Excerpt: https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9780312606855

Interview with the Author: https://bookpage.com/interviews/25034-julia-spencer-fleming-mystery-suspense#.XoyPPHJOnIV

What Others are Saying (Don't read these if you haven't read any books in the series.):

 "Series fans have had a long wait to dive back into Spencer-Fleming's cleverly constructed mysteries, and this ninth entry (following Through the Evil Days, 2013), which delivers a haunting exposure of the town’s dark side, won’t disappoint." —Booklist

BookPage: https://bookpage.com/reviews/25027-julia-spencer-fleming-hid-from-our-eyes-mystery-suspense#.XoyPXHJOnIV 

 

Kirkus Reviews:  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julia-spencer-fleming/hid-from-our-eyes/

  
Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-60685-5

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

On August 1, 1953, the United States Congress announced a bill ending treaties made with American Indian Nations for “as long as the grass grows and the rivers flow.” The announcement called for the eventual termination of all tribes and the immediate termination of five tribes including the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.” Author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather was the tribal chairman who fought against this termination while also working as a night watchman. He barely slept while he endeavored to save his tribe. Erdrich has based her extraordinary novel, The Night Watchman, on his story and on a fictional group of townspeople in rural North Dakota.

Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel-bearing plant, the first factory located near the reservation. Patrice Paranteau makes jewel bearings at the plant.

“Someday, a watch. Patrice longed for an accurate way to keep time. Because time did not exist at her house. Or rather, it was the keeping of time as in school or work time that did not exist. There was a small brown alarm clock on the stool beside her bed, but it lost five minutes on the hour. She had to compensate when setting it and if she once forgot to wind it, all was lost. Her job was also dependent on getting a ride to work. Meeting Doris and Valentine. Her family did not have an old car to try fixing. Or even a shaggy horse to ride. It was miles down to the highway where the bus passed twice a day. If she didn’t get a ride, it was thirteen miles of gravel road. She couldn’t get sick. If she got sick, there was no telephone to let anybody know. She would be fired. Life would go back to zero.

There were times when Patrice felt like she was stretched across a frame, like a skin tent. She tried to forget that she could easily blow away. Or how easily her father could wreck them all. This feeling of being the only barrier between her family and disaster wasn’t new, but they had come so far since she started work.”

Patrice’s mother Zhaanat “was traditional, an old-time Indian raised by her grandparents only speaking Chippewa, schooled from childhood in ceremonies and teaching stories” Her job was passing on what she knew. Her job was essential or their way of life would end.

Thomas, too, felt indispensable. “He had been night watchman for seven months. In the beginning, his post as chairman of the Turtle Mountain Advisory Committee could be dealt with in the late afternoons and evenings. He’d been able to sleep most mornings after his shift. When lucky, like tonight, he even grabbed an additional catnap before driving to work. But every so often the government remembered about Indians. And when they did, they always tried to solve Indians, thought Thomas. They solve us by getting rid of us. And do they tell us when they plan to get rid of us? Ha and ha. He had received no word from the government. By reading the Minot Daily News, he’d found out something was up.” He’d struggled to learn that his tribe was targeted for emancipation. “Emancipated. But they were not enslaved. Freed from being Indians was the idea. Emancipated from their land. Freed from the treaties that Thomas’s father and grandfather had signed and that were promised to last forever. So as usual, by getting rid of us, the Indian problem would be solved.

Overnight the tribal chairman job had turned into a struggle to remain a problem. To not be solved.”

Erdrich takes the story of Thomas’s and Patrice’s struggles to support their families and their tribe and weaves in the tales of their fellow residents, a white high school math teacher who is in love with Patrice, a young Chippewa boxer who might make it big, Patrice’s sister Vera, who has disappeared somewhere in Minneapolis and may have had a baby, and Patrice’s best friend Valentine. Their stories form a complex tapestry that envelops the reader into her intricately created world.

In her afterword and acknowledgments, Erdrich writes “if you should ever doubt that a series of dry words in a government document can shatter spirits and demolish lives, let this book erase that doubt. Conversely, if you should be of the conviction that we are powerless to change those dry words, let this book give you heart.”  This novel does, in fact, give you heart.

This is the essential book club selection in a year in which we all feel that our own worlds are shattering. To fall into a book so important and spectacular is a blessing.

Summing it Up: The Night Watchman is majestic in scope yet its attention to even the most minute of details about each character, brings that majesty within the reach of every reader. Escape into Erdrich’s fictional 1953 world for a journey you’ll never forget.

Note: please, please, please order or download this book from an independent bookstore or your library. You’ll receive it quickly and you’ll keep an important part of our world alive. You can obtain a signed copy from Birchbark Books, the store Erdrich owns in Minneapolis.

https://birchbarkbooks.com/louise-erdrich/the-night-watchman
 

Rating: 5 stars   

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Gourmet, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Pigeon Pie, Super Nutrition, Book Club

Publication date: March 3, 2020

Read an Excerpt: https://aerbook.com/books/The_Night_Watchman-250848.html?social=1&retail=1&emailcap=0

Interview with the Author: https://time.com/5797582/louise-erdrich-the-night-watchman/

Reading Group Guide: https://b0f646cfbd7462424f7a-f9758a43fb7c33cc8adda0fd36101899.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/reading-guides/RG-9780062671189.pdf

What Others are Saying:

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/louise-erdrich/the-night-watchman-erdrich/

The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/books/review/night-watchman-louise-erdrich.html

Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-267118-9

The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/with-the-night-watchman-louise-erdrich-rediscovers-her-genius/2020/03/02/2178cf16-5c24-11ea-b29b-9db42f7803a7_story.html