Family life never grows old in the hands of Anne Tyler, a master of domestic fiction who returns to familiar terrain in her 20th novel, A Spool of Blue Thread. This time around, Tyler (The Beginner's Goodbye) focuses on the Whitshank family of Baltimore, Md., launching the story with a telephone call from wayward son Denny, who, at age 19, drops an attention-getting announcement on his parents, Abby and Red. He then hangs up and disappears from their lives--and the lives of his three siblings--for years.
Over time, Denny's mysterious nature brings out the best and worst of all the family members. His interactions (or lack thereof) gently nudge the plot forward, giving underlying texture to this leisurely paced narrative. Tyler characterizes the Whitshanks as "one of those enviable families that radiate clannishness and togetherness and just... specialness" and Denny "trailed around their edges like some sort of charity case."
Years later, when the entire family--including Denny--finally reunites in Baltimore, stories of the past are retold when Abby and Red's future living arrangements are called into question. The common thread--binding the generational tapestry of the Whitshanks, along with the four sections of the novel as a whole--is the family home built by Red's father in the 1930s. "It was not a grand house," Tyler's omniscient narrator tells the reader. It was "a house you might see pictured on a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, plain-faced and comfortable, with the Stars and Stripes, perhaps, flying out front and a lemonade stand at the curb.... But best of all, that porch: that wonderful full-length porch."
The warm, inviting nature of the house comes to represent the family. "The two were one and the same," Tyler writes via flashbacks that delve into the history of Red's parents and how Abby and Red met and married in 1950s. Vivid details from these eras are centered on the house, and the stories of those who inhabited the residence deepen the meaning of the present-day predicament: with Abby and Red growing older and more infirm--Red has heart issues and Abby is plagued by "mind skips"--the four disparate siblings and their spouses urge the couple to give up their bedrock, their much-beloved home, and make alternate living arrangements.
Abby and Red's decision will not only affect their lives, but the lives of their children--particularly the two sons who struggle to reconcile their distinct places in the fold. Tension builds as Tyler stitches together an intricate, insightful story about family history, memories, rivalries and long-held secrets. As in other novels Tyler has written over her 50-year career, A Spool of Blue Thread is a quietly engrossing saga--a sensitive and compassionate exploration into the trappings of family life, the perils of fate and what it means to try and live a life of love. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines
Shelf Talker: A multi-generational saga about a tight-knit Baltimore family faced with the prospect of selling and dismantling a much-beloved house.