Each snapshot of him tells its own unique story, while the whole collection of photos embraces both the fullness and the emptiness of his bachelor days. This novel did have some very touching parts and smile-worthy details, and I am glad I listened.Reading Anne Tyler’s novel, Redhead by the Side of the Road, is rather like paging through an album of family photographs, searching for pictures of a favorite, eccentric but lovable, middle-aged uncle.
The story was on the cusp of a 3 and 4 to me, but the reader made it too easy for my attention to wander. I would have preferred a little stronger reader, with a less dreary voice, for this third person narrative. The voice of the reader almost put me to sleep, but it fit Micah, a man that could put you to sleep. Not a lot happens in the slow moving novel, but the writing is very good, and I did care about the characters. A college girlfriend's college son appears, thinking Micah is his father. His relationship of two years is on the rocks when he fails to read cues in the midst of a small conflict. Micah, the protagonist, is a finicky middle aged man, leading a comfortable boring life, and he is happy enough running his independent tech repair business. These surprises, and the ways they throw Micah's meticulously organized life off-kilter, risk changing him forever.Īn intimate look into the heart and mind of a man who finds those around him just out of reach, and a funny, joyful, deeply compassionate story about seeing the world through new eyes, Redhead by the Side of the Road is a triumph, filled with Anne Tyler's signature wit and gimlet-eyed observation.Īnne Tyler characters are always believable and interesting, and this novel was no exception. But one day, his routines are blown apart when his woman friend (he refuses to call anyone in her late 30s a "girlfriend") tells him she's facing eviction, and a teenager shows up at Micah's door claiming to be his son. A self-employed tech expert, superintendent of his Baltimore apartment building, cautious to a fault behind the steering wheel, he seems content leading a steady, circumscribed life.
“Tyler's novels are always worth scooping up - but especially this gently amusing soother, right now.” (NPR)įrom the beloved and best-selling Anne Tyler, a sparkling new novel about misperception, second chances, and the sometimes elusive power of human connection.
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