Below is the latest Book Stew Review from Eileen MacDougall, host of the long-running Book Stew, a video and podcast devoted to writing in all forms, authors, playwrights, and even a cat who survived a tornado and wrote a book about it:
‘Redhead By The Side Of The Road’ by Anne Tyler
What could be more comforting and joyful n these fraught times than a meet-up with Anne Tyler? Her books, a bit predictable but always revealing and chock full of valuable life lessons, are like relaxing into a comfy couch and turning off the world.
Here, 40-year-old Micah Mortimer, sole proprietor of Tech Hermitt, endures a surprise breakup initiated by his girlfriend and a visit from a teenager who thinks Micah is his birth father.
He tries to maintain his rigid routines (Mopping Monday, speaking in a French accent while preparing his lunch, using his turn signal even when there’s no one behind him, to please the ever-attentive Traffic Gods) but both events throw him into chaos. The contrast between his sterile, cautious life and that of his family, with his four waitress sisters and their husbands and children and tornado-like messes of kitchens, is another reminder to Micah that maybe Something Is Not Right.
Another quiet gem from an author who never loses her calming and humorously deft touch. Long may she wave!
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