Married with three almost-grown children, Delia Grinstead vanishes from the family's beach house without a trace--and apparently without a reason. ...
read full description
reviews
Feb 16, 2009
Rebecca
rated it: 
I did not relate well to the main character, a woman who married directly out of high school who lived in the same house her entire life and regretted never having set out on her own at any point in her life. So, I dragged through the plot, which sent the main character to start an anonymous life in a new town and abandoning her children, to find something interesting (because I read Tyler's When We Were Grownups and I remember liking it, so I thought that there must be a pearl in this book, too
More...
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Mar 12, 2008
Katie
rated it: 
Anne Tyler is my go-to author for easy, enjoyable fiction. I don't do chick lit or romance novels, so Anne Tyler is my vacation reading. (Side note: About 8 years ago, I decided I could make my fortune writing romance novels. Easy, right? My first step was to familiarize myself with the genre, so I hopped on down to B&N and bought myself a Danielle Steel book. Good grief. It was painful, even with the semi-steamy sex scenes. I made it about a third of the way through before chucking the b
More...
May 12, 2008
Lydia
rated it: 
Anne Tyler's an interesting author because each of her characters are so flawed with unique issues that are fun to psychoanalyze. This particular book is about a woman who has been married to a doctor for twenty or so years, and also has three older children who rarely acknowledge her existence. This woman feels invisible in her familial surroundings, and one day she abruptly decides to do something about her "mistreatment."
I finished this book a few days ago, and I'm stil More...
I finished this book a few days ago, and I'm stil More...
3 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Dec 11, 2008
Sherry
rated it:
I've had this book for over ten years and just now have gotten around to reading it. It's been a long time since I've read Anne Tyler, and I thoroughly enjoyed Ladder of Years. I couldn't put it down. I hope women today go into marriage with a little more sense and self-assurance than in the day of our protagonist, Delia, but I think there is still a lot we can learn from this story. Delia, without a conscious thought, deconstructs her life and begins it again, trying to rebuild it with a kind o
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 04, 2007
Aletha
rated it: 
I believe I read this book right before Jesse and I got married. It was a long time ago.
I got it as a book club selection and fell in love instantly. There is something romantic about just quietly walking off one day, leaving it all behind to start anew. How would you get along without your comfortable life and surroundings? Could you do it on your own?
Would you go back?
Wow, I seem to like kidnappings and runaway stories. Hmmm do I have abandonment issues?
More...
I got it as a book club selection and fell in love instantly. There is something romantic about just quietly walking off one day, leaving it all behind to start anew. How would you get along without your comfortable life and surroundings? Could you do it on your own?
Would you go back?
Wow, I seem to like kidnappings and runaway stories. Hmmm do I have abandonment issues?
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 16, 2011
Tania
rated it:
Other reviewers have encapsulated the plot, so won't go into detail about it. Basically, it's the story of what happens to a woman when one day she just decides to walk away from her life, and what she finds.
I did enjoy this book; there were times, in fact, where I couldn't put it down. The beginning was slow, and a tad out of place - the main character, Delia, has an affair that never really goes anywhere. I suppose it's the impetus for her moving, but it still seems like that part More...
I did enjoy this book; there were times, in fact, where I couldn't put it down. The beginning was slow, and a tad out of place - the main character, Delia, has an affair that never really goes anywhere. I suppose it's the impetus for her moving, but it still seems like that part More...
Feb 05, 2011
Eppie
rated it:
Really identified with this one (secretly).
At 40, Delia Grinstead seems more likely to have an attack of anxiety, or of whimsy, than to become a runaway wife. Yet, in Tyler's 13th beguiling novel, Delia's impulse to escape her disapproving physician husband and three surly children turns into an adventure that sweeps her from her staid Baltimore orbit into a new existence as Ms. Grinstead, spinster, in the Delaware community of Bay Borough. It's the unexamined life that's Delia's probl More...
At 40, Delia Grinstead seems more likely to have an attack of anxiety, or of whimsy, than to become a runaway wife. Yet, in Tyler's 13th beguiling novel, Delia's impulse to escape her disapproving physician husband and three surly children turns into an adventure that sweeps her from her staid Baltimore orbit into a new existence as Ms. Grinstead, spinster, in the Delaware community of Bay Borough. It's the unexamined life that's Delia's probl More...
Aug 28, 2009
Melissa
rated it:
The author has a natural writing style and just pulls you into the story. At the start of this story I totally understood Delia, I couldn't really blame her for leaving.
With that being said, by the middle of the book I was screaming in my head, "They are your children, no matter what, they are your children! You have to go back to them. No matter how old they are, they are your children." I could understand why she wasn't responding to her husband, he should have asked her to co More...
With that being said, by the middle of the book I was screaming in my head, "They are your children, no matter what, they are your children! You have to go back to them. No matter how old they are, they are your children." I could understand why she wasn't responding to her husband, he should have asked her to co More...
Jun 01, 2009
Patricia
rated it:
I've always been delighted that Anne Tyler's novels are always a lot less fluffy than they seem, given the plot synopses on the back of my paperbacks.
The truth is, Tyler better captures more than almost any other author the inner lives of regular folks. I was surprised to find myself and constantly eager to find out what would happen to the protagonist, Delia, after she walks out on her family.
Delia's motivations are in no way cardboard, as they might be in the hands of a More...
The truth is, Tyler better captures more than almost any other author the inner lives of regular folks. I was surprised to find myself and constantly eager to find out what would happen to the protagonist, Delia, after she walks out on her family.
Delia's motivations are in no way cardboard, as they might be in the hands of a More...
Jan 16, 2010
Tracy O
rated it:
I will show my ignorance with this review. At first, I thought Anne Tyler was riffing on King Lear with the 3 daughters (one named Cordelia) and the tension between the 3 girls over the family pile. So, I was expecting some kind of a pattern there and if there is one I wasn't able to discern it. This author's characters are always so real you feel like you'll bump into them at the grocery market - she's just so gifted in that way. And, she makes ordinary family issues so interesting - she ex
More...
Jan 21, 2009
Kirsten
rated it:
Very readable - but crazy story (especially the ending). This story encouraged me to follow the real-life story of a woman who "disappeared" from a Beth Moore conference in Texarkana, LA. I suspected that she had walked away from her family, much as the main character in Ladder of Years. Sure enough, about 5 months later, she surfaced in New York.
3 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 10, 2009
Lisette
rated it: 
It's been a long time since I read this book, but unfortunately it was my first Anne Tyler book and I did not care for it.
As a writer, I don't have a problem with almost any theme, because for me, it's how the story is told. Not everyone is going to like every book, no matter how well written, no matter how much mass appeal. Such is virtually impossible.
In this book, the main character, Delia Grinstead, decides to walk away from her life as she knows it. Delia is on the More...
As a writer, I don't have a problem with almost any theme, because for me, it's how the story is told. Not everyone is going to like every book, no matter how well written, no matter how much mass appeal. Such is virtually impossible.
In this book, the main character, Delia Grinstead, decides to walk away from her life as she knows it. Delia is on the More...
Jun 06, 2010
Libby
rated it:
Anne Tyler seems to have taken the title of her book “Ladder of Years,” from the following conversation relayed by Nat, a somewhat elderly character in the book who lives at Senior City. “See, I’ve always pictured life as one of those ladders you find on playground sliding boards - a sort of ladder of years where you climb higher and higher, and then, oops!, you fall over the edge and others move up behind you.”
Delia is the main character in the book, a 40 year old housewife marri More...
Delia is the main character in the book, a 40 year old housewife marri More...
Oct 28, 2009
Vanessa
rated it:
The idea of this book - a woman who just walks away from her family during at beach vacation - was very intriguing. Who hasn't thought about getting in a car and driving away at some point? But the direction of the story meanders and I despised the ending. It seemed like Tyler just got tired of writing it and didn't know how to resolve the plot. There was no feeling of some essential insight gained by the main character. This critical flash of insight, a culmination of all that's gone before, is
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Aug 18, 2010
Weebly
rated it:
This book was a bookcrossing wild catch, found out in the open at Hatton Station near Warwick, so I was lucky to find it before the weather took it's toll.
It was total karma as the local bookcrossers then decided to make it our bookcrossing meet up bookclub book - which we will discuss at the next meeting.
This book really struck a chord with me. The way a Mum can be so invisible that when she goes missing they can't even remeber her eye and hair colour, let alone what she More...
It was total karma as the local bookcrossers then decided to make it our bookcrossing meet up bookclub book - which we will discuss at the next meeting.
This book really struck a chord with me. The way a Mum can be so invisible that when she goes missing they can't even remeber her eye and hair colour, let alone what she More...
Sep 05, 2010
Kristine
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 06, 2009
Ariella
rated it:
This was good vacation/beach/ lite book.I don't have much more to say to about it. I could vent some negative frustrations but why bother? If you go into it thinking you will be blown away by character development, beautiful prose and new and interesting ideas you will be disappointed. But if you want some lite reading that is readable rather than empty-headed fluff, then this fits the bill. The one thing that I didnt like was the charcaters' use of grammar. I felt that towards the end of the bo
More...
May 20, 2011
Rachel
rated it:
I enjoy Anne Tyler's writing, which is thoughtful and nuanced, and remarkably grounded, as well as being easy to read. When I read the back of this book, though, I was worried that I wasn't going to enjoy this book as much as I wanted to, because it was clearly about a woman who left her family.
For me, the impulse to leave is relatable, but actually doing so is unthinkable, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy thinking about it for the length of a book. So I was surprised by how m More...
For me, the impulse to leave is relatable, but actually doing so is unthinkable, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy thinking about it for the length of a book. So I was surprised by how m More...
Dec 30, 2010
Amy
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 28, 2009
Andrea
rated it:
I had never read anything by Anne Tyler although she has been recommended to me by several people. I found her easy to read but also honest. The main character was a woman who seemed to let life happen to her and suddenly leaves her own comforts to try to be on her own. It wasn't even a conscious decision to leave, she just started walking and kept going. I found this premise remarkable. You mean other women have fantasies of walking away from it all without as much as a change of underwear? Al
More...
Mar 19, 2008
Carol
rated it:
How can anyone leave their entire family, just walk away, during a beach vacation. She spends a year, building a new life, not visiting her family for birthdays, Christmas or any holidays. She is content with her new, emotionless, Ms. Grinstead life... I can understand the impulse, but not the action. I never warmed up to this book, despite its Eastern Shore/Maryland setting.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Apr 23, 2010
Nina
rated it:
Like all of the Anne Tyler novels I have read thus far, this book is set in Baltimore and its surrounding area. It is not a difficult read but I did find it somewhat hard to start. The novel centres on a 40 year old married woman with three almost grown children who experiences a crossroads of sorts. It seems to me she has never really made a conscious decision in her life and has been swept along to her current situation which she finds unsatisfactory. I found the book somewhat preposterous
More...
Jun 26, 2008
tbears
rated it:
My first Anne Tyler book...the one that got me hooked with reading her books. I read this when I was about the same age as Delia. I thought, "Wow! She did what a lot of married women think about doing but don't have the nerve to do." How many women feel unappreciated by her family like she does?
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 17, 2011
Karen
rated it:
This was a light and enjoyable read. I had a hard time relating to the protagonist, though. Delia is a 40-year-old Desperate Housewife of sorts who, fueled by some serious middle-age angst, abandons her family to finally discover the kind of person she wants to be. I found myself cheering Delia on while scoffing at her unbelievably sheltered, flighty, and childlike persona. I recognize that my critiques of her say something about me. As a twenty-something graduate student, settling down to have
More...
6 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Aug 14, 2011
Susanne
rated it:
Nearly every stay-at-home-mom, if she's honest, will admit to fantasizing about abandoning her home and family at one point or another; just walking away from them at the beach while on vacation, and not turning around to walk back. Having had those daydreams myself, I was happy to live vicariously through one of Anne Tyler's quirky characters. Delia lived a life of such security and predictability under the wing of her father and then her husband, that she didn't even think to explore what sh
More...
Mar 22, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
I finished reading this book 2 days ago. I cannot remember the main character's name. I can't. I think it's because once I read the last 5 pages I got completely disgusted with how this book ended. I do not understand this character. She seems to have done this selfish thing by running away from her family but she doesn't seem to have a selfish bone in her body. Everything this character reads is a foretelling of what happens 10 pages later. It is so predictable. Anne Tyler is a great wr
More...
Feb 28, 2010
S-h-r-u-t-h-i
rated it:
Anne Taylor has this amazing unassuming style of writing. It's almost like she never misses a single detail - thoughts, emotions, desires, expressions, perspectives et al. Delia, the protagonist in this piece of Taylor's work, jouneys into rediscovering herself - finding her own identity and brings herself back home. Somewhere in our lives most of us stop being ourselves - circumstances, people, experiences - million reasons! But things changed for us exactly because we change. Subtlely but erra
More...
Aug 28, 2010
Liz
rated it:
Delia is a doctors wife, married for over 20 years with 3 almost grown up children who still live at home. She has reached a point in her life where she fees invisible to her family, her children barely acknowledge her when she speaks and her husband not listening or valuing any of her opinions. One day while on a family vacation at the beach she just walks away from it all just wearing her bathing suit and without so much as a word to her family an without anything other than her beach bag to
More...
Feb 20, 2011
Nancy
rated it:
Quick read. Very enjoyable. Delia, the main character from Baltimore, is a woman in a mid-life crisis that many women could relate to even if they are not going through one, or have never gone through one themselves. I was able to relate to her thoughts as a boarder in someone's home and when she dined alone in a restaurant. I think she is the one character in the book who doesn't grow and change, that the people she leaves behind are the ones who do the changing. Her leaving makes all those
More...
Mar 25, 2009
Amanda
rated it:
I always avoid Anne Tyler's books because the covers make them look like fluffy reading, when in fact she's an accomplished author (Accidental Tourist, anyone?) who draws rich characters and compelling, offbeat story lines. I enjoyed the first book of her that I picked up on a whim, Back When We Were Grownups, and this one was even better. She has a way of making ordinary people charming and amusing, and I always finish her books wishing I could keep getting to know her characters. I definitely
More...
