Earthly Possessions

by Anne Tyler

'A skilful novel by a writer in full flight from the obvious' ObserverFor thirty-five year old Charlotte Emory, leaving her husband seems to offer the only way out from the mundaneness of every day life's earthly possessions and emotional complications. In the bank, she withdraws enough money to escape a life and a marriage gone sour. But Charlotte is about to escape in a way she never expected, as a young bank robber takes her hostage, and they head south for Florida in a stolen car.**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**'Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing' Rachel Joyce'She knows all the secrets of the human heart' Monica Ali'A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks'I love Anne Tyler. I've read every single book she's written' Jacqueline Wilson

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, American, Novels, Adult, Audiobook

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went on to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. She has published 20 novels, her debut novel being If Morning Ever Comes in (1964). Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons , was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

DESTINO FATALE


Susan Sarandon è Charlotte Emory nel TV movie del 1999 diretto da James Lapine.

Earthly Possessions è il romanzo della Tyler più vecchio che ho letto: uscito nel 1977, anticipa la sua produzione degli anni Ottanta, quella che l’ha davvero lanciata (e premiata: per esempio, il Pulitzer del 1989), anche da noi in Italia.

Charlotte Emory ha trentacinque anni e da sempre si sente intrappolata in una vita che non riesce a indossare: le sta stretto Clarion, il paese del Maryland dove è nata e cresciuta, la imbarazzano i suoi eccentrici genitori, la disturbano i fratelli, la figlia che non risponde, il marito predicatore sposato troppo presto.
Decide di tagliare la corda, liberandosi di tutti i suoi “possessi terreni”.
Però, per andarsene qualche possesso terreno le serve: va in banca a prelevare il suo conto e finisce ostaggio di un rapinatore appena evaso di galera. Jake Simms se la porta dietro sull’auto rubata con la quale i due sono diretti verso la Florida.


Stephen Dorff è Jake Simms, il ladro che sequestra Charlotte. Il film Tv da noi è arrivato col titolo “Destino fatale” nonostante il romanzo sia stato pubblicato col titolo giusto.

Una Tyler inusuale: usa il ‘genere’ (la rapina, la fuga, che diventa una sorta di road movie), non ambienta a Baltimora, se ne va in giro per gli Stati Uniti da nord a sud.
Ma è sempre l’America dei piccoli, della porta accanto, della vita di tutti i giorni.
Anche se qui un ‘incidente’ modifica il percorso in modo sostanziale.
Ciò non toglie, che seppure ostaggio, seppure prigioniera, Charlotte si è liberata dei suoi “possessi terreni”, che sono prima di tutto "possessi" umani: si è liberata di quel marito che ha sposato troppo giovane, e che a pochi giorni dalle nozze le ha regalato la sgradevole sorpresa di manifestarle la sua vocazione religiosa, che lo ha spinto a diventare pastore, dedicandosi a dio e dimenticandosi qualsiasi slancio affettivo; via dalla figlia, silenziosa a oltranza e oltre misura, che sotto il silenzio potrebbe nascondere la sua follia; lontana dai suoi strani, eccessivi genitori che l’hanno sempre imbarazzata; via anche dalle masse di senzatetto da redimere che il marito reverendo le porta a casa ospiti non annunciati…


La liaison tra sequestratore e ostaggio è un’aggiunta (invenzione?) televisiva, nel romanzo non ce n’è traccia.

Lungo il viaggio, durante la fuga, Charlotte ha modo di ripensare la sua vita, infanzia e adolescenza incluse. È prigioniera di un bandito solitario, Jack Simms, un evaso, che si rivela non violento e più gentile del previsto: anzi, dimostrerà un lato di debolezza e bisogno d’affetto che lo avvicineranno al suo ostaggio.
Intanto, oltre i finestrini, scorre l’America dei motel, delle autostrade, delle stazioni di servizio, dei diner.

Mai come qui, tra tutti i romanzi e racconti della Tyler che ho letto, ritrovo la verità di questa sua asserzione (in una delle rare interviste, Tyler vive defilata):
I miei romanzi non sono ispirati alle esperienze che mi hanno accompagnato. È noioso rivivere i passaggi della propria esistenza e narrarli. Preferisco avere un'altra vita, quella dei miei personaggi.

[Emily B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only started reading Anne Tyler this year and her style is definitely distinctive to me. Quirky, dysfunctional Families are her bread and butter and this read was no exception.

At first I was wondering why there wasn’t more plot and less coverage of the family background. However I then became fully immersed into the family and felt their presence more than the characters in the main plot.

[Glenn Sumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely, observant Anne Tyler novel.

One day, 30-something Charlotte decides to walk out on her marriage and, while at the bank to withdraw money for her trip (where?), she’s taken hostage by escaped prisoner Jake, who’s got his own relationship issues and wants to set them straight.

What follows is a sly road comedy that - even if it feels implausible - is deeply wise about guilt, avoidance and accepting one’s course in life.

As usual, Tyler has great affection for her characters, warts and all.

I’m looking forward to reading some more of Tyler’s backlist – Morgan’s Passing, Celestial Navigation - before moving forward and reading the recent A Spool Of Blue Thread.

Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant and The Accidental Tourist are still my favourites, but she’s so consistently good. People might argue that she writes about the same things, but when I think back to the 7 or 8 books of hers I’ve read I can remember them, especially her characters and their situations, vividly.

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Tyler makes tiny lives sparkle. In fact, she's way more about character development than plot, and the actual content comes from a resistance in the protagonist to change. We've seen this previously in her later novels, "The Accidental Tourist" & "Breathing Lessons." That she avoids exaggeration in her prose & opts for a clean, crisp telling is a real valediction of her earthly prowess.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte Emory has threatened to leave her husband countless times - but he never believed she would ever do it.



Charlotte planned endlessly for it: decluttering her possessions, cutting ties with her friends, and even buying a travelers cheque and keeping it in her battered wallet. Life was never what she hoped it would be. Her plans invariably came to naught: college had to be scrapped because of her father's accident. Her marriage to Saul becomes even more of a trap when he decides to become a preacher. Ironically, she is completely irreligious.



Disillusioned and disheartened, Charlotte still does her duty by her husband, his parishioners and her ailing mother. She endures her stifling life, all the while plotting and planning, dreaming of a different life: travel, fun, adventure. Her ambition to take flight from her monotonous prison is foiled first by the birth of her daughter, then the adoption of a foster child and the housing and feeding of various indigent parishioners, and finally by the return of Saul's wayward brothers. We don't often know what goes on insides Saul's head, with the exception of a few comments or conversations that make you think that he isn't as blinded by religion as Charlotte thinks.



When Charlotte is taken as a hostage by an inept bank robber, it appears that the Fates have finally granted Charlotte her heart's desire: escape from the monotony and obscurity of her life. Many of the scenes between Charlotte and Jake had me in stitches.



Charlotte has always "gone with the flow" - a theme that Anne Tyler often explores in her novels. Many of Tyler's female characters will take things in their stride, make the best of things. Justine, of Searching for Caleb is another such complacent character. Justine also left behind her extremely orderly, predictable life to become the ultimate bohemian. Charlotte may have hankered after a more bohemian lifestyle as well, but what she got instead was another form of prison. Her abductor came to rely on Charlotte - everyone does in the end, it seems.



What an inspiring ending: no spoilers here, though! Anne Tyler's subtle examination of destiny, faith, notions of success, failure and one's true purpose in life: all were beautifully and subtly handled. We come to realize that Charlotte was an "accidental artist" - that her customers came to her because they believed that she was able to capture the extra-ordinary elements of her subjects' personalities. Little did they know that she often was barely paying attention! How ironic!



I was sorry to turn the last page on this compelling novel. I'm giving this one 5 full stars because I could not wait to get back to it every evening. Occasionally funny, generally sad, often claustrophobic, but ultimately quietly heroic, this was an examination of a flat line life - turned on its head one fateful, chaotic afternoon. Highly recommended!

[Lori Keeton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Choosing to start my Anne Tyler experience with Earthly Possessions was just as last minute as my road trip to see my boys in Austin. I needed to find something new and different from my usual fare for the 6 hours round trip and this one fit the time parameters pretty closely and it was available on Hoopla audio. The story started out proving to be just what I wanted for my drive. Right away we meet Charlotte Emory who has been living a pretty mundane and standard - nothing out of the ordinary - life. She’s not very happy in her marriage and thinks it is time that she leave her husband and ALL of the “stuff” possessed by her family. The merging of family furniture and “junk” that not one wants but doesn’t want to throw it out. She’s had enough.

What she’s not expecting is the series of events that occur as she heads to the bank and winds up a hostage during a robbery. What happens becomes a series of present and past episodes where Charlotte and her would-be hostage taker discover what they’ve been missing out on in their lives. For Charlotte, this potentially uncomfortable situation becomes quite an occurrence as they two set out on a road trip trying to dodge being caught.

Tyler switches back and forth between Charlotte and Jake with extended flashbacks to when Charlotte was growing up right up to when she decides to leave. During these moments, we meet some odd, and unusual people, family members, as well as hear about a splattering of family drama and weirdness.

I didn’t dislike this story at all. I liked it just didn’t fall in love with it. I’ll start with a nice, and not bad at all 3 stars and work my way from here. I have a distinct feeling from the way Tyler writes her dialogue and from the situations she places her characters in that she is quite good at knowing human nature and how people would handle different situations. I fully expect that as I explore more of Tyler’s work, I will find the one that will wow me! I look forward to the adventure.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down.

Anne Tyler can take quirky, oddball, and unorthodox and turn it into familiar, approachable, and honest in the course of a 250 page novel. It is one of her strengths. You begin, seeing her characters as goofier than you, apart from the norm, and you end by seeing them as very human, even a bit of a kindred spirit.

Charlotte Emory is about to leave her husband when she is unexpectedly abducted by a bank robber. For most of us, a gun in our side and being forced into a car with an unknown man would be crippling, for Charlotte it is almost an adventure, at last. What it actually becomes is an opportunity for Charlotte to consider her life in a different light, and while she learns more about herself, so do we.

This is not one of her best works, but it felt very familiar to me (without feeling predictable) and I enjoyed reading it. Nice break from the disappointments I have had lately. A break to regroup and consider the next step...we all need that from time to time.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte is not a very happy character - she has a disappointing marriage, unfulfilled hopes and a catalogue of complicated domestic woes. On top of all of this she’s randomly involved in an inept bank robbery, and finds herself held hostage and subsequently whisked away from Clarion, her small home town.
Earthly Possessions is light, warm and witty, but being an Anne Tyler novel there’s a quirkiness and depth of characterisation that is typical of her writing. I’m a big fan and although this is a very early novel of hers, I loved it :)

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte Emory is one of the more complex, nuanced characters in any Anne Tyler novel I've read. And the way in which Tyler doles out information about the character is at such a different pace and in a different style than I anticipated. It really feels like all the things you love and expect from a Tyler novel with a bit more melancholy. I said in an update, in ways this reminds me of Ottessa Moshfegh (which isn't surprising since Moshfegh has admitted she's a Anne Tyler fan). Though of course it's a lot less rough around the edges in terms of content than Moshfegh; but Earthly Possessions is a story that crept up on me and made me sympathize with a character who, at first glance, has no agency in her life.

One morning Charlotte Emory is about to leave her husband for good, finally. She arrives at the bank where she gets swept up in a robbery and taken hostage by a young man named Jakes Sims. We are taken along for this ride as well as flashbacks to Charlotte's childhood and coming of age, where we get to learn more about her character, her motivations for leaving her husband, and the ins-and-outs of her life that feels stuck in place. Anne Tyler approaches this story with the same care and tenderness that she always does, but presents things as less 'rose colored glasses' and more of the harsh light of reality. I appreciated it the subtlety of this story and how Charlotte's character developed in front of our eyes, like the photographs she takes in her father's workshop.

[Zoeytron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earthly Possessions was published in 1977. It is refreshing to read a book that is not set in the past, yet is without references to our modern conveniences because they simply weren't around yet. No GPS, no texting, no cell phones, nary a microwave in sight.

Charlotte Emory has felt trapped pretty much all of her life. Growing up with her mother sighing and complaining that her own baby was switched with the wee baby Charlotte shortly after birth, it's not much of a reach to think she felt as though she didn't belong there. Now, at age 35, Charlotte has never really shaken the idea that she should be living some other life. She doesn't really love her husband, 'a towering hat rack of a man, gaunt and cavernous and haunted looking'. Her caregiving duties have finally come to an end with her mother's death. Charlotte is ready to make the break and leave. Popping into the local bank to withdraw some running away money (remember - no ATMs!), her getaway is thwarted when she is taken hostage by a bank robber and hustled out of the bank into his car. Trapped again.

A stop made at an old-fashioned Woolworth's 5 & 10 brought back memories with the mention of the old creaky wooden flooring, the smell of popcorn permeating the air, glass counters sporting the likes of Spray-Net hairspray, harlequin reading glasses, eyelash curlers, and mustard seed pendants. Not to be forgotten is the soda fountain complete with waitress and those glass cases of candy and hot salted cashews and peanuts, ready to be scooped and weighed by the clerk and handed to you in a little white paper bag.

It is the eccentricities of Anne Tyler's characters that draw me in and keep me there. The rather dismal aura that many of her stories display is here, familiar and comfortable.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earthly Possessions was Tyler’s seventh novel and is refreshingly different from the 12 of her books I’d read previously. The action begins in a typical Maryland setting but soon hits the road. After years of coasting along unhappily, Charlotte Emory, 35, has finally decided to leave her preacher husband and their two children, and is at the bank in Clarion (a fictional town) to withdraw money for the journey. Jake Simms, recently escaped from the county jail, is here to get cash, too, and Charlotte is his sole hostage in the bungling robbery that follows.

The first-person narration struck me as rare for Tyler – though I’d have to go back to all the others I’ve read to confirm that they’re in the third-person omniscient, as in my memory – and the structure is very effective, alternating chapters about Jake and Charlotte’s hapless road trip to Florida with extended flashbacks to Charlotte’s earlier life, from childhood right up to the moment she decided to leave Saul. Her family background is similar to Daisy’s in Carol Shields’s The Stone Diaries: both characters had an overweight mother who didn’t realize she was pregnant until all of a sudden she gave birth to a daughter. After her father’s death, Charlotte felt obliged to take over his photographic studio and she and her mother had lodgers in their unusual turreted home beside a gas station. One of these lodgers was Saul.

The title contrasts Saul’s heavenly concerns with the mess of life on earth. Charlotte is a Marie Kondo disciple avant la lettre, purging her home of superfluous furniture and cutting herself off from unnecessary people.

“My life has been a history of casting off encumbrances, paring down to the bare essentials, stripping for the journey. Possessions make me anxious.”

“I gave up hope. Then in order not to mind too much I loosened my roots, floated a few feet off, and grew to look at things with a faint, pleasant humorousness that spiced my nose like the beginnings of a sneeze. … My world began to seem…temporary. I saw that I must be planning to leave, eventually.”

A passive woman reaching a breaking point and leaving the life she’s been stuck in is a setup that anticipates Ladder of Years, one of my favourites from Tyler, and the protagonists’ emotional circuit and eventual destination are similar. Themes from The Clock Winder, and from her work in general, recur: a big, quirky family; mental illness; brothers squabbling over a woman; secrets; and bereavement. I enjoyed the touch of reverse Stockholm syndrome as Jake comes to rely on Charlotte for help with placating his pregnant girlfriend. And I was delighted to see a little mention of a character who “suffered one of his lapses and lost three hundred dollars at the Bowie Racetrack” – I grew up in Bowie and my parents lived on Race Track Road, just down from the (now derelict) track, for 13 years.

I’d never heard of this novel before I found it at a charity shop a few years ago. It ended up being a real gem, covering a lot of literal and psychological ground in its 200 small-format pages and doing something a bit different from the standard Tyler narrative while still staying true to her trademark themes and bittersweet sense of humour. I heartily recommend this one.

Favourite lines:

“I saw that all of us lived in a sort of web, criss-crossed by strings of love and need and worry.”

“Oh, I’ve never had the knack of knowing I was happy right while the happiness was going on.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of Anne Tyler's earlier works, although "Earthly Possessions" from 1977 was actually her 7th published novel, which goes to show what a prolific writer she is. I've loved every book from her up until 2000 and all the later ones I liked too, which the exception of 'Vinegar Girl'. There are still 11 of her novels I haven't read, but me reading 12 novels by the same author in one year is unheard of. For two reasons:

1) Most of my favourite authors don't even have 12+ novels to read and
2) A lot of authors I love very much but reading them takes effort and after one novel I need some space. I love John Updike but I'm not gonna binge-read him, you know.

Anne Tyler to me is at the perfect of intersection of literature and readable entertainment. Michael Cunningham comes close but his books are more of the kick-in-the-feels kind where Tyler can be whimsical and fun, things I normally detest in novels. But she makes it work when I actually feel for the characters, when I fully believe in their whacky frustrating selves.

Celestial Navigation (1974) - 4/5
Earthly Possessions (1977) - 4/5
Morgan's Passing (1980) - 4/5
Ladder of Years (1995) - 4/5
A Patchwork Planet (1998) - 4/5
Back When We Were Grownups (2001) - 3/5
The Amateur Marriage (2004) - 3/5
The Beginner’s Goodbye (2012) - 3/5
A Spool of Blue Thread (2015) - 5/5
Vinegar Girl (2016) - 2/5
Clock Dance (2018) 3/5
Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020) - 3/5

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tennessee Williams meets Billy Bob. I generally like Ms. Tyler; at least she's mildly entertaining. But this portrait of Middle America, where a housewife married to a preacher gets kidnapped by a dumb male, who is about to embark on a book-long quest to find his teenage pregnant girlfriend, left me speechless. Why didn't Charlotte just get out of the car early on? Why didn't Mindy stay where she was and BECOME someone, maybe in a board room? POOR, POOR CHOICES! So Charlotte had a terrible childhood, let others push her around and and did for them instead of for herself her whole life, and then she wants to run away. Gosh, why would she want to do that? WHY DIDN'T SHE GROW UP? And Mindy was just the same! Charlotte ended up back with her husband, and Jake ends up with Mindy in Florida or North Carolina or somewhere. The whole book was about how they were all SO happily trapped by their circumstances and poor education. Ugh ugh ugh. I guess as an exploratory writing, it was OK, but not for me.

[Zuberino · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The marriage wasn't going well and I decided to leave my husband."

So begins Anne Tyler's story of a woman named Charlotte, 35, from a small town in Maryland, sometime in the mid-1970s. A tale of ordinary people, with all the strengths and limitations that implies. Tyler has been ploughing this soil for well on 40 years now, and this is one of her earlier works, her seventh novel. Admittedly, she is no Updike - not such a showy stylist at any rate (but then who is?) - nonetheless, her prose has a cool, quiet artistry. Charlotte Emory is kidnapped by a young ne'er-do-well at the bank counter, and on their hasty flight south to Florida in a stolen car (the passenger-side doors locked with chains), she looks back upon the entirety of her prosaic life. Her parents' unhappy marriage, father a gloomy studio photographer, mother an ailing Zeppelin of a woman, her childhood spent in dreams of flight from her narrow circumstances. How that dream comes crashing to pieces, less than an hour after she has left home for college, forcing her to return to Clarion, MD and the inescapable parental home. Her subsequent marriage to the returned soldier Saul Emory (who later turns preacher), part of the large Emory brood and their flamboyant matriarch Alberta. All while, in the present, Charlotte is continuing her unreal journey south in the company of Jake Simms, shiftless sticker-upper carroming chaotically through life though fundamentally a good kid at heart, and his barely-legal belle Mindy, who is heavy with child.

As I said, very ordinary people, the salt of America's earth, and yet Tyler spins compelling tales out of this mundane material. There are no whizz-bang effects here, no shattering denouements, just quiet decisions and a return to the hard everyday business of living. For some reason, Charlotte's journey south put me in mind of another famous fictional roadtrip taken 15 years earlier - Harry Angstrom trying to flee from his wife Janice and his hometown of Brewer, PA - except that neither he nor Charlotte Emory manage to get very far in the end, neither are able to escape the fixed orbit of their lives. Ultimately, that great big bastard Life will claim the both of them, as it does all the rest of us, for that matter... Looking forward now to catching up with the rest of Anne Tyler's oeuvre.

[Tania · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my fourth Anne Tyler novel, and although I liked it a bit better than The Tin Can Tree, it is still not on par with Breathing Lessons or The Accidental Tourist. I somewhat liked the character of Charlotte, but she wasn't as sympathetic to me as other Tyler heroines. I could, however, relate to her dissatisfaction with life - I just wished she'd do more, be more proactive, and not complain so much.

That said, Tyler give a clear glimpse into her family life, which made it possible to comprehend how she'd become the person she was, even if I found her hard to put up with in long doses. I was interested in her marriage and family life.

What I wasn't interested in was the subplot with Jake, the bank robber. This angle to the novel was so far fetched that it kept me from fully embracing the story. If Jake and his girlfriend were more well rounded characters, I might've cared more about that subplot. In general, I found that the book should've been longer. The fact that the book was so short made it difficult for Tyler to fully explore the differing points of view of the various characters, which she does to full effect in Breathing Lessons.

In short, this is a good, not great book. If you've never read Tyler's work before, I wouldn't start with this book - I doubt you'll fully grasp the level of her talent. This book is more for hardcore Tyler fans who, like me, are determined to read all her books, just on principle.

[Aoife Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more Anne Tyler you read, the deeper your appreciation for her grows. A remarkable writer, an empath, a comic and a keen observer of human behaviour. Earthly Possessions, her seventh novel, was published in 1977 and like all her books that I’ve read so far, has a timeless quality to it.

Charlotte Emory, a woman in her thirties unhappily married to her preacher husband, decides to leave him and their children and and rid herself of earthly possessions. In the process of withdrawing cash to facilitate her escape, Charlotte is taken hostage by young bank robber Jake, who takes her south to Florida in a stolen car.

In flashbacks to her childhood, the early days of her marriage and her life in her cluttered family home, we understand what has motivated Charlotte to press the eject button. Like all Tyler’s work, this one is quietly understated, tender, subtle and sad, with lots of moments of tragi-comedy. The ultimate go-to comfort author for me. 4/5 ⭐️

[Anne Griffin]

I'm currently reading/rereading all of Anne Tyler's novels. I am a huge fan. Earthly Possessions is one of her earlier ones, 1977 as far as I can see. There is something about this novel that makes me put it up there as one of my favourites. I simply love Charlotte Emory, the main character (who I picture as Frances McDormand!) who is escaping her life. In the process she happens upon a bank robbery and things take an interesting turn from there. I recommend each of Tyler's novels but this one somehow has dug itself deeper into my heart than any of others. Isn't that the joy of reading - its utter subjectiveness.

[Tonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Anne Tyler is a constant. Good solid writing with a lovely story albeit sometimes tragic in theme. earthly possessions is no different. A bank robber and his hostage learn they're not so different when they're caught in a car for weeks running from the law. I loved the robustness of the characters and the many comical moments. Read it if you need a book that doesn't make you work too hard.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a charming and poignant novel. Like so many other Anne Tyler novels I have read it is the wonderful characters she creates that make it so memorable. What was most interesting to me was Charlotte's view of herself, and how she views her childhood. Both Charlotte and Jake have an obession with the past, Jake's memories of his friend Oliver bringing him up short when he is suddenly brought face to face with a 26 year old married man he no longer recognises, Charlotte with the idea that she was somehow accidently switched with another baby at the hospital when she was born. The ending was nice, and seemed to wrap things up in just the right way.

[Mind the Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hade P l a n e r för denna söndag, men omprioriterade och släpade upp kudde och filt till Sheen Common för fyra timmar i solen med en Anne Tyler från -77. Roadtrip och vardagsvisdom i form av longitudinellt ifrågasättande av tvåsamhetsnormen. Underbar!

[Danielius Goriunovas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Netikėtai gera! Autorės stilius lakoniškas, vietomis dėl jo net juokingas, o veikėjai - gilūs. Tai veikėjais paremtas kūrinys, nes veiksmo vyksta mažai; tik viduje verda išgyvenimai dėl laisvės, įkalinimo ir (ne)prasmingo gyvenimo.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

A paperback copy of this book was given to me by one of my favorite college professors, Barbara Mallonee, after I finished a writing course with her. She wrote a note in it saying that from what she knew of me, she thought I would like the writing of Anne Tyler. I have to thank her for introducing me to Anne and for being such a wonderful, inspiring teacher. She is one of the role models I used when I decided to become a teacher myself.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I loved it. I've loved everything I've ever read by Anne Tyler. I was a little unsure about this book after I'd read some of the less favourable reviews about it. I'm so glad I read it anyway. On the surface it appears nothing much happens but there is so much in her writing to unpick. She writes so beautifully and you feel so deeply for the main character. She's sad and strong and resilient and brave and separate. The now and then in the story connects seamlessly together.

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Tyler writes some of the best fiction around on family relationships. She also has an enormous backlist that I want to slowly make my way through. I was a little surprised to see that Earthly Possessions opens with a bank robbery but soon treads familiar territory about family and dysfunctional relationships. It’s also a good (accidental) insight into American life in the 1970s before everything was complicated with the internet, mobile phones and computers.

Charlotte is planning to leave her husband (not for the first time) and is waiting at the local small town bank for some money. She is unwittingly caught up in a bank robbery and taken hostage by the offender who is planning to drive to Florida to meet a friend and spring his pregnant girlfriend from a home for unmarried mothers. As she and Jake drive, Charlotte reflects on her life and what brought her to this moment. From the guilt she experienced as a young child, to picking up the slack for an extended household, she’s been going with the line of least resistance. It soon turns into that kind of relationship for her and Jake –rubbish collecting in the car as she talks him through his life choices and the unexpected changes in plan. Charlotte gets stronger as they enter Florida making her own choice to end this odd situation – but what will she choose for herself?

Anne Tyler excels at the quirky features of individuals and families. Charlotte’s storytelling explores marriages that were never quite honest with each other and things said in childhood that were taken to heart and held fast in adulthood. Charlotte’s family home is also a silent character – big with endless rooms for strays and mountains of furniture, right in the commercial part of town that’s gloomy yet a drawcard for the photography studio attached. The house contains Charlotte’s history and seemingly future too, try as she might to change things. The story of Charlotte’s parents and husband’s family as just as dysfunctional – the mother than ran off with the father in law, the sons who didn’t know what to do with themselves and the parish members that attach themselves to her husband for years on end. It’s a mystery to Charlotte as she navigates what might have been against what things are. Her story is just as fascinating as Jake’s, as she comes to the realisation that it doesn’t have to be the same life she returns to.

I did like the unintended view into small town America in the 1970s and earlier, where a security camera in the bank was big news. Soda fountains, a radio repair shop and cars with keys in the ignition – it’s a different world. (Although I’ve never heard of a late night bank that’s open). It’s surprisingly charming, yet the issues still feel modern in the twenty-first century as people reflect on their lives and choices. It’s a great story of family and relationships bound up in an unintentional road trip novel.

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[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Anne Tyler's writing immensely, but there is something about her description of Charlotte that seemed off-kilter, although I suppose you could say that the description of her as a stable influence in her family doesn't fit with the reality of Charlotte as not really loving herself enough to love her family. I found it a bit depressing and a bit unbelievable with regard to the kidnapping.

[aaliyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I didn't understand you. Now I see everyone grabbing for the pieces of you, and still you're never diminished. Clutching on your skirts and they don't even slow you down.”

This was so so sad? So so sad?
An important message on why you never let anyone take from you without them giving back. And you never love anyone more than you love yourself.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost put this one down a couple of times... Don't know if I was disturbed by the fact that Charlotte was so passive, or the fact that I was seeing more and more of her traits in my life.

Glad I saw it through to the end. once again Anne Tyler is a wonderful writer and pulls you in to her characters... whether you like them or not.

This book has made me look at my life in a whole new light. I too am a 'coaster'. I coast by daily, letting others push or pull me in the direction that suits them. To me it's just easier to let someone else steer my life. Reading this book has made me a little more aware of my coasting and I know I need to take charge of my life in general and stop asking people 'what do you want to do today' or 'what do you want for supper' etc... But let's face it. I know I probably won't.

At least I can escape into a different life every time I pick up a book!

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7...

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Tyler creates characters that are so well-developed they seemingly pop off the page and inhabit your life. When her characters sing, you can hear them; when they cry, you want to hand them a tissue; when they laugh, you can't help but feel their joy. This is the genius of Anne Tyler. Short on plot (who needs it?), this book resonates through all its quirky characters, as seen through the eyes of Charlotte Emory. Her husband, their two children, her mother, the husband's three brothers and assorted others who come and go all live in one house that is located between a Texaco and Amoco in Clarion, Maryland. Charlotte is taken hostage in a botched bank robbery and hustled off in stolen cars to Florida. The chapters switch between the story of her life in Clarion and the story of being a hostage. I adore Anne Tyler's books. No one writes like she does! This is a reader's treat--so go ahead and treat yourself to this book.

[Harriett Milnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, but odd plot that touches on kidnapping, photographic studios, travel, marriage, making tiny furniture, difficulties clearing out old furniture, religion and children. All is presented in such a smooth style that these disparate subjects meld together.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Anne Tyler's storytelling is all about the characters. I do think it's best I stop reading her for a while. I think adventure is needed this Spring. It's good to have one's mind float elsewhere. Or as Charlotte would think..... Keep on truckin.