A Spool of Blue Thread in Bound Together

Jan 04, 2015 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, audible-us, fiction, 2015-read, relationships, humor

ETA: Tyler's humor is never mean. You laugh with people not at them. There are all sorts of humor, so I had to clarify.

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I loved the humor of the first section, and it is this section that makes up the largest portion of the whole book. I laughed and laughed and laughed. You should read the book, just for this.

The book unrolls backwards in time, starting in 2012, when Abby and Red Whitshank are in their 70s with adult kids and grandchildren. As with most of Ty ETA: Tyler's humor is never mean. You laugh with people not at them. There are all sorts of humor, so I had to clarify.

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I loved the humor of the first section, and it is this section that makes up the largest portion of the whole book. I laughed and laughed and laughed. You should read the book, just for this.

The book unrolls backwards in time, starting in 2012, when Abby and Red Whitshank are in their 70s with adult kids and grandchildren. As with most of Tyler’s book they live in Baltimore. At the end it flips back again to 2012. Coping with elderly parents, that is the central theme of the book. Also, and as usual, Tyler looks at a dysfunctional family. But aren’t we all dysfunctional families, on and off at least?! If you have elderly parents, you will recognize the "problems" that arise, and you will laugh. Illness and memory loss and all the help that elderly parents need! Who should do what? Is there one who never helps, who always manages to abscond? There will always be one who shirks responsibility. I don't believe you can find any family where kids don't at some time bicker about one sibling getting preferential treatment! And….what do you do with the family home and all the stuff in it? I guarantee you will chuckle. I guarantee you will recall similar situations in your own family. The dialogs will make you laugh!

After the first section, the book goes backwards in time; the reader learns of Red and Abby's parents, and also how Abby and Red first met. This part of the story isn't as amusing, and there is no advantage in hopping backward. Dates are made confusing. It is always important to know the date. Is it the Depression? How is the economy? To understand the people's lives you need to know what is happening in their world. A chronological telling would have been clearer. The story could have been tightened.

This book is all about character portrayal. At the book's close you will know the parents and grandparents and grandchildren. You will know each one well, and each individual is different. There are many characters and practically all feel true to life. There is the black sheep of the family, the softy, the efficient breadwinner too. They are not stereotyped; in all families sibling simply are different!

The audiobook is narrated by Kimberly Farr. She does a fabulous job. She uses different intonations for different characters. I did have trouble when the story switched to Abby and Red's parents. I kept thinking of Abby and Red, forgetting that the story had switched to their parents. I could not hear the difference. Kind of confusing, at least for me.

I recommend grabbing this book and reading it, particularly if you have elderly parents. I promise - you will understand and you will laugh. I like it when authors make us laugh at ourselves and our struggles to get through the difficult times in our lives.
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Mar 13, 2015 Irene added it

Family tensions and tenderness is on display when four adult children come together to cope with their parent’s aging and impending death. This account of family dynamics is interrupted by the stories of the parent’s and the paternal grandparent’s earliest relationship. Anne Tyler is a master of character crafting, of capturing the little moments in which relationships are formed.
I struggled between 3 & 4 stars for my rating, but decided to round up.

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May 08, 2015 Christina, Join Me on Storygraph! rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book, 2015

I'm really not sure how to rate this book. It was a nice book, but not one that I felt I *had* to read. Not a whole lot happens, though it's about a nice family living a nice life. I enjoyed it and there were times that I did want more, but in all it was pretty slow paced.

With that said, the characters were enjoyable. Quirky Abby and her quirky son Denny, bossy Amanda, sacrificing Norah... they're all there and you might recognize some of these characters from your own extended family, which, pe ...more

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Mar 08, 2015 Martha rated it liked it

Just sort of ok...not as good as her previous stuff. Predictable and didn't really hold my interest well. ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Anna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book represents what Anne Tyler does best in that she takes an ordinary family and develops them into something engaging and fascinating. She does this by looking at the idiosyncrasies of the individuals and then develops the dynamics of the family as a whole.

For my full review please visit:
http://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspo... ...more

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Feb 06, 2015 Pat rated it liked it

Really, really glad when this book ended. I vacillated about reading this for a couple of years; should have followed my first instincts and skipped it!

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