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A Spool of Blue Thread,
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Jade Dermody
There are many meanings for the spool of blue thread. But I like how Anne Tyler uses the last last of her last book as its title. Makes me think it is also about the end of a long story. The spool of blue thread could be seen to represent the Whitshank family. Blue blooded is often used to describe a family lineage. While the thread is a line, a connection, through time and space, like the family and its many generations. Also Denny is the last person we see in the book using the thread. Being the last male of the Whitshanks (Stem being adopted) he is the last in the line, the end of the family, the book and the authors writing career.
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