A long slow read!

I think I put this on my Kindle a couple of years ago.  As I recall, it really did not "grab" me at the time.  

So it sat there.

I enjoy Anne Tyler, and I have enjoyed everyone of her books that I have read. But for some reason, I really could not get into it.

But recently I was out of books to read, so I gave this one another try.  I can't say it grabbed me any more than the first time, but for some reason I plowed on!

It is pretty slow.  And I was not sure of where the author was going with it.  But I did finish it.  The ending wasn't too unsatisfactory - but it wasn't very satisfactory either!!  I will say that she did a pretty good job of capturing the local flavor of North Carolina.  (At least my idea of what the local flavor in a southern state ought to be!!)

And she painted some pretty memorable characters.  She just didn't seem to go anywhere with them.

I then read the interview with the author at the end of of the book.  It was the 2nd novel she wrote but the first one published.   The interviewer asked her if she had re-read it in recent years.  Ms. Tyler replied, "I reread it just so I could answer these questions, and I'm amazed that it was ever printed.  It's a book by someone who doesn't yet have anything to say."

I'm glad she kept writing books - so that when she had something to say, she could say it!!