Family and relationships is one of the most widely written about themes in global literature. This results in books, films, and television shows that become hugely popular. But this also raises the question of how writers distinguish themselves from other writers writing about the same topic. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler has written all her novels on this very theme.

After reading two of her books, one of which is being reviewed here, I have realised that it is not the theme that sets Tyler apart from other writers. It is her treatment and execution of it, which lends a sense of uniqueness to each of her books. Tyler’s greatest strength lies in the fact that she makes her fictional families seem like our own families, making their stories seem like our stories. Moreover, she enriches her stories with some beautiful prose; her words permeate one’s soul.

In A Spool of Blue Thread, Tyler presents the portrait of a large suburban American family, and their lives and relationships with each other ranging over the course of three generations. The first chapter introduces the Whitshanks as a close-knit family, delving into the personalities and quirks of its individual members. The reader meets the 19-year-old son Denny, the proverbial oddball of the family, constantly demanding his own space and privacy. In comparison, the rest of the family seems more intimate with each other than with him. In fact, most of the time, they are unable to contact him or keep in touch as he does not stay in one place.

Anne Tyler’s latest novel A Spool of Blue Thread is an engrossing read

The Whitshanks are divided into two camps: Denny, alone, on one side, and his parents and siblings on the other. However, beyond the first chapter, any perceptions that the reader has built up about the characters so far begin to shatter as new information about them and their lives comes to light. None of them, not even their relationships with each other, are what they seem. The reader discovers a new secret about the characters after every few pages.

The non-linear narrative of the novel makes it difficult for the reader to get involved in the story at the beginning. At times, it becomes necessary to allow a few moments in order to absorb the words and their meaning. But the novel in its entirety is worth having stuck with it until the last page. In fact, this is a conscious demand that Tyler makes of her readers — that we demonstrate enough patience and tenacity to keep reading until we get used to her narrative techniques and the story begins to make sense.

Themes like old age have been portrayed with sensitivity, but are shaped to further highlight the relationships and underlying tensions within the family. As Abby and Red grow older, they become increasingly unable to look after themselves. Red begins to lose his sense of hearing. Abby begins to experience worsening flashes of forgetfulness, and after a couple of mishaps due to this, their son Stem and his wife Nora move in with the elderly couple. This move is supported by Stem and Denny’s sisters, Amanda and Jeannie, who also become regular visitors at the house.

This event also brings to the fore the underlying animosity between Denny, the biological son, and Stem, the adopted son. Amidst all this, Abby begins to feel suffocated in her own house, sensing her control over the household slipping away. The previously cordial relationship between Abby and Nora morphs into a subtle power struggle, while the latter begins to take over inch by inch. Abby’s silent, underlying resistance to being looked after by her children and their spouses is so subtle and yet pervasive that it becomes the only thing the reader is aware of. This shows that the people who spend their entire lives looking after others find it hard to get used to being looked after by the same people.

“When Denny said his goodbyes before driving Susan to the train station, it was clear that he assumed the guests would be gone by the time he got back. But no, there they still were when he returned. Sax Brown and Marge Ellis were arguing about Afghanistan. Elise had got hold of a glass of white wine; she was pinching the stem daintily between her thumb and index finger with all her other fingers splayed out, and her makeup had worn thin and her black eye was re-emerging. Ree Bascomb’s maid was serving crudités in her stocking feet now, and Ree herself, who had maybe a tad too much to drink, stood with an arm looped around the waist of somebody’s teenage son. Red looked exhausted. His face was gray and sagging. Nora was trying to make him sit down, but he stayed stubbornly upright.Then suddenly the guests were gone, all of them at once, as if they had heard some secret dog whistle. The living room held no one but family, and it seemed too bright, like outdoors after a daytime movie. A decimated cheese board rested on an ottoman, and cracker crumbs littered the rug, and someone’s forgotten shawl was slung across the back of a chair. Ree Bascomb’s maid tinkled glassware in the kitchen. The toilet flushed in the powder room, and Tommy returned to the living room still hitching up at his pants.‘Well,’ Red said. He looked around at everyone.‘Well,’ Amanda echoed.They were all standing. They were all empty-headed. They had the look of people waiting for their next assignment, but there wasn’t one, of course. It was over. They had seen Abby off.”—Excerpt from the book

With each book, Tyler proves that she is exceptionally talented at creating memorable characters. Her Abby is reminiscent of the scatterbrains we all know and love, as well as those who are the ‘social workers’ of our social circles. We might know someone like Denny who has the uncanny knack for blurting out the most hard-hitting, uncomfortable truths at inconvenient moments.

Reading Tyler’s novels, it feels as if we have known the characters all along: they might have been our family members, relatives, friends, even co-workers and acquaintances. We empathise with them just like we would with our friends and family going through difficult times. Her characters seem so familiar because they are living people and can be found in our midst. Their stories are our stories, of the people we love.

The reviewer has written for several publications on literature, reading, and culture. She works at OUP as an editor.

A Spool of Blue Thread
(NOVEL)
By Anne Tyler
Chatto & Windus, London
ISBN 978-0701189518
358pp.