ladder

Ladder of Years London: Vintage 1995

Characters and some details

Delia

husband Sam

son Ramsay and daughter Susie

Cordelia F. Grinstead 122

employer Zake Pomfret 132 in town of Bay Borough 137

title 193

why she walked away - lunch discussion with Ellie 253

Review of Ladder of Years

by Anne Tyler

Listen!

Review by Kate Sullivan

One day Delia Grinstead wanders, or more appropriately hitches a ride,

away from her family while on vacation, and starts a new life in a new

town. Why, you ask, would a 40-year-old woman, mother of three, wife of

a physician do this? Maybe because she just never has, because she

feels that she may have missed out on something? Whatever the real

reason, she does it, and Anne Tyler has invited us along on her

adventure. Once again, the action of this novel like Tyler's others

takes place around Baltimore, centering largely around home and

domestic life.

Tyler's descriptions of the atmosphere, the dialogue between characters

and her wonderful look at the inner workings of their minds - bordering

on the claustrophobic, but never crossing the line - marvelously

illustrate the plight of her characters. These characters are ordinary

people, in ordinary situations, and this is precisely what leads fans

back to Anne Tyler again and again. In each story she is able to bring

to the reader/listener a fresh cast of characters who are extraordinary

in their ordinariness; she brings a freshness to contemporary fiction

which is too often filled with sensational and outrageous characters

and situations.

Barbara Barrie has a talent for interpreting Tyler's work; she reads

with a mix of warmth and seriousness appropriate to the story, and she

is an expert at interpreting the author's subtle sense of humor.

Ladder of Years is a wonderful addition to the books of Anne Tyler

giving us a story as real as a trip to the market, although one is left

wondering if the author wasn't at a loss as to how to end this story,

because it simply ends. This may leave the audience feeling there are

too many loose ends...or, like the loose ends of everyday life, was

this the author's intention all along?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kate Sullivan is a Contributing Editor at the Boston Book Review.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Return to Main Page