In past posts, I’ve mentioned Vanilla Scones from Future Bakery, which are a favourite treat of
mine that are often difficult to find.
Well, I was lucky enough yesterday at the Kitchener Market to find one
of these, and am eating it now with a steaming cup of delicious chai
tea… mmmm!! And, in honour of Robbie
Burns Day, (January 25th), I made a pan of Vegetarian Haggis,
which is also delicious, but it is a lot of work, so I usually only make it
once a year. I know almost nothing about
Scottish poet Burns, except the famous lines “The best laid plans/of mice and me/ do
oft go awry” from the poem To a Mouse. But I use this day as encouragement to make
this dish, which really is almost more work than it’s worth, but it is so very
yummy.
Enough about food… I’m here to
talk about books! I just finished
reading A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler, which is due out
next month. It tells the sprawling epic
tale of the Whitshanks, a family in Baltimore who, to outsiders, seem like the perfect
family. Part One begins with Red and
Abby, aging parents of four adult children, receiving a phone call from their
youngest son, wayward Denny, who tells Red that he is gay. When he responds with surprise, Denny promptly
hangs up, leaving Abby and Red worrying about him, but unable to contact him as
he has not disclosed his whereabouts. Red
is the owner of a construction company, and although in his 70s, he still
participates in the hands-on part of the job.
Abby is a semi-retired social worker who continues to open her home to “strays”,
just as she has done over the years.
When Abby starts to wander and later can’t recall where she’s been, her
children worry that they need help, but Red and Abby refuse their offers. Only when Red has a heart attack do they accept
that things must change. Daughters Jeannie
and Amanda take charge, and son Stem and his family move in to help out. When prodigal son Denny appears at the door,
also wanting to move in and help out, strains between family members escalate
as family secrets are revealed and we discover that all is not what it seems. When a sudden death occurs, rocking the
family to its core, tensions mount as solutions are sought and discarded in an
attempt to cope with the resulting situation.
Part Two begins, “It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green morning
in July of 1959…”, the phrase that is always used to begin the oft-repeated
story of how Abby and Red fell in love.
Tyler offers the story behind the story, and we as readers feel that we
are getting to know these characters on a deeper level. In Part Three, we are taken back several
decades earlier, to the time when Red’s parents, Linnie Mae and Junior, are moving into the Brills’
house as a young family. We learn of
Junior’s origins, and the truth behind the much-admired family on Boulton
Street. Never over-the-top, always
presented with honesty and sensitivity, this sprawling family epic portrays the
drama of one family over generations, whose members will make you laugh and cry
as you are pulled into the drama that is their lives. This is the only book I’ve read by this
award-winning American novelist, and while it is not exactly my favourite
genre, her use of language often captured the essence of the scene
precisely. I did find it too long and
drawn-out, and I didn’t really get all the information I wanted about some of
the family members’ stories, particularly the children, but I would definitely
recommend this to anyone who has read her works in the past, or anyone who
enjoys domestic fiction or family sagas.
Not sure what I will read next,
but I want something that is fast-paced and engaging, maybe The Secret Place
by Irish mystery writer Tana French. With
the windchill today not getting much above -16 degrees, I think it will be a
good afternoon to stay inside where it is warm and read, read, read.
Happy Robbie Burns Day!
Bye for now…
Julie
No comments:
Post a Comment