A novel of the new American family | Digging to America: A Novel

I loved it | Digging to America: A Novel | Anne Tyler

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	• Digging to America: A Novel Anne Tyler Ballantine Books, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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Anne Tyler at Her Best

Oh gosh, folks ... hear the news that this book is not so much about its stated subject matter -- the adopted Asian children, or the American and Iranian families into which they are adopted -- as it is about who these people are and how they react ...

The book is, at heart, a marvelous character study -- Anne Tyler at her very best -- drawing intricate, thoughtful portraits of "ordinary" people in particular circumstances ... gentle, kind, finely honed observations on the people involved and, well, life itself.

Yes, it was perhaps something of a stretch for the author [although the NYT Book Review tells us that "Ms. Tyler was married for more than three decades to the Iranian-born child psychiatrist Taghi Modarressi, who died in 1997"], to blend the various ethnic sensibilities, but Anne Tyler fans who may have been put off by the plot synopsis need not fear -- this is a wonderfully observed novel, among her best, and although the subject matter is somewhat different than her usual Baltimore cast of characters, it is also very similar (the characters are, after all, wherever they may have come from, living in Baltimore), in her finely delineated description of each of the characters.

This is not to imply that she doesn't have something to say about different cultures and their interactions -- she does, of course, have quite a lot to say about that, but it's very subtly embedded in the character studies.

Avid Anne Tyler fan that I am (going as far back as "Tin Can Tree"), I blew off this book for almost two years, based on professional reviews and my own sense that this might not be on target, but I am very pleased to report that having gotten over all that, this book is one of her very best -- I just loved it, as I have just loved all her books.

I think it would serve as great introduction for those who have not read Anne Tyler, and for those who already know her, it's a total "must read".

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A novel of the new American family

In Digging to America, Ms. Tyler demonstrates how deeply she knows the American family. Set in suburban Baltimore, the novel is about two families from different cultures--one a suburban Caucasian family, the other an Iranian clan of self-made achievers. Their lives were intertwined when their adopted daughters from Korea arrive on the same night in the Baltimore airport. The novel progresses with Tyler revealing the thoughts of first and second generation immigrant, and middle-class Caucasians on issues that are achingly familiar to today's America.

Digging to America is current and fresh. Reading it is like stepping out into the park and watching families interact with one another on a bright Sunday afternoon. Ms. Tyler places the reader as a friend of every major character, so the reader will have an insight on the character's plights and decisions. If you are first-time Tyler reader, this is the one you want to start with.

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I loved it

This is the 4th Anne Tyler book I've read and I think it is the best one. It covers so many different aspects of life in this country including foreign adoption, friendship, assimilation, love, and acceptance. The characters are so gently nuanced they just jump off the page.

American couple Brad and Bitsy adopt a baby from Korea and as they are at the airport awaiting the arrival of their little girl, another family, the Yazdans, also American but of Iranian descent, are awaiting their little Korean bundle of joy as well. The two families become friends through this common bond and a shared desire to help their kids maintain a link to their heritage. The way Tyler describes the different approaches of the two families to childrearing and the way the Yazdans view all things "American" is humorous and thought-provoking. The point of view shifts between the characters and it is interesting to see events through such diverse eyes.

The book is small for all the territory it covers, under 300 pages. I wish it was longer, I wanted to keep reading about these characters.

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Digging To America

This was a great book. It was a good story with interesting characters. Once I started reading, I could not stop. I'm looking forward to reading more of Anne Tyler's novels.

Anne Tyler?s richest, most deeply searching novel?a story about what it is to be an American, and about Iranian-born Maryam Yazdan, who, after 35 years in this country, must finally come to terms with her ?outsiderness.?

Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport ? the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam?s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the instant babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate: an ?arrival party? that from then on is repeated every year as the two families become more and more deeply intertwined. Even Maryam is drawn in ? up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by Bitsy Donaldson?s recently widowed father, all the values she cherishes ? her traditions, her privacy, her otherness?are suddenly threatened.

A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that immerse us in the challenges of both sides of the American story.

From the Hardcover edition.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4