5/24/2023 0 Comments Goodreads a spool of blue thread![]() ![]() From this image alone, we begin to get a sense of Abby as a seasoned worrier, concerned with the problems of her family. Such descriptions are typical of Tyler’s novel her language feels unforced, gently rippling with meaning. Abby’s character and the Whitshanks’ home are neatly captured as we observe her “pacing back and forth, up and down the Persian runner that was worn nearly white in the middle from all the times she had paced it before”. We visualise Abby’s “no-color chenille that had once been pink” we’re there as she subsequently questions Red on the content of the conversation. Tyler’s characterisation and her attention to descriptive detail are perfect: from the very opening of the novel we’re transported into the time and place of the story, eavesdropping with Abby Whitshank on one side of a telephone conversation between her husband Red and their 19-year-old son, Denny. It spans across several generations, taking in one family’s secrets and losses, its changes and constancy. Anne Tyler’s Booker short-listed A Spool of Blue Thread is an exquisite meditation on family life. ![]()
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