Name: Julie Twist's review of A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Item: A Spool of Blue Thread
Rating: 2
Author: Julie Twist

Anne Tyler

The changing needs of aging parents impact a family gathering during which Abby Whitshank relates how her husband and she fell in love during the summer of 1959 and shared decades of marriage impacted by children and long-held secrets. Reading-group guide available. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Breathing Lessons. 125,000 first printing.

A Spool of Blue Thread

Meniah

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S FICTION PRIZE A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 'It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon...' This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she and Red fell in love that summer's day in 1959. The whole family on the porch, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. From that porch we spool back through the generations, witnessing the events, secrets and unguarded moments that have come to define the family. From Red's father and mother, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red's grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century - four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their home... 'One of my favourite authors' Liane Moriarty 'She spins gold' Elizabeth Buchan 'Anne Tyler has no peer' Anita Shreve 'Anne Tyler is one of my favourite writers and this is a delicious book' Rachel Joyce

Julie Twist

This is about the Whitshank family, and I can't say much more than that as I found it quite an odd book about a slightly odd family!

It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon." This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The whole family--their two daughters and two sons, their grandchildren, even their faithful old dog--is on the porch, listening contentedly as Abby tells the tale they have heard so many times before. And yet this gathering is different too: Abby and Red are growing older, and decisions must be made about how best to look after them, and the fate of the house so lovingly built by Red's father.--Résumé de l'éditeur.

Maurice FitzGerald

THe family depicted seemed authentic but then i haven't really been around any of the types of people depicted in the book

Sarah Vaughan

I'm not a rereader. Once I've read a book, or watched a movie, I don't feel the need to revisit that experience. So it speaks to the magnitude of my love for Anne Tyler's writing and this story that I not only reread it, but that nearly a year after I first read it, I actually felt a deep desire to run to the library that very day just so I could get my hands on it once again as soon as possible. 

This sweeping novel follows several generations of the Whitshank family of Baltimore. The thing I love about this book, is that none of the characters are perfect, just like people aren't perfect in real life. One minute I found myself relating or even sympathizing with a character, only to be repulsed by them on the next page. Tyler has a knack for writing people, not just characters, but real people. And the house...the house is a character all its own. From its construction to its renovation to its openness and warmness, each Whitshank drama, or lack thereof, plays out around the kitchen table, the front porch, the kitchen, and the bedrooms of this home whose description is so lovely that I wanted to pack up and move in. 

Another thing I love about this book, that others might have a qualm with, is the lack of climax and dramatic tension. For the most part, this is a character study and a collection of stories comprised from three generations of a family that is just as close, distant, likable, misunderstood, messed up family as any other. The title is a fitting one, as you can follow the unspooling of blue thread from the decisions of one man down through the generations to his son, then his grandsons, and finally his great-grandsons. I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a great book to curl up with this fall.

Melody Izard

I am not sure why I have not read everything Anne Tyler has written. She is such a keen observer and storyteller. This is about family and love. Well, just life in general. Simple things that make life good, simple things that can screw stuff up.

Amanda Wells

Another read that I just picked up through the library app that was thoroughly surprising and enjoyable. On the face of it, it might not be a book with huge plots, but it doesn't need to be. It is a fascinating navigation of a family, its history, its relationships, and the pivotal roles within them. 

In less skilled hands the book could have felt rambling and without purpose, but I absolutely adored it, and it was only when I was finished did I reflect that I've read books with similar "not much happening" (in terms of, no big plot twist or major event central to the story) that I decidedly did not enjoy. But I never felt as if I was waiting for an event, or a big twist, because the story centered on the events of several lives over three generations, and there is enough in the day to day and the small dramas there that you don't need something 'massive' to anchor interest.

The book made me think more about my own relationship with family, and made me feel guilty that I haven't spoken to my grandmothers lately. So much of Abby's anxieties regarding her son could have been cleared up by just broaching the subject - by just picking up the phone - and it made me sad to think of all the fears and assumptions that might run wild, when you fail to 'use your words'.

So I'd thorougly recommend this book. Even to my Grandmothers, who I should probably call today...

"NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER - SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE -NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY "PEOPLE" AND""USA TODAY"" -NAMEDONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY "The Washington Post "NPR "Chicago Tribune St. Louis Post-Dispatch The Telegraph BookPage" "Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader s Circle for author chats and more. " It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. . . . This is how Abby Whitshank always describes the day she fell in love with Red in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate an indefinable kind of specialness, but like all families, their stories reveal only part of the picture: Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. From Red s parents, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to the grandchildren carrying the Whitshank legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn house that has always been their anchor. Praise for "A Spool of Blue Thread" An act of literary enchantment . . . Anne] Tyler remains among the best chroniclers of family life this country has ever produced. "The Washington Post " Quintessential Anne Tyler, as well as quintessential American comedy . . . She] has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving. "The New York Times Book Review" By my count I ve now reviewed around fifty books for "USA Today." I ve never given any of them four stars until today: to "A Spool of Blue Thread, " the masterful twentieth novel by Anne Tyler. "USA Today " By the end of this deeply beguiling novel, we come to know a reality entirely different from the one at the start. "O: The Oprah Magazine" Well-crafted, utterly absorbing and compelling . . . probably the best novel you will read all year. "Chicago Tribune" A miracle of sorts . . . tender, touching and funny . . . an] understated masterpiece. Associated Press Exploring the] dichotomy the imperfections that reside within a polished exterior is Tyler s specialty, and her latest generation-spanning work accomplishes just that, masterfully and monumentally. "Elle" The story of any family is told through the prism of time. And no storyteller compares to Tyler when it comes to unspooling those tales. "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" Vintage Anne Tyler . . . The Whitshanks are] rendered with such immediacy and texture that they might be our next-door neighbors. "Los Angeles Times" The magic of Tyler s novels is that] youimagine these characters carrying on, muddling through, enduring the necessary sorrows and quiet joys of their lives somewhere beyond the page. " The Seattle Times" The sort of novel that s hard to disentangle yourself from. Warm, charming and emotionally radiant, it surely must be counted as among Tyler s best. "The Miami Herald" Prose so polished it practically glows on the page. " Houston Chronicle""

lilreaderSakura

Som many people enjoyed this book, but I couldn’t find any sort of joy in reading this one , the whole premise or plot was missing to me and the character not enjoyable to read about.

Michael Hessling

Molly Bridge

Hayley 

Megan Parrott

"It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon..." This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she and Red fell in love that summer's day in 1959. The whole family on the porch, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. From that porch we spool back through the generations, witnessing the events, secrets and unguarded moments that have come to define the family. From Red's father and mother, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red’s grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century - four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their home...

Meniah &
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

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A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler