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Product Description
Review
A "NEW YORK TIMES BESTSE"
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER
A "NEW YORK TIMES" NOTABLE BOOK OF 2006
"Tyler shapes her stories with a reassuring and uplifting clarity." --"The Gazette" (Montreal)
"As in her previous books, the writing here makes for wholesome, comforting fare, spiced as always with urbane wit and a knack for nailing the small truths behind fine details." --"The Globe and Mail"
"In "Digging to America," Tyler also holds up a mirror to the wider North American culture, especially the contemporary obsession with child-rearing that makes young children kings and queens in their households. . . . You'll find yourself laughing at all the apt and telling details Tyler summons up to capture how these two families interact -- and often fail to understand each other." --"Vancouver Sun
"
"Tyler is an adept cultural chronicler. . . . She zeroes in on the minutiae of social encounters. . . . Hers is a portrait of small segment of society painted in elaborate detail." --"National Post
"
"A subtle lesson in how to embrace other cultures -- how to go beyond tolerance to love." --"Winnipeg Free Press"
"In "Digging to America," Tyler exhibits her knack for softening the sharp edges of human contact, showing people with smudges of vulnerability on their faces as they dig toward each other." --"Toronto Star
"
"Her prose is at once unpretentious and elegiac, like a photograph by Dorothea Lange, and her imagery has staying power. Taken together, the distinct but overlapping worlds of her novels have formed a Sensurround literary record of the 20th-century American family." --"The""New York Times"
"
""Warm and optimistic, this story about adoption raises issues of belonging and identity"" The Times" (UK)
"Anne Tyler returns to her subtle best with a novel about families involved in international adoptions" --"Observer" (UK)
"In Digging to America, Tyler also holds up a mirror to then
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER
A "NEW YORK TIMES" NOTABLE BOOK OF 2006
"Tyler shapes her stories with a reassuring and uplifting clarity." --"The Gazette" (Montreal)
"As in her previous books, the writing here makes for wholesome, comforting fare, spiced as always with urbane wit and a knack for nailing the small truths behind fine details." --"The Globe and Mail"
"In "Digging to America," Tyler also holds up a mirror to the wider North American culture, especially the contemporary obsession with child-rearing that makes young children kings and queens in their households. . . . You'll find yourself laughing at all the apt and telling details Tyler summons up to capture how these two families interact -- and often fail to understand each other." --"Vancouver Sun
"
"Tyler is an adept cultural chronicler. . . . She zeroes in on the minutiae of social encounters. . . . Hers is a portrait of small segment of society painted in elaborate detail." --"National Post
"
"A subtle lesson in how to embrace other cultures -- how to go beyond tolerance to love." --"Winnipeg Free Press"
"In "Digging to America," Tyler exhibits her knack for softening the sharp edges of human contact, showing people with smudges of vulnerability on their faces as they dig toward each other." --"Toronto Star
"
"Her prose is at once unpretentious and elegiac, like a photograph by Dorothea Lange, and her imagery has staying power. Taken together, the distinct but overlapping worlds of her novels have formed a Sensurround literary record of the 20th-century American family." --"The""New York Times"
"
""Warm and optimistic, this story about adoption raises issues of belonging and identity"" The Times" (UK)
"Anne Tyler returns to her subtle best with a novel about families involved in international adoptions" --"Observer" (UK)
"In Digging to America, Tyler also holds up a mirror to then
Sunday Express
`Deft and wise prose ... [Tyler's] skill at turning everyday
occurrences into amazing storytelling gets better and better'
occurrences into amazing storytelling gets better and better'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love Anne Tyler's work. She writes about the ordinary and every day events that we take so much for granted, but in a way that makes us really think about and question what is happening. This book is no exception. The main event is more unusual than in her other books, as it centres around the adoption of two Korean girls by two very different families. Although they apparently have little in common other than the adoptions, the families meet each year to celebrate the day that their daughters arrived in the USA and into their lives. This apparently simple storyline raises much bigger questions and makes the reader think about things such as how do we create our national identity? What is a family? And why had I never thought to hold a 'raking party' to clear my garden in the autumn (seriously, it's a great idea!) The characters are, as always in Tyler's books, well-drawn and each is given an opportunity to tell part of the story through their own eyes. A really charming book that will stay with you long after you finish it.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a great fan of Anne Tyler love her characterisation and her meandering story-lines. While I would not say this is her best novel, it is still worth reading, although frankly, nothing much happens in it. The novel follows the course over six or seven years of two families, both of whom adopt a Korean baby. The families meet once a year for an "Arrival Party" which celebrates the day they were united with their babies at Baltimore airport.
One of the families is typically American, with all its sentimentality and its big-hearted generosity. The other family is Iranian and keeps alive the traditions of their home-land through many extended family feasts and celebrations. In typical Tyler-fashion, we see the changes brought to both families by their encounters at various social gatherings, and we see how changes over the years affect them both deeply. I appreciated the depiction of Maryam and Dave, bereaved grand-parents who dance around each other despite their obvious incompatibilities. Strangely, the Korean infants are not the most important part of the story-line, but more a catalyst for other encounters among the adults.
As always, Tyler hits the emotional buttons, and some scenes are touching beyond the reach of other authors. I particularly enjoyed the attempts of one mother to wean her second adopted child away from a baby's dummy (pacifiers), by setting up an elaborate party during which the dummies were to be launched off into the blue tied to helium balloons, with a hilarious outcome, also rich with pathos.
Tyler's characters breathe humanity, whether the good sides or the bad, and it is her non-judgemental acceptance of people's failings and foibles which characterise this and all her novels. I suppose after her previous novel, The Amateur Marriage, this book is a little more light-weight, but for Tyler's fans, it still delivers the home-spun Baltimore family experience which beguiled so many readers of her previous books.
One of the families is typically American, with all its sentimentality and its big-hearted generosity. The other family is Iranian and keeps alive the traditions of their home-land through many extended family feasts and celebrations. In typical Tyler-fashion, we see the changes brought to both families by their encounters at various social gatherings, and we see how changes over the years affect them both deeply. I appreciated the depiction of Maryam and Dave, bereaved grand-parents who dance around each other despite their obvious incompatibilities. Strangely, the Korean infants are not the most important part of the story-line, but more a catalyst for other encounters among the adults.
As always, Tyler hits the emotional buttons, and some scenes are touching beyond the reach of other authors. I particularly enjoyed the attempts of one mother to wean her second adopted child away from a baby's dummy (pacifiers), by setting up an elaborate party during which the dummies were to be launched off into the blue tied to helium balloons, with a hilarious outcome, also rich with pathos.
Tyler's characters breathe humanity, whether the good sides or the bad, and it is her non-judgemental acceptance of people's failings and foibles which characterise this and all her novels. I suppose after her previous novel, The Amateur Marriage, this book is a little more light-weight, but for Tyler's fans, it still delivers the home-spun Baltimore family experience which beguiled so many readers of her previous books.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One day a plane brings two baby Korean girls to Baltimore, to be adopted by two families, Brad and Bitsy Donaldsons and the Iranian-Americans Sami and Ziba Yazdan. The two families become friends and meet on a regular basis, especially on the anniversary of the babies' arrival, when the families take it in turn to host each other. The Donaldsons think of themselves as progressive Americans who want to respect their little girl's Korean ancestry, keep her Korean name of Jin-Ho and dress her in Korean-style clothes, and they think it is not quite right that the Yazdans should have given their little girl an English name, Susan. They regard the Yazdans as Iranians. The women in the Yazdan family, timid Ziba and her characterful mother-in-law Maryam, have certainly kept some Iranian ways of thinking, but find it tiresome that the Donaldsons constantly allude to or enquire about their Iranian traditions. As for Sami, he was born in the United States; he has a thoroughly American life-style, but is also quite capable of mocking Americans ways from an outsider's point of view. So there is always a little tension on the Yazdan side whenever the two families meet.
The Donaldsons also adopt a second little baby girl, this time from China, and there is a drawn-out account of how Bitsy is trying to wean her from her pacifiers. I don't think the novel really needed Xiu-Mei and it would have been more organic without her. I also expected that the two little Korean girls might have some identity problems; but at the end of the book they are only about six or seven years old, too young perhaps to have any such problems (except that Jin-Ho now calls herself Jo). Instead, the novel centres increasingly on Bitsy's widowed father Dave (a touching portrait) and on Maryam, the most subtly drawn character in the book. The Donaldsons, though tactless (especially Bitsy) are so well-meaning, so warm and so sociable that Ziba and Sami feel increasingly more comfortable in their world; but Maryam always feels more of an outsider, resists being drawn in, and puzzles the Donaldsons.
As always, it is a delight to read a book by Anne Tyler: she is humorous, compassionate, has an observant eye for the details of daily life and an acute ear for dialogue. She portrays the Donaldson type of American to perfection; and one suspects that her insight into Iranian-Americans must come from personal knowledge.
The Donaldsons also adopt a second little baby girl, this time from China, and there is a drawn-out account of how Bitsy is trying to wean her from her pacifiers. I don't think the novel really needed Xiu-Mei and it would have been more organic without her. I also expected that the two little Korean girls might have some identity problems; but at the end of the book they are only about six or seven years old, too young perhaps to have any such problems (except that Jin-Ho now calls herself Jo). Instead, the novel centres increasingly on Bitsy's widowed father Dave (a touching portrait) and on Maryam, the most subtly drawn character in the book. The Donaldsons, though tactless (especially Bitsy) are so well-meaning, so warm and so sociable that Ziba and Sami feel increasingly more comfortable in their world; but Maryam always feels more of an outsider, resists being drawn in, and puzzles the Donaldsons.
As always, it is a delight to read a book by Anne Tyler: she is humorous, compassionate, has an observant eye for the details of daily life and an acute ear for dialogue. She portrays the Donaldson type of American to perfection; and one suspects that her insight into Iranian-Americans must come from personal knowledge.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nothing really happens and yet it's gripping!
I found this book quite strange. It's not the type of thing I would usually read but I was at my parent's and needed something to read so picked it up off the bookshelf. Read more
Published 2 months ago by hannah
One for Tyler fans
I love Anne Tyler's quietly observant style of writing and for a long time I've considered her one of my favourite authors. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Julia Flyte
great writer, great book
I love everything Anne Tyler does, and whilst this is no 'breathing lessons' it is still great reading, for when you want something simple yet quietly complex to delve into.
Published 20 months ago by J. A. Nicholas
Disappointing compared to Noah's Compass
I can only echo what others on this page have said:
Insightful analysis of the main themes (cultural identity, family dynamics, ageing... Read more
Insightful analysis of the main themes (cultural identity, family dynamics, ageing... Read more
Published on 18 April 2010 by J. Wickens
New World & Old World meet Real World
Post 9/11 this tackles the current state of the mixing of cultures. Here Tyler's Baltimore everyman and woman butt up against Iranian immigrants and Far Eastern imported babies. Read more
Published on 8 April 2010 by Mr. N. Foale
Tedious, flat and pointless.
As I struggled through this book, I couldn't help but think, "Surely this must get a bit better?" I am sad to say, however, that I was severely disappointed. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2010 by Marcus W. Davis Orrom
adoption, close-up
Anne Tyler is ALWAYS worth reading and here she binds us to her book in an especially interesting fashion. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2009 by Kiki
Adopting Korean Babies
There is much to like and admire in Anne Tyler's writing. Her very assured and thoughtful creation of characters is perhaps her best talent. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
an okay read
I read this for a reading group meeting; it's not a book I would have chosen myself because I've already read many books about Iranians in the US and would like to read about other... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2009 by J. Mellor
Like an old dressing gown or a treasured pair of well worn slippers
Coming to a Tyler book is, for me, like slipping into an old dressing gown or a treasured pair of well worn slippers. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2009 by Aquinas
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