The Clock Winder
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Product Description
Book Description
Reissued in a contemporary new jacket
Product Description
Having sacked her handyman, newly-widowed Mrs Emerson finds a replacement in Elizabeth, a lanky, awkward girl. The Emersons have a reputation for craziness, there are seven adult children, and Elizabeth finds herself drawn into their disorderly lives against her will. But in the end it is hard to tell whether she is a victim of the needy Emersons, or the de facto ruler of the family.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an author who could wring magic from a mud puddle. Her material is ordinary human relationships in all their ordinary dysfunctional tangle. This one has Elizabeth as the most reluctant of heroines, drawn into a family that is waging pointless war on itself. She is hailed by them as their only hope to bring order to chaos, and is somehow unable to escape their clutches. Elizabeth says to one of the sons of the house "You all present me with your problems and lay them at my feet in heaps!" They do. But those heaped problems are not the real drama of the book, it is the quieter emotions that matter. And it is Anne Tyler's genius that she can portray them with such precision that their softly insistent voices are heard above the clamour. A superb book.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of Anne Tyler's best novels, the story tells of an every-changing relationship between recently widowed Mrs Emerson (who spends her days winding the clocks) and her newly acquired gardener/handywoman, Elizabeth. Mrs Emerson's friendship with and dependency on Elizabeth is reminiscent of "Driving Miss Daisy", and from Ms Tyler's description of Elizabeth I couldn't help picturing her as Charlie Dimmock!
Mrs Emerson's family enter, leave, and inevitably change the relationship between employer and employee, bringing with them humour, sorrow and tragedy as their story unfolds.
As with all Ms Tyler's novels, do not expect a fairytale happy ending, but be assured the story leaves its characters with a genuine contentment; despite sacrifices and compromises made they show us a real-life happiness is attainable.
This version is all the easier to read if, like me, as you get older you find publishers are using smaller and smaller print!
31 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Possibly my favourite Tyler. Elizabeth is infuriating and wonderful. The family of the "clock" is reminiscent of any family - everyone has their own quirks and foibles. The novel has a great twist and has moments of high drama. Romantic, humourous and vivid.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An early work that does not disappoint
I have read all but two of Anne Tyler's novels, from which you will deduce I am a big fan of hers. I started with the books she had written half-way through her career - The... Read more
Published 8 months ago by hiljean
I can not see the appeal.
I bought this book on the strength of good reviews on Amazon but have to say I was disappointed. The book is well written but the characters all seem a little bland - perhaps that... Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2009 by Zola fan
not one of her best novels
An early novel of Anne Tyler (1972) and not, to my mind, in the same league as the more recent Digging to America, Back When We Were Grownups or The Accidental Tourist. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2009 by William Jordan
A wonderful read.
All her books are excellent and this is one of her best. You will see why many people consider her the best writer in the 20th century in the English language.
Published on 10 April 2009 by A. Harwood
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