The Amateur Marriage - Book Review

While I'm often busy not reading books, on occasion, I manage to finish one and I finished The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler. (Does it count that I actually re-read it after having read it when it first came out? Tyler is my favorite living author and hers are the only ones I'll spring for in hardcover. I was actually looking for Digging To America to re-read but I think I've loaned it to a friend of Clara's who's a fellow-fan of Tyler.)

The story of a life of a marriage from World War 2 to not too long ago, nothing too extraordinary happens yet still this book is enormously moving. There's a catastrophe at the core of the story which has a ripple effect to the end but Tyler manages to resolve it in a manner that, while not satisfying for me, it is uncompromising and that I admire. Mildly eccentric characters, wonderfully observed details of quiet moments, a loving look at the past, Tyler is, as always, masterful. I'm glad I picked this one up again but then I'm always glad to read, or re-read, her books.