Rachel Reviews: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

I had heard good things about Anne Tyler and as I am unsure as to whether I had read her before or not, I thought I would give her a go. This is the reason I write reviews: to keep a record of what I read and try and embed them into my brain. I'm still not sure if I've read her previously or not but I will certainly read her again.

This novel is about a family: the Whitshanks. They live in Baltimore and the action of the book revolves around a number of key things.

Firstly, the house that Junior Whitshank built and was his pride and joy and is still lived in by Red and Abby to this day.

Secondly, Denny, the wayward son who from an early age, acted in a way that differed to his other siblings, becoming the prodigal son in some ways and seemingly unreachable in others.

Thirdly, Abby and her role as mother and materfamilias, being the glue that keeps the family centred and together but is she coming unstuck?

And finally, the history of the Whitshanks in terms of how they came to Baltimore in the first place, presenting us with the idea of how the circumstances of our ancestors meeting shape us. And which, when we reach back, this history which has been woven through tales and telling is revealed as the fabric of our woven lives; as lives interlink, they grow into more and the tapestry expands - but not all has been well crafted or maintained. In fact, some of it is threadbare or has been woven using thread which is less hardy and more prone to wear and if you look closely you can see the holes and lack of care or you can see where all is not as it seems.

Tyler takes a family and examines it in its entirety through relationships that are in the present; through incidences that have happened in the past; through to the history of grandparents and how they came to meet and progress into married life together; through the new generations of people who join the family fold and cast their own personalities and foibles into the mix to create more tension, more colour or take something away from the family tapestry.

This was well-observed. Tyler has an eye for the way that relationships can be made or broken but also repaired: an eye for the human.

Rachel Rating: 4/5 stars

Most of this review was first published on Reedsy Discovery:

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