June 20, 2023 – Word by Word

This is the first Anne Tyler novel I ever bought and it sat on the shelf for 19 years, finally read thanks to #20booksofsummer23 where I try to shift some of these titles that have been sitting years on the TBR (to be read) shelf. It was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2004.

Why hadn’t I picked it up before now? Something about the cover, the title and the blurb – Tyler is a master in writing domestic fiction and perhaps it is no coincidence, that it is now possible to read this from a greater distance than the past 19 years allowed.

I was initially a little skeptical as the opening chapters are a somewhat clichéd account of what seems like a perfect couple getting together, only it turns out they are not ideal matched at all, and that is what makes the novel interesting.

Hasty Marriages at the Outbreak of War

The story begins in 1944 in the Polish quarter of Baltimore, an area that hasn’t quite forgotten it’s Irish roots and associated prejudices.

America has just entered the war and Michael, the son of the grocery store owner is caught up in the whirlwind of enlisting while catching the eye of Pauline in her red coat, a girl from the other side of town (and life).

“Pauline was wearing read again. Red seemed to be her colour. A red sweater over a crisp white shirt with a rounded collar. It was known by now that she came from a neighbourhood north of Eastern Avenue; that she wasn’t even Catholic; that she worked as a receptionist in her father’s reality office.”

Once they are connected, the colours Pauline wears are toned down, a metaphor of the adjustment she makes to try and conform to what is expected.

…she’d changed her colours just at the very time when she was changing in people’s opinions. From dangerous and dramatic red to gentle, soft pastels, she’d gone.

Each chapter skips a few years and we see the effect of this mismatched couple that stay together, how each of their three children navigate that dysfunctional environment and the long term consequences of it.

“Pauline believed that marriage was an interweaving of souls, while Michael viewed it as two people travelling side by side but separately.”

Tyler explores the nuances of the relationship, seen from each parents’ perspective, though rarely from the point of view of the children, we see the consequence and observe how they choose to live their lives, in the wake of their parents marriage.

We are left to wonder about the impact of generational attitudes and how the institution of marriage moulds everyone around it, for better, worse or otherwise.

A riveting, thought-provoking read.