Anne Tyler writes about the small things of life, the details that most observers overlook, about quiet people who try to go about their lives without making ripples in the water. Her characters do not want attention, they want to be left alone to continue their quiet, unassuming lives. But in a Tyler novel there is always something that happens that leads to a jolt out of that quiet life for at least one character. It's not a lightning bolt of a jolt, more like a small slap of reality that makes the character open his or her eyes a bit wider and be a tiny bit anxious and a tiny bit excited, both at the same time.
"Clock Dance" is a typical Anne Tyler novel. If you want speed, suspense, intrigue and action, her novels are not for you. On the other hand, if you want a calm, insightful novel about ordinary people who look at themselves in the mirror and see not their own faces but the faces they wish they had, then you might like Tyler's novels. Her characters try hard. They don't always succeed in ways they want but they always change in ways they could not have predicted.
I read "Clock Dance" in one day, up the coast in a house I shared with a friend for a day and a half. It was the perfect book for a slow, calm day. (A fast-paced thriller would have been perfect as well, no book is a bad choice for a house on the coast.) The characters were needy yet real, their situations were remarkable yet not, the story unfolded in a typical Anne Tyler way. I could almost predict the ending but that didn't diminish the journey one bit.
It's a nice read. I wouldn't buy it but if you find it at the library or somewhere free, it's worth lugging home, making yourself a cup of tea and digging in. After a couple of hours it will be time for a glass of wine and then you will be finished and you will be happier because of it.
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