Affection isn’t reason enough to marry someone. Though Macon eventually moves in with Muriel, that doesn’t guarantee their happiness. He composed and recomposed her apologies.” Who hasn’t felt like that? For me, this kind of pitch-perfect emotional timbre sets the book apart. He’d stopped missing her and started plotting her remorsefulness… He liked to imagine her self-reproaches. Take the scene where Macon thinks of Sarah: “Lately, Macon had …begun to view Sarah as a form of enemy. It is her unsentimental treatment of grieving and loss that makes this book so resonant. Yet Tyler touches on matters that affect us all. The story’s scope is neither epic nor widescreen. And it is Muriel, the trainer – a wiry, make-it-up-as-you-go woman with an indomitable will – who brings about the healing in this book. When Edward starts attacking friends and family, Macon is forced to hire a trainer. The family Corgi is another casualty, and his behavior drives the plot. Left on his own to cope with all this loss, Macon becomes the “Accidental Tourist” in the title.

Unable to fathom how her husband mourns, Sarah asks for a divorce. Ethan was murdered during the robbery of a fast-food restaurant. Here is the plot: Macon and Sarah are grieving the death of their son. It certainly showcases her finest qualities. The first book which comes to mind at times like this is Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist. Some readers see books as a kind of medicine with the power to make the psyche whole. Not one of those corny romances.”Īt our bookstore, we often get such requests. “I’ve just come through a rough patch,” said the customer.

The accidental tourist book review