Digging to America is the most recent novel to be published by Anne Tyler and was one of this month’s book group selections. After reading and part enjoying The Amateur Marriage I was looking forward to this book and wasn’t disappointed.
Again the book is set in suburban, everyman Baltimore with ordinary people as the players.
The book starts at the local airport when two families wait to meet the Korean infants that they have arranged to adopt. One family, Brad and Bitsy are in every way your typical American family. Loud, opinionated and wanting to get their whole family along to the ‘Arrival’ of their new child, Jin-Ho. The other family are a second generation Iranian couple who are quietly waiting their child, Susan, on their own.
The book continues by interweaving the families and their politics as the two respective babies grow up. BItsy decides that the two families should celebrate the arrival of both children on an annual basis. So the book is episodic. This doesn’t detract from the story though.
It becomes an interesting commentary on immigrant assimilation in modern America. Sami and Zuba are a very pleasant couple who are keen to fit into American society and seem to embrace Bitsy and her artificial celebrations. On the other side Bitsy seems to want to cling to some cultural identity which America seems to lack, whether it is Iranian, Korean or whatever.
One of the more interesting characters, Maryam, the mother of Sami is atypical of the other immigrants. She is a widow who has lived in America for 40 years but still seems to cling to a lot Iranian culture and lives a very simple life on her own. One of the narrative threads through the middle of the book is her relationship with Bitsy’s father, Jim, who is widowed soon after the start of the book. They seem to fall in love and enjoy each other’s company but when Maryam realises what she might be losing she backs right off.
The book ends on a positive note when Bitsy and Brad decide to drag Maryam out to the Arrival party thinking that she feels awkward about meeting Jim. All that has happened is that she’s slept in though and eventually she realises that these people are her friends and want her company for who she is and not because they’re trying to get her to marry Jim.
The book is quite amusing at times, particularly when Bitsy has a party to celebrate her second adopted childed, Xiu Mei, giving up her pacifier or binky. She decides to tie each one (over forty of them) to helium filled ballons and then release them to the sky. Of course, they all end up littering her neighbours’ gardens!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book which I probably wouldn’t have looked at twice if I wasn’t involved in the book group. In many ways it was an interesting read but at no time was it challenging and difficult. Not so sure about my next book group read, Disobedience…..
Again the book is set in suburban, everyman Baltimore with ordinary people as the players.
The book starts at the local airport when two families wait to meet the Korean infants that they have arranged to adopt. One family, Brad and Bitsy are in every way your typical American family. Loud, opinionated and wanting to get their whole family along to the ‘Arrival’ of their new child, Jin-Ho. The other family are a second generation Iranian couple who are quietly waiting their child, Susan, on their own.
The book continues by interweaving the families and their politics as the two respective babies grow up. BItsy decides that the two families should celebrate the arrival of both children on an annual basis. So the book is episodic. This doesn’t detract from the story though.
It becomes an interesting commentary on immigrant assimilation in modern America. Sami and Zuba are a very pleasant couple who are keen to fit into American society and seem to embrace Bitsy and her artificial celebrations. On the other side Bitsy seems to want to cling to some cultural identity which America seems to lack, whether it is Iranian, Korean or whatever.
One of the more interesting characters, Maryam, the mother of Sami is atypical of the other immigrants. She is a widow who has lived in America for 40 years but still seems to cling to a lot Iranian culture and lives a very simple life on her own. One of the narrative threads through the middle of the book is her relationship with Bitsy’s father, Jim, who is widowed soon after the start of the book. They seem to fall in love and enjoy each other’s company but when Maryam realises what she might be losing she backs right off.
The book ends on a positive note when Bitsy and Brad decide to drag Maryam out to the Arrival party thinking that she feels awkward about meeting Jim. All that has happened is that she’s slept in though and eventually she realises that these people are her friends and want her company for who she is and not because they’re trying to get her to marry Jim.
The book is quite amusing at times, particularly when Bitsy has a party to celebrate her second adopted childed, Xiu Mei, giving up her pacifier or binky. She decides to tie each one (over forty of them) to helium filled ballons and then release them to the sky. Of course, they all end up littering her neighbours’ gardens!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book which I probably wouldn’t have looked at twice if I wasn’t involved in the book group. In many ways it was an interesting read but at no time was it challenging and difficult. Not so sure about my next book group read, Disobedience…..
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