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Loading... Abschied für Anfänger (original 2012; edition 2012)by Anne Tyler
Work InformationThe Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler (2012)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A portrait of a man mourning the death of his wife, this book was a little too sad for me. I loved the writing; Anne Tyler always has quirky characters but I thought the main character seemed like an old man instead of the 30-something he was supposed to be. ( ) A perceptive, cleverly written and thoroughly readable novel about a man whose wife dies in a tragic accident. Yet, a few months later, he starts to see her again, briefly, in apparently random places. As he slowly puts his life - and house - back together, he ponders on the past, and has some rather unsatisfying exchanges with his wife that make him wonder just how happy they were together. The book also involves his colleagues and work as an editor in a kind of vanity publishing house. As well as some inevitable poignancy, given the subject matter, there are some light-hearted moments, ironic humour in a low-key way, and the brilliant observations and descriptions that characterise this author. Definitely recommended if you want something a bit different. Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-beginners-goodbye-by-anne-tyler... Dieses Buch hat mir recht gut gefallen, auch wenn ich es nicht als eins der besten Bücher von Anne Tyler bezeichnen würde. Sie hat die Trauer des Protagonisten um seine Frau und die Reaktionen des Umfeldes darauf sehr einfühlsam beschrieben, aber das Ende wirkte auf mich ein wenig aufgesetzt und die Aufarbeitung der Probleme in der Ehe mit seiner verstorbenen Frau kam mir auch ein wenig zu kurz. Das Buch hätte gerne ein paar Seiten mehr haben können, damit diese Aspekte besser ausgearbeitet werden. Ein grundsätzlich lesenswertes Buch, das mit der Trauer um einen plötzlich verlorenen Partner sehr sensibel umgeht.
Embarking on an Anne Tyler novel is like heading off on vacation to a favorite destination: You're filled with anticipation of pleasure, even though you know the place is likely to have changed since your last visit. The Beginner's Goodbye, Tyler's 19th novel, fulfills that dual craving for familiarity and freshness. Its focus is loss and recovery, grief and growth.... This is not a dramatic transformation but a slow, hard-won realisation that comes with time and constant picking-over the same problem. For the essentially optimistic Tyler, this process allows for rejuvenation and the opportunity for a second chance. For Tyler's many fans, her latest work won't disappoint. The Beginner's Goodbye," Tyler's 19th novel, features all of these things and more — there is a ghost — and less; just over 200 pages, it is, both in literal weight and narrative complexity, lighter than most of the Tyler canon. Which should not be construed as "less," at least not in the pejorative sense of the word. In many ways, "Goodbye" feels like the center slice of an Anne Tyler novel, a distillation.... The wonder of Anne Tyler is how consistently clear-eyed and truthful she remains about the nature of families and especially marriage. All of this Tyler understands, tackling Aaron’s sudden loss with characteristic warmth, sympathy and wisdom. As in all her books – and this is one of her great strengths – male and female characters are equally well drawn. Perhaps the chief constituent of grief is regret: regret for the unkind word, the unexpressed affection, the small opportunities missed. To say that Tyler writes about regret would be like saying that Anton Chekhov writes about boredom: true, but inadequate. Without melodrama but always with compassion, as well as outstanding insight and gentle humour, regret is the abiding theme of her fiction. This makes her especially popular with readers over the age of 35, who are old enough to have started accumulating regrets of their own. Ms. Tyler’s tepid new novel, “The Beginner’s Goodbye,” doggedly follows this formula, adding a supernatural twist seemingly borrowed from old movies like “Topper” or “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.”...The problem is that the reader couldn’t care less. Whereas Ms. Tyler’s most powerful work has been animated by an intimate knowledge of her characters’ inner lives — sympathy that lofted us up over whatever was clichéd or cloying about their stories — the people in “The Beginner’s Goodbye” are irritating stick figures, insipid and emotionally uptight. .....As the title of “The Beginner’s Goodbye” suggests, Dorothy’s spectral visits are supposed to help Aaron learn to come to terms with her death — and with the imperfections of their marriage — so that he might move on with his life. It’s a trite and predictable lesson from what is arguably this talented author’s tritest and most predictable novel.
"Anne Tyler gives us a wise, haunting, and deeply moving new novel in which she explores how a middle-aged man, ripped apart by the death of his wife, is gradually restored by her frequent appearances--in their house, on the roadway, in the market. Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron has spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. So when he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, independent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. Unhesitatingly, he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable marriage. But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only Dorothy's unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace. Gradually he discovers, as he works in the family's vanity-publishing business, turning out titles that presume to guide beginners through the trials of life, that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying goodbye. A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler's humor, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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