The Accidental Tourist

Another delightful charming read by Anne Tyler......she creates the most bizarre quirky characters, yet ones you immediately want to cling to, to help, to cheer on.......i think because there are little bits of all of us in these odd, often unfortunate folks.... Here we have slightly awkward, stiff gentle man, Macon, very set in his ways....from a somewhat dysfunctional upbringing, engaged in a career he is really not necessarily suited for, yet successful......20 years into a marriage.....one with issues......still struggling from a painful loss........and desperately in need of appropriate training for his poorly behaved Corgi. Laid out by me in that fashion it sounds rather dreadful......but in the hands of Tyler, with the added show more helping of a wild-haired, resourceful, younger, very alive dog trainer, Muriel, we get to go on a warm journey with Macon as he tries to figure it all out. Funny, moves along a good clip, full of awkward moments, sadness, joy, and whole lot of travel advice......stop reading this.......read the book! show less

Macon and his wife Sarah have suffered the recent tragic passing of their son, their only child. Macon deals by putting away all thoughts and feelings, building an emotional barrier around him that shuts out his wife. Their separation and his new interactions with others cause him to re-evaluate how well his approach has worked and what alternatives there are, and whether reconciliation with his wife is even possible.

It's a study of loss, but also a study of marriage and what a marriage must be founded on in order to endure. When selecting your life partner is it more important to love who you are with them than how much you love that person? I'd like to think, or at least hope, that the first produces the second but it's a profound show more question that Anne Tyler puts before us. Our character and sense of identity are inevitably influenced by who we expose ourselves to and what we permit to reach us. Anyone and anything can be excluded with effort, but at what cost - and when have we lost sight of, or lost the ability to define, our true selves?

The true magic of this novel is that it's all so simply told, written in language that's as clear as a bell, and yet still places such deep and sometimes troubling considerations in front the reader. Macon is a character of remarkable depth, demonstrating multiple sides that in lesser hands would appear contradictory but here serve to make him more human. This novel has earned its accolades. show less

Protagonist Macon Leary is a travel writer living in Baltimore. He and his wife are experiencing marital troubles after the tragic death of their young son. Macon enjoys his routines and does not like traveling – he does it to make a living. The storyline introduces Macon’s family and an eccentric dog trainer. His dog has behavioral issues that need to be addressed. He develops an attraction to the trainer, who is almost completely opposite in personality.

This is a character driven novel about relationships. We begin to understand Macon and why he is resistant to change. The personalities of the characters are easy to envision. They are quirky, with admirable qualities and faults. It is so realistic in its portrayal of the show more difficulties in dealing with a senseless tragedy and how it can drive a wedge into relationships.

It is a story about grief, change, and personal growth. It is about people determining how to move forward in their lives. I found it easy to become immersed in it and cared about these people (if you are looking for lots of action, look elsewhere). I was interested to find out what happens to them. It is beautifully written and flows well. There are elements of humor that had me chuckling to myself as well as deeply emotional scenes that brought tears to my eyes. I have read several works by Anne Tyler, and this is my favorite so far. It is a marvelous book. show less

Macon Leary makes his living writing travel guides for “accidental tourists,” i.e. business travelers who are forced to leave the comforts of home and find themselves in unfamiliar territory. He gives advice on how to minimize the disturbance to one’s routine, in effect, carrying home with you so you never are lost.

But Macon is seriously lost even at home. He and his wife, Sarah, are unable to come together to process the death of their only child. Macon’s approach is to “keep everything like before” when it can’t possibly be that. Sarah can’t seem to find a way to push him off his home base, and winds up leaving.

But most of this has happened before the novel begins. The catalyst for Macon’s change is their dog, show more Edward, who has begun to bite and snarl. And so he finds himself at the Meow and Bow and meets the charmingly eccentric Muriel Pritchett, who offers her services as a dog trainer. Slowly, but surely, Muriel inserts herself into Macon’s life, and he slowly awakens, faces his pain and his mistakes, and begins to live again (or maybe for the first time).

Tyler excels at writing character-driven works that give us a glimpse of their lives in all their messy complexity and banal ordinariness. I love the scenes she creates that reveal so much of family dynamics; the Thanksgiving dinner is priceless, as is Rose’s wedding, and Christmas at Muriel’s mother’s house.

I saw the movie back in the late ‘80s, but never read the book. I’m glad I finally got around to it. Tyler has become one of my favorite authors. show less

On the surface, [The Accidental Tourist] is about a marriage damaged by a child's murder. The parents are devastated. They carry on, going through the motions of life as in a fog, barely communicating with each other or anyone else. The husband and father, Macon Leary, struggles to get on with his work of researching, updating, and revising a line of guidebooks, called "The Accidental Tourist," for business travelers. Months after the murder, but in the opening pages of this novel, Sarah Leary, wife and mother, tells Macon she is moving out of their small house into an apartment. Macon is left with the house, the cat and Edward the dog.

Edward spurs Macon's first crisis as a single man. To embark on a business trip, Macon must board show more Edward. His sister and two brothers won't take him because he's snappish and undisciplined. The familiar kennel rejects Edward because he bit someone on his last stay. At a new kennel, Macon's confronted by an overly friendly, almost bumptious young woman who takes Edward in, but further asserts she can train Edward in nothing flat. Not content to leave it at that, Muriel, for that's her name, calls Macon at home to promote her dog-training services, but also to try to get to know him, to ingratiate herself. Trolling for friendship.

The story progresses at a methodical pace (too slow for some, I know); it moves at Macon's pace. He is patient, calm, loath to conform to convention. Ultimately we see that marriage isn't the theme, but Macon's passivity, his inability to decide the direction of his own life.

He reflected that he had not taken steps very often in his life, come to think of it. Really never. His marriage, his two jobs, his time with Muriel…all seemed to have simply befallen him. He couldn't think of a single major act he had managed of his own accord.
Was it too late now to begin?
Was there any way he could learn to do things differently?

As his life befalls him, we meet Macon's two older brothers, Porter and Charles, and his sister Rose, all of whom live in the house left them when their grandfather died. We meet his boss, Julian, who is cheerful and supportive; he keeps after Macon, not allowing him to stall. All are quirky, irritating, funny, and maddening. Tyler sets out the "logic" behind individual quirks, gives voice to plans and dreams, bickering and harmony. If you have an eye for details, an ear for authentic dialog, and a little bit of patience, you'll enjoy [The Accidental Tourist]. I did. show less

I love the writing. Tyler uses one-liners very effectively; she can make you stop and marvel at the impact of her sentences. Moreover, she is excellent at injecting humour. Tyler is also great in creating characters - all the characters in the book are interesting (although not very normal). The only flaw is Macon's decision-making. It seems like he suddenly decided to be with Muriel, then somehow went back to his wife, and then suddenly went back to Muriel again. Or maybe this simply mirrors the way we make decisions.

on the surface, anne tyler's characters are so weird and quirky and hard to relate to. until you realize that she's talking about someone you know or someone you heard about. or suddenly, just someone you can imagine, conjured up in every idiosyncratic detail in front of you. her characters have such character and it's one of the things i love most about her writing. people who are so flawed and quirky, but absolutely real because of that. and maybe the quirks make her characters kind of unlikeable to a reader in theory, but she writes them with such compassion and softness that, in the end, they all resonate with you.

this is a book that had me - from paragraph to paragraph - laughing or crying. she packs the range of human emotions show more into her books in the same way that she packs true characters into her books.

this is a story that is obviously about grief, but that also ends up being about the choices we make for our lives and for ourselves. and in that, it is beautiful, sad, uplifting - all at the same time. understated but lovely, as tyler always is. show less