Anne Tyler, master of family chronicles, created the achronological novel Spool of Blue Thread from dialogue, psychological knots, family conflict, and compassion.
There is a sure way to become unhappy: to desire something passionately and passionately, without knowing doubts. In the Whitshank family, great-grandfather Junior wanted his business and a luxury home in Baltimore in the middle of the Great Depression, and great-grandmother Linnie Mae wanted to marry her great-grandfather, despite being 13 years old and the fact that he had run away from her half the country. Both of them can do anything if it serves the main goal — to work tirelessly, to wait and endure, to break family ties and throw away unnecessary memories (this is how Junior tries to forget his village origin, etching the “village” glossy blue color from reality for the rest of his life). Every minute these wonderful people, with the best of intentions and little things, torment themselves and their neighbors, turning life either into a feat or into torture. They will teach the same to their children and grandchildren, even the adopted one: Stem’s fiery utopian dream is to become a family. How stubbornly he strives for her makes him much more Whitshank than the rest of the grandchildren.
Anne Tyler, master of family chronicles, has crafted an achronological novel out of dialogue, psychological knots, family conflict, and compassion. It turned out very Chekhovian: everyone hurts, everyone is sorry, no one is to blame. People (and we too) are stubborn and cruel, their actions are inconsistent and selfish, it can hurt, yes, that’s right. Ann Tyler reminds us that we are not doing this out of malice. There are deep reasons to behave this way and not otherwise, and in every moment of time we do the best that we can, and in any manifestations are worthy of love. But the main question — is there any point in wanting something passionately? — remains unresolved.
Sometimes it seems that this job, apartment, person will make us happy. We climb out of our skin, get what we want — but no, it’s just the joy of possession. The American dream is coming true, but what’s the point. Are we on the wrong target? Didn’t you go there? Is there no «there»? What to do with this terrible conflict, Tyler does not teach. Finding the golden mean between obsession and apathy, dependence and indifference is our personal task.
Spool of Blue Thread Anne Tyler. Translation from English by Nikita Lebedev. Phantom Press, 448 p.