Ladder of Years

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Summary: choices
Review: I believe this novel is expressive of the feelings many people go through, both male and female. It is the choices that we make each day that can enhance or tear apart our family bonds. This book has made me realize the value of commitment, work, and communication in "real-world" relationships. Walking away will not fix your problems, only prolong them. The love and support of family is one that no other relationship can overcome...Blood is thicker than water, and yet Delia still choose to leave. I hope that other readers are able to see the consequences of leaving children and a family that depend on you on more than a physical presence, but a emotional presence as well (even when emotions and appreciation are not expressed as you would like them to be). The effects the children will endure will last a lifetime for that short time Delia took for herself. The end of the novel seemed as though she was able to just "climb" back into her old lifestyle; it's just not that easy!

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Summary: Delia inspired me to want to walk away.
Review: Delia Grinstead still has not found herself at forty, so in an effort to start from scratch,she leaves her husband and children without a word during a family vacation. She then, unknowingly, relocates and before she knows it her identity is Miss Grinstead in a small town called Bay Borough. The beginnging of the novel was very intriguing when she starts feeling invisible and meets Adrian Bly-Brice. As the novel progresses it seems to repeat itself, especially when she becomes a nanny to a man and his young boy. The ending also disheartened me because I had the feeling Delia was being thrown back to the life she had grown to hate. All in all a very well written novel that held my attention through the entire experience. I felt like I was Delia, I laughed and cried with her.

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Summary: The "Ladder" of a married woman's life?
Review: Does leaving your husband constitute as one rung on the Ladder of years, or the Ladder of a married woman's life? Well, for three women in this novel it does. Rosemary Bly-Brice, Cordelia Grinstead, and Ellie Miller all fled the marraige scene, perhaps in search for their lost idetities. I enjoyed the transfromation of Delia throughout the novel. At first, she was mystified with the demeanor of Rosemary because she looked glamorous and she left her husband to begin a new life. The awakenings that Delia experienced about herself in her meeting Adrian and Rosemry inspired her to leave the dependence and comfort of her family. As Delia emerged into her new life in Bay borough, she unconsiously transformed into an individual, shedding her old identity, to become MISS Grinstead. Enter Ellie Miller, the estranged wife of Joel Miller and mother to Noah. Delia basically responds to a job offer to replace Ellie as a live in caretaker. Delia and Ellie meet and eventually become friends. Just as Delia admired Rosemary in the beginning, Ellie was now envious of Delia's self-sufficiency. Ellie asked Delia how she could just take a vactation by herself. I enjoyed this pattern of trasformation in Delia, as well as the entire novel. Although I was upset with the ending and Delia's disrespectful grown kids, I believe that Delia had attained the independence that we all need to be accepted, respected, and appreciated.

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Summary: Female empowerment? I don't think so!
Review: Anne Tyler's Ladder of Years started out with good intentions. I feel that they were lost somewhere along the way. At the end, those intentions were totally out the window. I was given the impression that the character, Delia, was going to be a strong female role model. She was someone who left her unhappy life in pursuit of her own happiness. And I was proud of her when she did eventually leave, though I would have liked her to be more exciting about it! But my pride went away quickly when I realized how wishy-washy she turned out to be. The ending to the novel left a lot to be desired. Much as Jackie from WI stated in a previous post, the ending just left me kind of baffled. What I thought was going to be a good example of a strong female character just ended up being a good example of what a strong female character ISN'T.

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Summary: Everyone's Secret Desire
Review: I loved Ladder of Years because it reflects my own, and many others, unspoken desire to walk away from their life. After an exciting career, a good marriage, or wonderful children, most people go through a time of reflection and possible regret about things they never did with their life. Delia experiences this, but does what most people would never dare. She simply walks away. Tyler develops the characters of Delia and her family thoroughly as she sets the plot, making it easy to sympathize with everyone in this situation. Without this character development, I don't believe I would have liked Delia very much for abandoning her family. Tyler is also brilliant in her portrayal of Delia as a nurturing person even after she leaves her family. Delia takes in strays, from cats to people, causing the reader to step away from judging her as a cold-hearted selfish person. The wonderful part of the story is that in the end, Delia finds her way back to her family, and the reader can imagine that the family survives and become closer after this separation. Delia has found herself, accepted herself and her life's path, and finds room in her heart for those she loves and those who need it. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers looking for a little joy and hope.

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Summary: Finding Yourself
Review: Anne Tyler displays an excellent portrait of a woman who has lost her own identity. Delia, a woman in her forties, knows herself only has a wife, daughter, mother and a sister and becomes unhappy when she realizes her identity is only through others. In her confusion she just walks away from it all. She moves to a new town, makes new friends and begins a whole new life. Except, her new life is exactly like the old one. Proving you are what you are through the choices you make. I really liked this book. It gave wonderful insights on life, self-worth, and relationships. However, I feel deprived not knowing what ever happened to Noah, Nat and Joel.

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Summary: Strong intentions, but weak in the end...
Review: I must admit I was definately disappointed with this book. My initial reaction was thinking that the book would be exciting and that she would be a strong woman, but I feel as though I was let down by the ending. The first page gives a missing woman discription which sparked my interest right away, but then as I read on there was no real missing woman at all. In fact she up and leaves everything to start a new life for herself. That idea sounded good until I realized she was still unhappy and falling back into a lot of the same patterns that she was so unhappy in at home. I really expected more out of this book. I read this for a class so I am not sure now what to think about Anne Tyler. I am debating trying to read another one of her books, hoping for a strong female character, and some action.

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Summary: The grass is always greener on the other side.
Review: When finishing the book, Ladder of Years, I sat on my couch looking out the window thinking to myself, " that was a terrible ending." It took me some time to really try and understand what the author was trying to do. For my own selfish reasons, I wanted the book to end very profoundly, but it didn't. I enjoyed the main character Delia Grinstead. To me she seemed to have a split personality (like we all do) in that she was the wife of a doctor and had 3 adolescent children, but yet she wanted to know what it would be like to be somebody else. When she was around her family she was the happy go lucky (almost flakey), problem solving, run to everyones' rescue house wife and mother. When she left her children and husband she became Ms. Grinstead who was the more serious and conservative woman who people in Bay Borough found intriguing. Anne Tyler was very clever in writing this book in which I first responded to with disgust. You are almost lead to believe that the way that Delia will work out her problems will be very complex since she seesm to have caught herself in a web. It suprised me how Anne Tyler played with my emotions in how I thought that the book was going to end with a bang, but it was ever so subtle. After spending some time and thinking about it for a while, I decided that I really enjoyed this book and learned that a book doesn't have to necessarily be deep in order to receive meaning out of it.

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Summary: Not Just Any Midlife Crisis
Review: Delia feels intensely the diametrically opposed emotions many of us have as we reach the midpoint of our lives. Middle age is a time of retrospection-we wonder if the choices we made were good ones. We question our choice of spouse, our choice of career, our future without children in the house, our achievements (or lack thereof), even our very purpose in life. Delia acts on her doubts-pushed along by a grossly inattentive husband and acrimonious children. Without her unpleasant home life, Delia might have stayed forever, never knowing the answers to her questions. Tyler provides all of us going through the pangs of middle age with an alter ego through whom we experience what we might never actually do ourselves. She demonstrates her great talent by creating a sympathetic character in Delia. We feel for Delia, even though, in leaving her family, she commits an act generally condemned by society. As other readers have expressed, at one time or another everyone with a spouse and children has felt like walking away. However, Delia doesn't abandon her family, she is emotionally shoved out the door.

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Summary: The timing was perfect!
Review: I loved this book so much, I read it twice, and was the subject of an English Lit. paper. Tyler reaches in and touches the soul and feelings of an every day woman. Many times, I have thought what it would be like to be Delia, and her doctor husband.....I truly recommend this book to any woman, especially MARRIED, because you will hear your voice in this book!