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Summary: These boots are made for walking
Review: These boots were made for walking...That song by Nancy Sintra would be /could be the theme song for Delia Grinstead, age 40, mother of 3, wife of 1, sister of 2, cat owner of (or is it owned by 2 cats?) 2 cats. Delia Grinstead is an All-American woman, over worked and over looked, by her husband, kids and sisters. Her over worked imagination provides an temporary route of escape for Delia. Delia is a creature of routine and patterns until she has an encounter at the grocery store one Saturday morning with a younger man. This encounter, leads Delia and the reader down a path of self-exploration; would you leave if you could, would you dare? Delia does what appears to be, initially out of character for Delia Grinstead mother of 3, wife of the doctor who still makes house calls, she leaves. Relationships, of all types have been mentioned as the underlying reason Delia leaves her family, the "new" relationships she develops while she's gone, and finally the relationships she comes back to. Self discovery and self love are themes that are much mentioned as Dee Grinstead becomes "Miss Delia Grinstead" and finally comes home again to find Mrs. Delia Grinstead ready, willing and able to pick up the pieces of this an American family.
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Summary: Ladder of Years
Review: Ladder of Years was my first experience with Anne Tyler's work. In Delia Grinstead, we get a heroine who may have missed out on some of life, never quite going through the process of "growing up", and who emerges in adulthood, completely bewildered at where all the time has gone. Tyler has a subtle, clever style that is honest and concise, although this book has some downfalls. There are quite a few subplots that never come to fruition, and the characters have an overall tendency for emotional detachment. When Delia walks away from her family, she is searching for reasons to her life, but Tyler doesn't give them to us, and Delia can't really articulate her feelings. The novel leaves the reader with a great deal of wide-open space, in that I found myself needing to re-think certain parts of this "every woman's fantasy" and try to find the motivations that Delia is looking for. Tyler has a gift for writing quirky characters with ease, such as Nat, the wise old codger, or even Eleanor, Delia's frugal mother-in-law who is the holiest of all conservationists. I enjoyed this book, and I might enjoy it even more on a second reading, but it won't deliver the surreal, exciting aspects of walking away from life. Instead, it stays firmly grounded.
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Summary: A Common Thought...
Review: While reading Tyler's, "Ladder of Years", I found myself easily relating myself to Delia. As one reader put it, "if you think it is unrealistic wait until you reach Delia's point in life." Sometimes the idea of leaving everything looks pretty good when you are incaptivated in the struggles of everyday life (especially as a woman). At the same time I did have many unanswered questions, like as to why she exactly left or how come it seemed so easy for everyone. However, I believe that is what intriqued me, I could come up with my own reasons to the questions. I could relate it back to my life and what I may feel while in Delia's shoes. I would highly recommend the book and am looking forward to reading more of Tyler's work.
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Summary: Ladder of Years
Review: I had the opportunity to read the book Ladder of Years. In the beginning of the book I was excited and drawn to the book, but as the book progressed I became mad and frustrated. I felt the book led up to an ending that wouldn't come. I was very disapointed in the book. I found the book to be a let down!
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Summary: Ladder of Years - Review
Review: Ladder of Years focuses on the liberty progression of a sheltered wife and mother, Delia who ultimately ventures into a new world. Initially, I was intrigued by the character of Delia as she appeared to be a risk taker. She was willing to act as a stranger's wife and venture into a new world. However, this only appears to be an illusion considering that she is really only trying to be this type of person - it is all a facade! Her relationships with her family are primary examples of how she continues to keep her true self-bottled up inside. She never conveys her true feelings to anyone EVER!!! For instance, she mentions to her son after coming home from the shopping mall, "The funniest thing, Caroll", Her son continues to ignore her and she does nothing to defend herself. This indefensible behavior never ceases to exist. She settles for complancency, choosing not to change from her existing state! I guess she got stuck on the lower half of the ladder.
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Summary: Ladder of Years
Review: When I started to read the book Ladder of Years I thought it would be compelling and interesting. Instead I was dispointed and frustrated. I did not like the book. I thought that it dragged at certain points. It also did not give an ending a reader would have expected. You are built up to this big thing at the end and slowly you are let down. It was a major disapointment for me at the end of this book. The end of this book makes everything she did and sacrafised nothing.
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Summary: What happens after Happily Ever After?
Review: From the first page Anne Tyler engulfed me in her modern fairy tale. The protagonist, Delia Grinstead, was courted and won by her "handsome prince" like so many of us long for. But she was only a child of 18 and like a possession was handed from her father to her husband. The story takes place 22 years after Delia had ridden into the sunset with her prince and things aren't so happy. Delia lives in her ideal world, until one day a young man at the grocery store shows her that there is more outside her world to be explored. After this, Delia becomes restless, like Little Red Ridinghood, after learning there are prettier flowers off the path. On a family vacation, Tyler's Little Red finally does wander off her path, and oh the flowers she finds! She begins a new fairy tale, one with a poor maiden who must work her way to happiness. No prince is nesaccery. So Delia begins her new life, in a new town, with a new outlook. It is as though Delia has been given a chance to descend the "ladder of years" and start at the beginning. She leaves her family wearing but a swimsuit, like a baby is born into the world, she is wearing the bare minimum. Slowly she climbs the ladder again, being first a secretary, then when "single" life wasn't enough for her, she finds work as a "live-in woman." At the end she reaches the top again, and like Little Red Ridinghood, she finds her way back to the path, but not without armloads of flowers. I thoroughly enjoyed Ladder of Years. The detail Tyler uses puts us directly into Delia's mind and world. I think, one of the most startling aspects of the book is that here is an extraordinary event, but through Delia's mind we feel it is common place. Many other reviewers here have mentioned the ending and whether they liked it or not. I think that the ending simply is. Like the rest of the novel it shows that stories don't end with happily ever after.
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Summary: You Go Girl!
Review: I must admit that if I had been browsing paperbacks at my local bookstore, I would probably not have picked up "Ladder of Years." However, I am glad that I had to read it as I thought it was an intriguing look at family life in America today and how sometimes one can feel like life is just passing them by. I, too, have had "things" happen to me most of my life instead of actively seeking out goals and objectives and I admire Delia for her desire to make something of her situation, even though it wasn't entirely planned or thought out and definitely not permanent, at least not in her mind in the beginning. Every once in awhile, it might not be a bad idea to "walk away from it all" and rediscover who and what we are. With demands being placed on us daily by our careers and our families, we have a tendency to lose track of what's important to us. Following a couple of Steven Covey's Five Values for Living, we all should "live our lives as if we've had one heart attack and as if we're going to meet our maker at the end of the year." As a recent convert to Covey's Values myself, all I can say is, "Way to go Delia and you go girl!"
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Summary: Frustrating and worth it.
Review: I confess I was quite bored reading the first nearly-half of Ladder of Years; if it hadn't been a school assignment, I would have given up on it. I am so used to jumping into a story and having the plot go forward immediately. Ladder of Years not only takes its time in developing Delia Grinstead's story, but when Delia walks away from her her husband and children (after several chapters of apparent dilly-dallying), it reads so serenely that it feels anti-climactic. Where's the drama, where's the emotional conflict, and exactly where was that Big Decision to not look back?! Oh, wait. This is Delia Grinstead. She didn't decide to do anything. It just happened. Many events that take place in Ladder of Years "just happen." Loose ends pop up from the very beginning, and despite the quiet, lovely writing style of Anne Tyler, you begin to wonder if she is always this careless in her books. It does get frustrating, and it doesn't help that you can never decide if Delia is a sympathetic character or just a pathetic one. She is essentially a good person but, as her actions show and the other characters often seem to think, she is also a childish, indecisive woman who doesn't know what she wants. I seesawed between empathising with Delia and wanting to shake the teeth out of her. Her convictions are wispy, unreliable. Delia told herself she'd just stay a few days in Bay Borough. She ends up staying a year. She "knows" she'd never work for Joel Miller. She ends up working for Joel Miller. Having said all of this, you're probably wondering why I gave the book such a high rating. Ladder of Years is worth it. The second half of the book found me completely engrossed in the story. I began to understand why the first half of the novel is told at such a leisurely pace, the parallels Tyler is able to draw as a result and that the loose ends that seemed like loose ends are in fact more telling of Delia Grinstead than sloppiness on the part of author. Delia did not have an identity for most of her life. She managed to bypass her chance of acquiring one as a young woman by marrying the first man that appeared on the doorstep, without first pausing to find out who she was. Her belated journey to do so, as accidental and completely unplanned as it was, is endearing and wonderful to witness. Yes, I highly recommend this loopy tragicomic fairytale.
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Summary: Starting Over
Review: Running away from a disappointing life and starting a new one... A fantasy for most of us, a reality for Delia Grinstead. Delia walks away from a world in which she is expected to be a doting wife, mother and sister and enters a new one as Miss Grinstead. Delia's new life seems exciting and full of promise but quickly starts to resemble her former one. She gets a job as a receptionist (she was her husband's receptionist) and later ends up cooking, cleaning and caring for a man and his child (sound familiar?) Her new, eccentric friend Belle Flint parallels her cooky aromatherapist sister, Eliza. Anne Tyler does a superb job of describing her characters and capturing their idiosyncrasies, however, I find myself wanting more. I had high hopes for Delia when she began this new life, but was quickly disappointed when I came to the realization that it was just a repeat of the one she left behind. Perhaps this is why Delia has such a strong affinity for cats, the idea of having nine lives. This book is enjoyable for its rich description of character and setting, you'll almost be able to see, taste, and smell Bay Borough, but the ending may just leave you as dissatisfied as Delia Grinstead herself.
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