Digging to America
Anne Tyler’s richest, most deeply searching novel–a story about what it is to be an American, and about Iranian-born Maryam Yazdan, who, after 35 years in this country, must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at...
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Anne Tyler’s richest, most deeply searching novel–a story about what it is to be an American, and about Iranian-born Maryam Yazdan, who, after 35 years in this country, must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport – the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the instant babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate: an “arrival party” that from then on is repeated every year as the two families become more and more deeply intertwined. Even Maryam is drawn in – up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by Bitsy Donaldson’s recently widowed father, all the values she cherishes – her traditions, her privacy, her otherness–are suddenly threatened.A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that immerse us in the challenges of both sides of the American story.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780345492340 (034549234X)
ASIN: 034549234X
Publish date: August 28th 2007
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages no: 291
Edition language: English
Category:
Novels,
Literature,
Book Club,
Adult Fiction,
American,
Literary Fiction,
Adult,
Drama,
Parenting,
Family,
Contemporary,
Adoption
3.5 Stars. I listedn to this book on audio and "read" it for book club. I honestly am not sure how to rate this book. I was often irritated at the cliched use of stereotypes and the way Ms. Tyler did not know her characters but she instead relied on stereotypes to draw and paint her characters pe...
Not sure just what compelled me to catch a hold of this one as a secondhander back in Jan 2009 but I'll give it a go. It says in the blurb that it is an International Bestseller but only 1 flister has marked it as read, and that result was a 4*.Let us see...At eight o'clock in the evening, the Balti...
288 pages of absolutely no story, boring characters and just poor writing. The emphasis of this novel is on subtlety, if by that you mean that nothing actually happens then yes, that would be an accurate description.Seriously, I finished each chapter and thought to myself: "so what actually happened...
A story of cultural difference, fitting in (and not) and trying too hard not to offend. In America, an Iranian and an American Guardian-reading (or equivalent) family adopt Korean girls on the same day, and thus three generations of both families are drawn together, despite their differences in life...
Digging to America is a wonderful tale of two families who each adopt a girl from Korea. The characters are described lovingly but with tongue in cheek, making the reader immediately care for these quirky people. I couldn't put the book down once I started it. For one thing my husband and I have con...