1. Would you characterize yourself as an accidental tourist in your own life? Do you know anyone you might consider an accidental tourist?

2. What kind of traveler are you? Would you find Macon's guides helpful?

3. Macon has come up with a technique to avoid contact with others on airplanes. Public transportation can lead to an awkward intimacy with strangers. How do you handle such situations? Does Macon's approach work for you?

4. There was no memorial service for Ethan in Baltimore. Whose idea do you think that was? Do you agree with Garner, Macon's neighbor, who chastises him for not having one?

5. Macon's style of mourning offends many people, including his wife. Do their complaints have any merit?

6. According to Macon, "it was their immunity to time that made the dead so heartbreaking." Discuss the meaning of this statement.

7. What is the significance of Macon and Susan's conversation about Ethan? What do they each gain from it?

8. Why doesn't Macon repair his house after it is seriously damaged by water?

9. The loss of a child can be devastating to a marriage. How do you think a relationship survives such a cataclysmic event?

10. Macon believes he became a different person for Sarah....

1. What is noticeable about the narrative voice in the first chapter? At the end of the chapter the narrator states, “They were such a perfect couple. They were taking their very first steps on the amazing journey of marriage, and wonderful adventures were about to unfold in front of them” (p. 34). Whose voice is this meant to be? Why is the chapter called “Common Knowledge”?

2. How does the presence of Mrs. Anton affect Michael and Pauline’s marriage? What has made Mrs. Anton so dependent on her son? Is Michael unfair to Pauline in expecting her to care for his mother? Who is Michael more obligated to—his mother or his wife?

3. How is Pauline’s flirtation with Alex Barrow related to the letters she sent Michael while he was away in the army (pp. 54–55)? What does the reader learn about her character in the chapter called “The Anxiety Committee”? Would someone like Alex Barrow have been a better choice for Pauline? What goes through her mind as she sits downstairs alone? Why does she decide not to go out and meet him that night?

4. In its early chapters, The Amateur Marriage gives readers a view of life in an...

1. "How on earth did I get like this?" wonders Rebecca at the start of the novel about the person she has become. Have you ever had a moment like this? Did you end up with the life you thought you would have?

2. While many people thing longingly of the road not traveled, Rebecca decides to take it. Is this a good idea? If you were going to do so, what steps would you have to take?

3. Do you think that Rebecca would have stayed with Will if she had not met Joe?

4. Rebecca suggests to NoNo that "all of us love people at least partly for their usefulness." Do you agree?

5. Do you think Min Foo is going to discard Hakim as she has her other husbands?

6. Rebecca reflects that marriage leads to "knowing more than you should about the other person." Do you agree?

7. Tina's visit leads Rebecca to observe her life from the uncomfortable perspective of an outsider. Have you ever had that experience with a guest?

8.. Rebecca describes Tina, Joe's first wife, as "the distant, alluring mystery woman whose edges had not been worn dull by the constant minor abrasions of daily contact." What has Tina...

A Conversation between Anne Tyler and Robb Forman Drew

Robb Forman Dew is the American Book Award–winning author of several novels, including Dale Loves Sophie to Death and Being Polite to Hitler, as well as the memoir The Family Heart. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Robb Forman Dew: I was trying to recall how on earth we got to know each other, since we’ve been in touch—mostly on the phone, and sometimes on a daily basis—for at least thirty years. But we didn’t actually meet each other until about ten years ago, I think. I remember explaining to my third in a long line of literary agents that yes, I did know you, it was just that I’d never met you. She was a horrible woman and clearly thought I was being coy, but it was absolutely true. Do you remember how we’ve come to know each other so well?

Anne Tyler: I do remember. The New Republic asked me to review your first novel, Dale Loves Sophie to Death, which means it must have been 1981 or so. I was bowled over by that book, and one of its many virtues that I mentioned in my review was its respect for...

1. This novel takes place in one day. What effect does this time frame have on the story? Why do you think the author con­structed the book this way? What day is it–what makes it sig­nificant? Why are emotions running high?

2. Maggie’s friend Serena is definitely a secondary character, but over the course of the novel, she comes up again and again. What kind of childhood did Serena have? What kind of mar­riage? What is her relationship to Maggie, and to Ira? Why is her character integral to this book?

3. Did Ira do the right thing to take over his dad’s business and assume the care of his sisters? Did he let himself be trapped? Should he have gone to med school?

4. Ira’s sisters are both, to a greater and lesser degree, mentally ill. How has their illness affected the family? How has it affected Ira and Maggie and their family life?

5. Ira doesn’t talk much–he plays solitaire, whistles, and when he does talk, he “tells the truth.” Is his truth-telling appropriate or harmful? Is it more true or “right” than Maggie’s little white lies and exaggerations

6. Breathing Lessons in some ways is a typical journey story, in which people...

1. In calling their baby Susan, the Yazdans “chose a name that resembled the name she had come with, Sooki, and also it was a comfortable sound for Iranians to pronounce” (p. 10). The Donald-sons keep their baby’s Korean name, Jin-Ho. What is the significance of these choices, both within the context of the novel and in the context of adoption in general? Is it important for an adoptive family to give children from another country or ethnic group a sense of their heritage? What insights does Ziba and Bitsy’s fractious disagreement about “Americanization” (p. 46) offer into this question?

2. Right from the start, Maryam feels a deep connection with Susan–“something around the eyes, some way of looking at things, some onlooker’s look: that was what they shared. Neither one of them quite belonged” (p. 13). Does Maryam’s pleasure in bonding with Susan hint at needs or emotions that she is unable or unwilling to acknowledge? To what extent does her insistence that she is “still and forever a guest, on her very best behavior” (p. 15) serve as a convenient excuse for remaining aloof from other people?

3. What aspects of her heritage does Maryam value most and why? Why...

1. Beck Tull’s leaving was extremely harmful to Pearl and her children, but was it really the root of all of the family’s problems? What problems would have been the same if he had stayed? What would have been different?

2. How does the time period in which the novel takes place influence the actions of the characters? For instance, if Pearl and Beck had separated during a time when divorce was more common and seemed like a more viable option, would things have turned out differently? Do you think Pearl would have remarried? If so, how would that have affected the children?

3. In the inscription on Pearl’s engagement ring, Beck calls her a “Pearl among Women.” In what ways is this description apt? In some ways, Pearl seems rather oyster-like, with her three children acting as the precious pearl she must protect. Does she succeed in protecting them, or does she fail? How?

4. How would you characterize Ezra’ s role in the Tull family history? Would the family have been able to survive without him? Does his family’s need for his peacemaking skills ultimately hold him back? Does Pearl?

5. Despite his ultra-competitive nature and his tendency to be mean to...

Brimming with warmth, wry humor, and endearingly eccentric characters, French Braid is a triumph of storytelling from Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anne Tyler.

At the center of the novel (though she doesn’t like being at the center of things) is Mercy Garrett, a dutiful wife who skillfully manages the care and feeding of her family throughout the 1950s and ’60s. When the youngest goes off to college, Mercy at last feels free to pursue her passion for painting, gradually moving into her own studio and leaving ready-to-heat dinners for her husband, Robin.

Along the way, we follow Mercy and Robin’s three children from their youth in a bygone era—when they took their one and only family vacation—to their own transitions to adulthood and empty-nesting decades later, just as the isolation of the pandemic is setting in. Raising poignant questions in every scene, French Braid reveals the gentle realities of family ties that constrict and those that fall apart altogether, while the daily hum of diligence and possibility reverberates in the background.

The questions that follow are designed to enrich your book club’s discussion of French Braid. We hope they enhance your experience of this brilliantly perceptive novel from one of America’s most beloved writers.

Questions...

1. Why does Ben Joe go home to Sandhill? What is the triggering incident that makes him get on the train? What are some of the other underlying reasons that send him home?

2. One reviewer described the Hawkes family home as “loveless.” Do you agree? In what ways is the family conventional? In what ways is it unconventional?

3. What are the things that you’re not allowed to talk about at the Hawkeses’ house? Who enforces the no-talk rules?

4. How do you think Ben Joe feels being the only man in the house? How do his sisters treat him? His mother? His grandmother? What is Ben Joe looking for in his childhood home?

5. Who was Dr. Phillip Hawkes? What do we learn about him over the course of the novel? How does Ben Joe feel about him?

6. Who is Jamie Dower, and why is he in the book at all? Why does his death affect Gram so deeply? What does her reaction to his death say to her family?

7. This book is about alcoholism, love, family, adultery, divorce, money, and grief—and yet it is not at all heavyhanded or lugubrious. How does Tyler keep the pages turning? How does she use...

1. Why did Delia walk away from her family on that Delaware beach? And why did she stay away for so long?

2. Delia has always lived in a very crowded house. Discuss the pressures and rewards of several generations living under one roof.

3. Why doesn’t any member of Delia’s family ask her to come home? Do you think it would have made a difference?

4. Discuss how the world Dr. Felson once inhabited changes after his death.

5. Do you think the father’s death has freed the Felson sisters in some way?

6. Do you think Linda’s relationship with Sam mirrors her relationship with her father?

7. Delia and Ellie are both judged harshly for their decision to leave their families. Do you think society judges mothers more harshly than fathers if they leave?

8. At the beginning of the novel, Delia sees herself as “a tiny gnat, whirring around her family’s edges”? How does her perspective change over the course of the novel?

9. Eliza insists that Delia has memories of their mother and Delia is incensed that Sam does not remember their very first meeting. Discuss the conflict that arises in this novel over the individualistic and idiosyncratic nature of family history and memory.

10....

1. Do you like Liam Pennywell as a person? Do you identify with him as a character? How?

2. Liam loses his job and moves into an efficiency apartment, thinking he doesn’t have much left to live for and that this final part of life is meant to be “the stage where he sat in his rocking chair and reflected on what it all meant, in the end” (p. 3) . Do you think this is an accurate reflection of Liam’s life at this point? Do you think most people his age and in his position feel similarly?

3. Liam has strained relationships with his daughters and his ex-wife, and blames himself for these circumstances. Do you think he is right to do so? In what ways have the women in his life contributed to these difficult relationships?

4. How do you think each of his daughters would describe Liam?

5. Kitty becomes especially close with her father over the course of the novel, choosing to live with him over her mother at the end. Did this ring true for you as a reader?

6. What was your first impression of Eunice when Liam spotted her in the doctor’s office? Would you ever be...

1. "I am a man you can trust." Barnaby begins and ends the novel with this statement. How has Barnaby's understanding of this characterization of himself changed over the course of this story?

2. "Just because we were related didn't mean we were any good at understanding each other," says Barnaby after yet another frustrating conversation with his mother. Communication problems abound within the families depicted in this novel. Discuss the nature and source of these problems. Why do we often have so much trouble talking to the people we love?

3. Even as adults, many of us, like Barnaby, still view our families through the eyes of a child. How does this blind us? How do we heal the old wounds? Can we?

4. During a family dinner for his birthday, Barnaby asks himself, "How come I always got the feeling that somebody was missing from our family table?" What do you think Barnaby was missing? And why is his mother so insistent upon including his childhood friend, Len Parrish, in the festivities?

5. How does Barnaby's understanding of and relationship with his daughter change over the course of this story? How does it mirror his relationship with his own parents?

6. Barnaby's daughter...

1. Discuss the significance of the title. What does this “delusion” of a redhead represent in Micah’s life?

2. Examine the opening scene of the novel. What do we learn about Micah from this description of his daily routine? How did you interpret this behavior?

3. Micah’s family is described as a “circus.” What is Micah’s role within his family? How does he differ from his siblings?

4. What do we learn about Micah based on his interactions with his neighbors and his customers? How would you describe his communication style?

5. A running commentary from “Traffic God” is peppered throughout Redhead by the Side of the Road. Discuss the impact of this. What does Traffic God’s commentary reveal about Micah?

6. What are Micah’s initial impressions of Brink? Why do you think he allows Brink to stay with him? How does his impression of Brink change over time, if at all?

7. On page 38, Micah reflects: The thing about old girlfriends is that each one subtracts something from you. Discuss Micah’s romantic history. Is there any common ground among these relationships? What do you think his overall view is toward love and romance?

8. Micah’s business is in the tech field. Do...

In order to provide reading groups with the most informed and thought-provoking questions possible, it is necessary to reveal certain aspects of the story in this novel. If you have not finished reading Vinegar Girl, we respectfully suggest that you do so before reviewing this guide.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. Compare and contrast Tyler’s Vinegar Girl with Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

2. Do you think Tyler’s Kate was less of a “shrew” than Shakespeare’s Katherine?

3. Discuss Kate and Pyotr’s first meeting. Did you think there was a connection or chemistry there from the beginning?

4. Did you like how Tyler transformed the misogynistic Petruchio to the quirky Pyotr? Do you think he was a good match for her sarcastic Kate?

5. Kate is unsatisfied with her life at home and at work, but has done nothing to change her situation. Do you think her father strong suggestion to marry Pyotr was actually what she needed to change her life?

6. Discuss the character of Bunny and the role she plays in Kate’s life.

7. Tyler is a master writer when it comes to depicting family relationships. Discuss the family dynamic in Vinegar Girl. Do you think all families struggle...