What readers think of Clock Dance, plus links to write your own review.

A beautifully written, largely Baltimore-based, novel by Anne Tyler. After decades of passively accepting what life puts in front of her, the 60ish central character blossoms forth when she finds herself embraced by a community that truly needs and values her. A warm, insightful book that underscores the importance of community--and of the sidewalks that bind its disparate characters together. A most welcome addition to the Anne Tyler cannon.

It's Anne Tyler! Of course, it's good. In this case I would say one of her best books, better than her last two. All the good things about her writing are here. Typical of Anne Tyler there is not much plot but it is rich in details about other lives. Details that make you feel not only as if you know the person she is writing about but that occasionally, that person is you.

This story is told in two parts- Part One consists of 1967, 1977, 1997 and 2017. Part Two takes place in 2017 in (surprise) Baltimore. The stories from Part One tell you about the formative years and circumstances that help define Willa Drake and lead you to make assumptions about who she becomes. Despite having this background, as with other characters in Anne Tyler's books, the reader may not understand why Willa makes the decisions that she does. Some readers might find this to be a fault, but in real life, don't people often do the same? That is part of the beauty of her writing.

I am close in age to Anne Tyler and I believe that living through this time frame makes a difference in Willa's character development because of the way women were taught to behave during those decades. That is part of the reason I find this book to excellent. Anne Tyler invites you into a world that you don't want to leave. You become comfortable right from the beginning and want to stick around to see what happens. Her characters are realistic, flawed and in most cases likeable. "Clock Dance" returns to the theme that family is what you make it. I believe though, that new families can be just as flawed as the old ones and you might be better off working to fix what is wrong in the first place.

Anne Tyler is the master of quirky. Her characters often live lives that fit them rather than society, and in which they can find family. Not our main character in Clock Dance. After a tough childhood, Willa has given up a promising academic career to marry and to live a life acceding to the wishes of her two husbands and two sons. She was "Little One", the pet name of her second husband. Like so many at the beginning of the women's movement, and sadly even today, opportunities went unrecognized or unaccepted, or are too few or too challenging. Her life is reflected in the sand-colored landscape of Arizona. "It wasn't her landscape, not her natural landscape; but it would do."
Willa does make one quirky choice, however, and in that choice lies at least the possibility of change.

Anne Tyler is a smooth writer. You read along and get sucked in to the story and don't realize how good it is. I enjoyed reading the story of Willa, but from time to time I did want to shake her and tell her to be brave and act. For most of her life she lives a quiet life, first with her parents and later with her husbands. She doesn't really get a chance to discover herself. She has a good life, having two sons and a devoted husband. He is taken away too soon and the family has to readjust.

We find out she remarried to someone who doesn't seem to fit her. For him she moved away from friends and familiarity to Phoenix. She doesn't even like golf. Sometimes it seems she doesn't like Peter, her second husband. When she gets a call from someone telling her her son's ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs help, she sets off on an adventure with a complaining Peter and really begins to find out about herself. She does help the girlfriend out and helps herself out too. And she meets some great characters too, that I hope will continue to be part of her life.

The ending of the novel is open, leading the reader to wonder what happens next. I would like to believe she gets to do what she wants to do, and divorces Peter. I hope that's what Ms. Tyler envisioned, but she will probably never tell her thoughts. That's why she's such a good author; she lets the reader continue thinking about the story after we finish the book.

If I was limited to only three authors to read for the rest of my time on earth, Anne Tyler would be one of them. She is a masterful story teller. In Clock Dance she tells us about Willa Drake at various life points. Along the way we meet a colorful variety of unforgettable characters that come to life under her genius pen. Her simple, direct uncomplicated prose creates a realistic view of life that offers hope, redemption and the chance for meaningful relationships in a sometimes crazy world.

I love Anne Tyler! Here is another book where nothing seems to be happening, but becoming part of Willa Drake's life is like being with an old friend. She appears to many to be weak, but she is actually a strong woman who eventually gets what she wants out of life. Not only does she nurture a stranger and her daughter, she finds that she is strong enough to get what she wants out of life. She can help others, but also get the full benefits of self esteem when doing so. I cheered at the end when Willa made her bold decision.

In her new book. Clock Dance, Anne Tyler introduces a unique assembling of interesting characters you will meet as you follow Willa from childhood into her sixties. Willa finally accepts that those in your life you love the best are not necessarily family members. She travels across country to help people she does not know and finds them endearing and lovable, even in their quirkiness. She relates to her new friends in ways she has never been able to do with those in her comfortable and safe California bubble or with her indifferent and distant children. When she lives among these new people, she feels she has a purpose in life for the first time in a very long time. When circumstances make it necessary for her to return to her former life and husband, Peter, she questions her choice. Will she have the confidence now to make her own decision about the path of her life? Great read!

If I had to choose an author to write my own life story, it would be Anne Tyler. She suffuses her quirky characters with so much compassion and understanding that they come alive on the page.

In Clock Dance, familiar themes emerge: the woman who must leave home to find herself (Ladder of Years), the emotional distancing of children (Dinner in the Homesick Restaurant), the difference in marital styles (The Amateur Marriage). Those who love Anne Tyler—and I do—will rejoice in all the familiar nuances of her oeuvre: eccentric yet familiar characters, baffling children, happened-upon marriages, the Baltimore setting and the dichotomy between confinement and freedom, security and self-worth. ." Now in her 70s, Anne Tyler still imparts lessons about the glory of living. As long as she keeps writing, I'll keep reading.