Book Review French by Braid Anne Tyler

Summary

When Mercy Garrett moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice.

All she wants is space and silence. No clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond.

But it turns out family life is impossible to escape – particularly when it’s in your past. For Mercy it all begins in 1959, with a holiday to a cabin by a lake. It’s the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations.

Comments

French Braid is a story about family dynamics and the reality that sometimes we can be closely related but are in reality, almost strangers. Anne Tyler offers insights into family relationships and human nature through the recounting of the lives of the Garrett family. The characters are not particularly interesting and very little of interest takes place in the story.

This book met with mixed responses from our group. Some found it to be a very satisfying read which they could relate to from their own family experiences. Others found it tedious to read and could not see the point of the book or what it was trying to achieve.

5/10

Read by Dundas Readers