French Braid

I really enjoyed this book. Based on the blurb, I was a little worried that the scope meant we wouldn't get an individual sense of the many characters, but that wasn't the case. The snapshots for each character, though brief moments in time, were so vivid and core to their identities - not to mention beautifully written - that I felt not only as though I knew them, but as though I knew them well enough to understand why other characters' perceptions of them were so different from their own. The contrast between how each character saw him or herself and how the other family members thought of them was a fascinating theme, and felt very true to life. What also resonated was how their needs and hopes sometimes overlapped, sometimes clashed with one another - also true. The title - and the explanation for it - was perfect for the story.

For readers seeking plot-driven stories, this isn't it - but for those like me who love a good character-driven novel, I strongly recommend. (I don't often cry while reading books, but the scene where Robin recalls the first dinner Mercy made him brought me to tears.)

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oh, Anne Tyler, you get people like no other writer. You see their vulnerabilities. You see their (sometimes hidden) strengths despite their (blatant) weaknesses. And you share these with us, tenderly.

The Garrett family is the central cast in this book. Mom and dad and their kids and their kids. A story that goes through several generations. It starts with a scene between one of the grandkids of the story with her boyfriend. She sees a man she thinks might be her cousin, and her boyfriend is struck by this, finding it odd that she doesn't even recognize her own cousin. And the story draws on this, the connections between family members, their disconnections, their own varying perceptions of their relationships. It's completely fascinating.

Oh, and what does the title have to do with the plot? It was almost at the end before David was having a conversation with his wife about French braids, how his daughter wore them and when she undid the braids, her hair would still be in ripples for hours and hours afterward. “That's how families work, too. You think you're free of them, but you're never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever.” Lovely.

This long and winding saga is a heartfelt tale about what makes us family. I love how the imagery of a French braid was used to express that point.

The Garrett family isn't perfect. Far from it. They don't always get along, like each other, or say or do the right thing. But they are family. A big, messy multi-generational bunch who try and give up on understanding each other or their relationships.

Speaking of relationships, they aren't actually all that good at them. David barely talks to his family once he's old enough to leave home. Mercy doesn't divorce her husband, she just moves down the street and says she had work to do and might not come home some nights. Alice and Lily are the anti-sisters, nothing alike and disapproving of each other's philosophies.

How can all these (and many more) family members come from the same city, the same lineage, and have so little in common? Well, that's life. In my own family, my siblings and I are nothing alike, in looks or lifestyle, but we've come to the realization that that isn't really important. We have history. We have understanding. We have each other. What more does a family need?

Perhaps it needs the members to be able to not share everything. To understand that if you think your family will disapprove of something, maybe it's easier for no one to mention it, even if everyone knows. It's a little like hiding the truth from oneself to save everyone else pain and embarrassment.

I enjoyed getting to know this large and mostly dysfunctional family just because they weren't perfect.

Love Tyler. This one left me sad, tho, as others have observed too. Mercy is unlikable, especially with one shocking and selfish act. I wonder why Tyler chose that.
She's almost redeemed herself by the end.
The opening chapter doesn't really get explained well, but the multigenerational and multi year saga is compelling. The ending in the pandemic felt truthful and heartwarming.