Some readers may be frustrated by Micah Mortimer, the forty-year-old reclusive computer repair guy who tends to be unnerved by any disruption to his circumscribed lifestyle. His wants and needs are minimal, his basement apartment sufficiently furnished in thrift store style, his weekly schedule for cleaning the house and visiting with his lady friend Cass inviolable.
But life is complicated and suddenly other people's messiness spills over onto Micah in ways that he isn't prepared to deal with, not because he's a bad person but because he's simply unaware and incurious. When Cass calls to tell him she may be evicted from her apartment for illegally having a cat on the premise, he logically advises that it's time for the cat to go. Simple. He never understood why she rescued Whiskers in the first place.
When a twenty-year-old college kid turns up on his doorstep looking for answers to his parentage, Micah offers him coffee and a denial but gets way more than he bargained for. And Micah's own family, a chaotic, intrusive, loving tribe of sisters, in-laws, nieces and nephews scares him to death. His visits are few and he always feels the need to escape.
Tyler's books have long been favorites of mine. Her novels are comfort food for the soul. Reading Anne Tyler is like cuddling up in front of a fire under your favorite quilt. She is a wise and compassionate chronicler of the human condition and a master at finding depths in her most quirky characters. We trust her to do this and she seldom fails to deliver.
So enjoy an afternoon or evening marveling as Tyler slowly allows readers to go with Micah into his past, to see the flaws in his memory, to witness his dawning realization that perhaps Donne was right, no man is an island. An apt lesson for our times.
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