Tyler, Anne (Vol. 103) - John Sutherland (review date 12 March 1992)
John Sutherland (review date 12 March 1992)
SOURCE: "Lucky Brrm," in London Review of Books, Vol. 14, No. 5, March 12, 1992, pp. 23-4.
[In the following excerpt, Sutherland discusses the humility of Ian, the main character of Tyler's Saint Maybe, and calls him "the accidental hero" of the novel.]
Anne Tyler's stories are set in Baltimore, a city which many readers will neither know nor feel guilty about not knowing. That there will be many readers of Saint Maybe, however, is a certainty. It is Anne Tyler's 12th novel, and she has a loyal and growing band of admirers. Her last effort, Breathing Lessons, won a Pulitzer and the title before that, The Accidental Tourist, was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 1988. Flattering comparisons with Eudora Welty are now routine.
On the face of it, Tyler's subject in Saint Maybe—what is a good life?—is as unprepossessing for a novelist as her favorite...
[The entire page is 750 words long]
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