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Digging to America

By Anne Tyler

(49)

| Hardcover | 9780307263940

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Book Description

In what is perhaps her richest and most deeply searching novel, Anne Tyler gives us a story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after
Thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”

Two families, who would otContinue

In what is perhaps her richest and most deeply searching novel, Anne Tyler gives us a story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after
Thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”

Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport—the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an “arrival party,” an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined.

Even independent-minded Maryam is drawn in. But only up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by one of the Donaldson clan, a good-hearted man of her vintage, recently widowed and still recovering from his wife’s death, suddenly all the values she cherishes—her traditions, her privacy, her otherness—are threatened. Somehow this big American takes up so much space that the orderly boundaries of her life feel invaded.

A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that cast a penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in.

Critics

  • 'Digging to America' by Anne Tyler

    These questions -- and more -- are explored in Anne Tyler's brilliant Digging to America, her 17th novel, which has been critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic and was recently shortlisted for this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fictio ... (read full critics)

    readingmatters published on Tue, 28 Sep 2010

  • Babes in the 'hood

    Digging to America Anne Tyler Chatto & Windus £16.99, pp277 It hardly seems likely that a novel could contain too much understanding. Isn't that what fiction aims at, supersaturation with insight? Still, that's the strongest criticism that can be mad ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

4 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    Some similar themes to Amateur Marriage, but a marvellous read, well written, witty - excellent. Anne Tyler always manages to leave you confused about which characters to tlike and which to dislike - this often changes as you read.

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    Canda said on Dec 10, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Only the second title I have read by this author, the previous one was 'Back When were Grown-ups' I enjoyed both very much and look forward to reading more of Anne Tyler's work. This is about two sets of adoptive parents and the relationship that forms between them, after they both adopt Korean babi ... (continue)

    Only the second title I have read by this author, the previous one was 'Back When were Grown-ups' I enjoyed both very much and look forward to reading more of Anne Tyler's work. This is about two sets of adoptive parents and the relationship that forms between them, after they both adopt Korean babies on the same day, the only thing they had in common, The novel describes their 'ordinary lives' in a compassionate and humurous narrative, covering family dynamics from all angles and a perfect ending!
    I already have the address for fifna in the Netherlands so am going to go the post office with it tomorrow, in the hope that it will get there before Christmas.

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    Lindyloumac said on Sep 24, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • a bore

    subject is great - two families adopt Korean kids at the same time and then...stay in touch. but after that, so what? no interest whatsoever. Dissapointing. Hadn't read Anne Tyler in a long time probably won't try again

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    Gail Paris said on Feb 23, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Digging to America

    A touching story of two dis-similar families drawn together by their adoption of Korean infants.

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    Readingrat said on Nov 27, 2007 | Add your feedback

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9780307263940 Hardcover $24.95 $21.33 bn.com
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