Clock Dance
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4.3 • 16 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A bewitching new novel of family and self-discovery from the bestselling, award-winning author of A Spool of Blue Thread.
Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life. In 1967, she is a schoolgirl coping with her mother's sudden disappearance. In 1977, she is a college coed considering a marriage proposal. In 1997, she is a young widow trying to piece her life back together. And in 2017, she yearns to be a grandmother, yet the prospect is dimming. So, when Willa receives a phone call from a stranger, telling her that her son's ex-girlfriend has been shot, she drops everything and flies across the country to Baltimore. The impulsive decision to look after this woman and her nine-year-old daughter will lead Willa into uncharted territory--surrounded by eccentric neighbors, plunged into the rituals that make a community a family and forced to find solace in unexpected places. A bittersweet, probing novel of hope and grief, fulfillment and renewal, Clock Dance gives us Anne Tyler at the height of her powers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pulitzer winner Tyler (following A Spool of Blue Thread) takes a bittersweet, hope-filled look at quirky families that have broken or are trying to recreate themselves. Plaintive Willa's birth family rebellious sister Elaine, long-suffering dad Melvin, and "tempestuous" and abusive mom Alice is fractured, and at 61 Willa is confronted with lonely Baltimore single mom Denise and her precocious, love-starved daughter, Cheryl. The novel's first half offers snapshots of Willa, at 11 in 1967; at 21, as she reluctantly agrees to marry her college sweetheart, Derek; and as a new widow at 44. The narrative then jumps to 2017, when Willa, now married to stuffy retiree Peter, gets a breathless call to come to Baltimore to help take care of Cheryl, the young daughter of her son's recent ex-girlfriend, as Cheryl's mom, Denise, recovers from a mysterious shot in the leg. There, Willa settles amiably in a neighborhood of misfits, hooligans, and steely survivors and explores her own family miseries. The cast of sharply drawn characters dominates in ways both reflective and raucous across a series of emotional events, such as Willa's baffling encounter with a would-be hijacker, a heartbreaking moment with her elderly dad, and the jolting advice she receives from a kindhearted doctor. It's a stellar addition to Tyler's prodigious catalogue. 250,000-copy announced first printing. , Correction: this review was edited for clarity.
Customer Reviews
A clear and captivating read about how we and our relationships change over life
Read this book for a psychology course on personality to analyze Willa’s change in personality, motives and attachement style. However reading this book for a university course did not burden me like other assignments. I enjoyed Tyler’s clear writing style, character choices, and plot development.