The accidental tourist (by Anne Tyler)

(Amazon UK link)

When I was rereading my novels by Anne Tyler a year or two back, I discovered that some of them were missing. Occasionally I lend books to people who forget to return them, so I assume that’s what happened. I recalled liking the books, and also that my copies were quite old, so I put new editions on my wishlist. 

One of them, ‘The accidental tourist’, was one I hadn’t read since 2002. I was given the book last Christmas, and read it over the past week or so. Usually I can’t recall much (if anything) about a book when I haven’t read it for ten years; in over twenty years I rarely have any memory at all. But something about this book must have lodged in my subconscious, as Macon, the main character, immediately felt familiar. And while I’d forgotten the storyline, I had a memory of him sitting on aeroplanes…

I like Macon a lot. He’s somewhat of a caricature, as so many of Anne Tyler’s people are, but a very likeable one. We meet him on holiday with his wife Sarah, but neither of them is in the mood for relaxing, so they go home early. We soon learn that they suffered a terrible bereavement a year earlier, and that instead of drawing them together, they now have little in common, and nothing to say to each other. 

Macon and Sarah are very different people. He’s a classic rather repressed introvert who works hard, and dislikes any show of emotion. He wants the same routine every day, and always wears what he considered sensible. He writes tourist guides for Americans who travel because they have to, not for enjoyment. So he gives hints about where they can find American food, and comfortable hotels, and avoid anything flamboyant or unusual. There’s a lot of low-key humour in the quotations from these guides which are evidently unique and surprisingly popular. 

When Sarah - inevitably - leaves, Macon wants his life to continue much as it was, or even more structured and efficient. It might have gone on like that, but for his dog Edward. Edward is badly behaved, and tends to attack anyone he doesn’t know. So, after much deliberation, Macon asks a young woman called Muriel to advise in dog training. She’s an unconventional single mother who’s over-protective of her seven-year-old son. And she’s clearly attracted to Macon despite his being considerably older. And she is everything he dislikes in a woman…

As with most of Tyler’s books this is character-based, with not a whole lot of story, although there’s more plot - and more of a timeframe - than some of her other books. Macon comes from quite a rigid family: two brothers whose wives have also left them, and a sister, Rose, who looks after them all. When he has an accident, he turns first to them rather than to his estranged wife. 

I appreciate the way the author manages to inject humour sensitively into situations that are quite sad; her observations are wry and beautifully made without excessive description, and the conversations, including misunderstandings, feel entirely real (even when a tad surreal). 

Macon has to do some travelling - I had remembered the aeroplanes correctly. However, he dislikes doing so, and generally carries a very boring book - which he has never read - to prevent anyone talking to him. This gentle irony also made me smile, along with so many other little quirks and foibles. 

There are no villains in this book; just a lot of flawed but basically good-hearted people. I had entirely forgotten the outcome, which could have gone one of two ways: I wasn’t sure which one I was hoping for. Nor am I sure that Macon made the right decision… it’s a bittersweet ending, but basically positive and hopeful for the future.

Definitely recommended if you like this style of fiction. 

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