A Good Read?

In between all the weighty tomes I read on the history of world war two and Gaelic poetry and mental illness, to assist with the Ph D,  I do occasionally manage what you might call a leisure read. Every now and gain I even try to read some posh stuff aka literary fiction, although I seldom enjoy it and revert fairly quickly to my comfort zone of crime, with a smattering of well written fantasy when I can find it.

On a recent trip between Orkney and Glasgow  - and yes we are at the stage where they are all merging into one -  I bought a half price paperback of Anne Tyler's at Tesco. I used to really enjoy Anne Tyler's books, then I started one I couldn't be bothered to finish, never a good sign, and have steered clear ever since. This one - Vinegar Girl - appears to be her latest, first published last year anyway, and is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew.

 

I can't quite go along with the reviewers quoted on the cover who seem to think it is her 'funniest book to date'  (although that was the Daily Mail) or 'every subtle shade of funny' (and that was Grazia, which I assume is a woman's magazine, although I could be wrong) but it was funny. It was also sad, and irritating and in the end life affirming. It's the life affirming that I've always liked about Tyler. Yes, she lays bare people's weaknesses and littleness with an honesty many other writers cannot or will not summon, but she reminds us that actually we are all human and each of us has our own foibles which might seem funny or distressing or frustrating to others. And she also points out that none of that is the end of the world, unless we allow it to be so. An informed acceptance of others will make a kinder world, seems to be the burden of her song, and although that might not be  a recipe for dealing with the demagogues and dictators , as a way to live life day to day, it's not a bad one.