A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler: Not a Book Recommendation

Hi Readers! It has been a while since I have written a review and I should tell you that it’s not like riding a bike. My brain was blank which is why the word document was blank for almost all of the weekend, until Sunday evening when I was finally able to piece this little review together.

Anne Tyler is one of those authors I was hoping would be make my list of favorite authors. She has written 24 novels. Many of her novels were shortlisted for major book prizes. So, naturally, I was intrigued. And the first book of hers that I read I loved; Redhead on the Side of the Road. So, when I started reading A Spool of Blue Thread, I was super hopeful and willing to love it and give it 5 stars. And yet, it has landed on 1 star. I was reading this book for over 2 months. I read it at home, during lunch breaks at work, in the airport and on the flight. I took it to 3 cafes for book photoshoots. The book was with me everywhere I went during these 2 months. So, it’s just disappointing that I did not like it at all.

~~THOUGHTS~~

A Spool of Blue Thread is the story of the Whitshank family which aspires to span across three generations, but really spans two years or less with a few glimpses in the earlier generations. Red and Abby Whitshank and their children; two daughters Amanda and Jeannie, and two sons Denny and Stem. For the most part, I believe that the author wanted to explore emotions of adult children and their aging parents. It was not well executed because those emotions are not explored directly or subtly in this 450+ page mammoth of a book. Taking such a sensitive and almost worldwide relatable topic and not living up to it felt like a huge disappointment.

The book has all the elements necessary for it to be spectacular. It has a huge family. It had an adopted son. It has multiple dogs. It has estrangement from parents for Junior and Linnie Mae (Red’s parents.) It has one strong sentimental foundational house where two generations have lived and three generations have grown up. It has a rich petty considers-herself-above-everyone kind of a sister. It is set in the correct era and an atmospheric place. And yet yet yet. The most crucial aspect which connects all these things and gives them meaning was missing. The emotion was missing. This is why this book failed miserably for me.

Aside from the missing emotion, the dialogue writing was bizarre and felt wooden. It felt forced and did not flow along with the contextual phrases along the story. After being with these characters for so long, I understood them, but in a very basic first level personality kind of a way. It felt impossible for me to imagine what they were thinking or what action they would take in certain circumstances. I love reading generational family dramas, but this was neither generational nor a drama. It was a black-and-white script which never came alive into colour. I have rated A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler at 1/5 stars.

Until next time,