Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Redhead by the Side of the Road
Anne Tyler
Review by Priscilla Comen
Redhead by the Side of the Road
Anne Tyler
Review by Priscilla Comen
Redhead by the Side of the Road, by Anne Tyler, is the story of Micah Mortimer who lives alone in a basement apartment. His routine is "etched in stone" and author Tyler describes it in detail. He acts as the super, fixing, cleaning, and being friendly between answering calls to fix old computers. When he drives his pickup he does everything right and obeys the "traffic God." His girlfriend Cass calls and says she's going to be evicted. Her landlady saw Cass' cat and she's allergic.
On his way home from adjusting a computer he stops at a rib joint to get enough for himself and Cass. He wants to stay overnight but she says no. When he gets home a young man, richly dressed, is waiting at his door. Brink has seen a photo in a box at his mother's house and he assumes the man in the photo is his father because he has his arm around the woman. When he's told the name of the man he comes to find him. Micah is sure he's not the father and tries to think who Lorna could have slept with to produce Brink. Micah and Brink chat in the kitchen and have a beer while Micah prepares his favorite chili. The next day Brink receives twenty-four calls on his cell. They all say to call. They sound worried about his whereabouts. Micah tells Brink to call his mother. He knows Brink won't; he says to call her or leave. Brink leaves.
Author Tyler puts more questions into our minds than answers. What's happening here? Micah recalls how he met Cass when she was a classroom teacher. She'd inspired the students to go to a nursing home to sing carols by saying they'd be singing to a roomful of broken hearts. Micah liked that. And he liked her.
At Micah's sister's Ada's house, all is chaos and bedlam; toys, shoes, snow boots and wall-to-wall people. Micah tells them he and Cass have broken up. He explains why. He does things in an organized, rigid way because his family is chaotic. He's different and likes his family, but they make him crazy. The next day he goes for his run, then walks and mistakes the fire hydrant for a redhead. He muses that he's in a rut. When he gets home there is a woman on his porch. It's Lorna, Brink's mother, a stylish looking lawyer. Micah fixes her breakfast as she sits in the kitchen and they talk about why Brink left school and her. A woman, Rosalie, phones the Tech Hermit, Micah's business name, and says she inherited a great computer from her dead grandmother but can't figure out the password. He probably can't do it either, but he goes to her house to try. By accident, Rosalie and Micah discover the passwords In a spiral notebook under friends' names. Rosalie makes a pass at Micah before he leaves. Women like him; why does he turn away?
When he gets home he decides to return Cass' things she's left in his dresser drawers. He drives there in pouring rain and leaves her key there. The next day he runs into Brink at the used clothing store. Brink is no longer the prepie-looking lad. Micah invites him in for coffee, then makes him a hamburger because he's starving. Micah calls Lorna to tell her Brink is there. She says she's on her way and to keep him there. When Lorna arrives with her husband Roger, she throws her arms around Brink, so glad to see him.
Micah asks Lorna what it is about him that turns women off. Lorna says he doesn't. When she had kissed another man when she and Micah were dating, it had meant nothing. Brink and his parents plan to see the Dean at his college and fix his problem. Micah thinks about his former girlfriends. Lorna is finished, so is Zara, Adele, and now Cass. Will he get back together with Cass? How will he change his life? Does it have anything to do with Brink and Lorna? Author Tyler won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989 and lives in Baltimore, Maryland where this compassionate novel is set. Find it on the new fiction shelf of your local library.
On his way home from adjusting a computer he stops at a rib joint to get enough for himself and Cass. He wants to stay overnight but she says no. When he gets home a young man, richly dressed, is waiting at his door. Brink has seen a photo in a box at his mother's house and he assumes the man in the photo is his father because he has his arm around the woman. When he's told the name of the man he comes to find him. Micah is sure he's not the father and tries to think who Lorna could have slept with to produce Brink. Micah and Brink chat in the kitchen and have a beer while Micah prepares his favorite chili. The next day Brink receives twenty-four calls on his cell. They all say to call. They sound worried about his whereabouts. Micah tells Brink to call his mother. He knows Brink won't; he says to call her or leave. Brink leaves.
Author Tyler puts more questions into our minds than answers. What's happening here? Micah recalls how he met Cass when she was a classroom teacher. She'd inspired the students to go to a nursing home to sing carols by saying they'd be singing to a roomful of broken hearts. Micah liked that. And he liked her.
At Micah's sister's Ada's house, all is chaos and bedlam; toys, shoes, snow boots and wall-to-wall people. Micah tells them he and Cass have broken up. He explains why. He does things in an organized, rigid way because his family is chaotic. He's different and likes his family, but they make him crazy. The next day he goes for his run, then walks and mistakes the fire hydrant for a redhead. He muses that he's in a rut. When he gets home there is a woman on his porch. It's Lorna, Brink's mother, a stylish looking lawyer. Micah fixes her breakfast as she sits in the kitchen and they talk about why Brink left school and her. A woman, Rosalie, phones the Tech Hermit, Micah's business name, and says she inherited a great computer from her dead grandmother but can't figure out the password. He probably can't do it either, but he goes to her house to try. By accident, Rosalie and Micah discover the passwords In a spiral notebook under friends' names. Rosalie makes a pass at Micah before he leaves. Women like him; why does he turn away?
When he gets home he decides to return Cass' things she's left in his dresser drawers. He drives there in pouring rain and leaves her key there. The next day he runs into Brink at the used clothing store. Brink is no longer the prepie-looking lad. Micah invites him in for coffee, then makes him a hamburger because he's starving. Micah calls Lorna to tell her Brink is there. She says she's on her way and to keep him there. When Lorna arrives with her husband Roger, she throws her arms around Brink, so glad to see him.
Micah asks Lorna what it is about him that turns women off. Lorna says he doesn't. When she had kissed another man when she and Micah were dating, it had meant nothing. Brink and his parents plan to see the Dean at his college and fix his problem. Micah thinks about his former girlfriends. Lorna is finished, so is Zara, Adele, and now Cass. Will he get back together with Cass? How will he change his life? Does it have anything to do with Brink and Lorna? Author Tyler won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989 and lives in Baltimore, Maryland where this compassionate novel is set. Find it on the new fiction shelf of your local library.