Right up front, I feel the need to say I love Anne Tyler. I will read anything she publishes. But, having said that... I find my love for her novels really goes back and forth. I haven't ever strongly disliked anything she's written, but I certainly find some of her books amazing, while others settle around being just fine. And that's okay with me. Tyler does the nuance and undercurrents of marriage and family really well, and there are always moments of humour I appreciate in each of her stories.

In an interview, Tyler once said “I start every book thinking ‘This one will be different’ and it’s not. I have my limitations. I am fascinated by how families work, endurance, how do we get through life." I find these things fascinating too. When I pick up a book by Anne Tyler, I guess it's a bit like picking up a John Irving novel - you may not know the exact story going into the read, but you certainly know what to expect.

So, Breathing Lessons was a good read, but not a great read for me. I liked the concept of 'one day in the life', with flashbacks, as Maggie and Ira Moran navigate their emotional day.

The characters were very well done (save for Jesse and Daisy, to me) and I felt a bit sad for them all. Ira deferred his own dreams of medical school because of a difficult family that put him in charge of their lives, and his dad's picture framing business, when he was only 18yo. Maggie seems to have had a lot of potential in high school, but never really got or felt, I suppose, supported or encouraged - like nothing was ever good enough. Maggie, by the time we meet her, is a bit of a flustering confusion of a woman.

For both Maggie and Ira, life has been a series of disappointments and stifled goals. There are a couple of themes at work here. One is the idea of wastefulness - wasted talent, wasted energies, etc... The other concept revolves around 'ordinary life', which is somehow not okay and should be avoided. (For example: why be a nurse's aide, when you could become a nurse? A nurse's aide is not much better than a waitress, which is not much good at all.)

I think that where I am just a bit stuck is on the idea of 'to what end?' Because we are only spending one day with the Morans, I really didn't expect this to be answered as it really is only one slice of their lives. But I guess I would have enjoyed a bit more exploration - particularly of Maggie's character. Maggie was so hard on herself, critical. And she assumed things about others and how they thought of her, whether accurate or not. And she really exaggerated a lot. It's a bit like putting a puzzle together... but I am not sure all of the pieces are here. Anyway... it's interesting to contemplate this novel and the characters, imagining what becomes of them all.

This book is one being read in one of my groups as a monthly read for February, 2016. I am hoping that the discussions will be active, and I am looking forward to hearing the different perspectives and ideas others take from the read.

edited to add:
just an aside, which i forgot to note earlier. so, this book is set in the mid-80s. ira and maggie are about 50yo. in the early stages of the book, i thought this was set at an earlier time, maybe the 50s, and that ira and maggie were much older. it was a bit peculiar. everything felt slightly out of step with the actual time of the story. (the clothing, the language, the mannerisms...) ( )

Reason read; Pulitzer 1989
This is my 5th novel by Anne Tyler. I like her writing and I liked this one. The story is the story of a marriage. This couple have been married awhile, the son is an adult who has been mostly a disappointment and a daughter that they will be taking to college the next day. The mother is always trying "to fix" things. The father tends to try to "tell the truth". Both parents cause her hurt. Their relationship is what is significant. They have learned to love each other in spite of the disappointments and differences. ( )

This is one of my favorite books. I read it about every 2-3 years. You'll fall in love with Maggie, the main character. She's trying to cling to the past while looking toward the future. A great book! ( )

Maggie and Ira, a middle-aged couple, plan to attend the funeral of an old school friend in a small Pennsylvania town not far from their home in Baltimore. It’s a trip they should easily be able to do in one day, but for various reasons becomes more drawn out and more emotionally fraught. Maggie is unable to accept their son’s divorce and the resulting estrangement from their granddaughter, and insists she can reunite the family if only they will stop to visit the granddaughter and her mother as part of the journey.

During each stage of the trip, Maggie’s inner thoughts reveal details of her life with Ira and their family dynamics. The memorial service (a really funny set piece) provides the stage for reliving their high school years, while the time spent in the car becomes time spent retelling their family's history. Maggie is a well-intentioned meddler, completely oblivious to the ways in which she contributes to family dysfunction. Ira has been worn down by her behavior and no longer resists even when he knows Maggie’s schemes won’t work out. Their adult children are, not surprisingly, struggling to find their footing independent of their parents. The road trip reveals all, but there are no quick fixes here. Maggie and Ira will continue to be Maggie and Ira, doing their best but unconsciously playing their respective roles in a family drama that is sure to continue. ( )

I read this because I have been hearing for years how terrific it was, and because it won the Pulitzer. For me, it was a disappointment; The author writes well and creates believable, rounded characters, but they really didn't interest me that much, nor did they really pull at my heartstrings. The central character is well meaning but continually shades the truth in ways that lead other characters astray; I found her distinctly irritating. Not a bad read but not what I had hoped. ( )