Earthly Possessions [Paperback]

Anne Tyler (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkeley Books (1985)
• ASIN: B0012HGP72
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is her 17th novel. Her 11th, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. A member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, she lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful if unexpected journey!, May 23, 2000

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Earthly Possessions (Paperback)

Several years ago I read my first Anne Tyler book, Ladder of Years, and became a devoted fan of this author's books. Catching up on some earlier titles,I have just finished another one of her books, Earthly Possessions. And once again this author has captivated me and tugged at my heartstrings.

Earthly Possessions focuses on two of Tyler's most endearing characters, Charlotte Emory and Jake. Charlotte is at a bank one day when Jake bungles a robbery. Holding Charlotte as his hostage and with 200 $1 bills in his pocket from the robbery, he steals a car and the two set off to find Jake's pregnant girlfriend somewhere in Florida. What may appear as a horrific kidnapping to others in the bank, provides Charolotte with an exciting adventure, once she knows she won't be harmed in anyway. Unfortunately Charlotte has never set foot outside of her small hometown and was at the bank to withdraw her life savings in order to run away from her husband. As Charlotte and Jake travel South, with the police searching for them, Charlotte reflects on her life and earthly posessions till the ending which is thought provoking and poignant.

The end of the book and some other parts are reminiscent of some cental themes which Tyler seems to explore in many of her books. But the author relying on tried and true themes never seems to matter to me when I read Anne Tyler as once again she introduces me to quirky and memorable characters who stay with me long after I've finished the book

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars always fresh, May 14, 2003

By 

P. Schumacher (atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Earthly Possessions (Paperback)

This was the first Anne Tyler book I read, and I liked it so much I have gone on to read them all--some, several times.

Tyler really only has one theme: Families--you can't live with them, and you can't escape them.

This book has that theme, and it treats it humorously and sadly and beautifully.

It starts with a bang--a failed bank robbery and hostage situation. This is an unusual scene for Tyler, but it quickly goes back to her usual territory: the maddening minutiae of everyday life.

As always the characters are quirky and fun.

The chapters alternate between the present and the past, so all the elements of the picture gradually come together.

It isn't really a love story; but none of Tyler's books are love stories--unless you count, being in love with being.

To anyone who hasn't tried Tyler, I would recommend this book. It avoids the schmaltziness of "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" and even "Accidental Tourist."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charlotte Emory, housewife and hostage, June 15, 2007

By 

D. Cloyce Smith (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earthly Possessions (Paperback)

Of the many Anne Tyler novels I've read, "Earthly Possessions" is very nearly my favorite. (Ask me next week and I'll point to "Accidental Tourist.") A departure from her character-driven multi-generational household dramas, its dark satire and sinister comedy remind me, in a weird way, of the film "Raising Arizona," with which it shares vague and odd similarities in characters and plot.

In fact, there's more plot in the first few pages than in many of Tyler's other novels. With the very first sentence, Charlotte Emory decides that her "marriage wasn't going well and I decided to leave my husband"; by the second page, she goes to the Maryland Safety Savings Bank to withdraw some cash for her escape--and is taken hostage by Jake, a laughably amateurish bank robber. Since she wants to get out of town anyway, her fear is tempered by a sense of come-what-may compliance.

Even as a Patty Hearst-inspired tale of Stockholm syndrome, the narrative should be wholly implausible ("far-fetched," to use one reader's description). But Tyler is spinning less a work of realism than an allegorical tale of one woman's disenchantment with the trap her life has become. The story alternates between her trip south with Jake and a reminiscence of her marriage, in which she fills her role as a reluctantly dutiful homemaker for an ever-increasing gaggle of her preacher-husband's deadbeat family members. Her husband's admission, "I always did want a place for my brothers to come home to," makes her realize that she will always be a part of his comfortable plan, "house, wife, family, church,"--yet he would never play an equal part in her life. Then, at just the moment when she was looking for adventure, Jake, with his childlike neediness and menacing fickleness, makes life interesting. Ironically, though, Charlotte's role in Jake's "plan" soon becomes a not-so-distant echo of her "real" life as a housewife.

Charlotte's acquiescence and subsequent awakening result in some extraordinarily comic moments--yet Tyler's underlying themes are quite serious, and the resulting balance between pathos and comedy lends the work a melancholy gravitas. For such an unrealistic work, "Earthly Possessions" is entirely convincing.