Customer Reviews

Ladder of Years: A Novel

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What do you do when life gets you down, when the weight of your life becomes too much to bear? Simple. Just walk away. That's what we'd all like to do, anyway: leave it all behind and start over. And that's exactly what forty-year-old Delia Grinstead does in Anne Tyler's 1995 novel LADDER OF YEARS. In the book, Delia strolls away on one of her family's annual beach trips and hitches a ride with a stranger to the town of Bay Borough, where she begins her new life. Abandoning her past with her unappreciative family, she trades in her "baby-doll" wardrobe for some more conservative clothing, takes a job as a secretary, and spends her nights reading accomplished literature in place of her trashy romance novels. Though the reader's first impression of Delia may be of contempt for a selfish weakling who couldn't handle the pressure of a family, they will soon find that there is more to the woman's situation than simple everyday stress. Her marriage may be a sham, her children harbor nothing but embarassment for the mother they have suddenly become too cool for, and her near venture into adultry has left her shaken, stirred, and humiliated. This is an engaging, very personal story of a woman's journey into her own spirit to find out just how far she is willing to go to be happy. It's very funny, surprisingly touching, and relatable for everybody in at least one way. The book's only downfall is a rather unsatisfying ending that leaves many questions unanswered. However, the ending does not come near to ruining the book. LADDER OF YEARS is a joy to read.

Anne Tyler's "Ladder of Years" is the story of Delia Grinstead's circular route to a new life. She commits the shocking act of simply walking away from her family on the beach one day, hitching a ride to wherever seems far away enough, and beginning a new life at the town of Bay Borough, Maryland. One by one, different members of her family track her down and she is drawn to them while simultaneously becoming more and more part of Bay Borough life. It's a fascinating account of a momentous decision, and the many repercussions of that decision.

When Delia finally returns to her family's home in Baltimore for an important family occasion, we want to see the tension either drawn tight (yes, she was right to leave!) or dissipated (of course, here's where she really belongs). Unfortunately, Tyler fails to really expand upon this theme and because of this, the ending is not only abrupt, but startling. This is the only Anne Tyler novel I ever finished with a feeling of dissatisfaction and disappointment.

Delia feels profoundly the diametrically opposed emotions many of us have as we reach the midpoint of our lives. Middle age is a time of retrospection-we wonder if the choices we made were good ones. We question our choice of spouse, our choice of career, our future without children in the house, our achievements (or lack thereof), even our very purpose in life. Delia acts on her doubts-pushed along by a grossly inattentive husband and acrimonious children. Without her unpleasant home life, Delia might have stayed forever, never knowing the answers to her questions. Tyler provides all of us going through the pangs of middle age an alter ego through whom we experience what we might never actually do ourselves. She demonstrates her great talent by creating a sympathetic character in Delia. We feel for Delia, even though, in leaving her family, she commits an act generally condemned by society. As other readers have expressed, at one time or another everyone with a spouse and children has felt like walking away. However, Delia doesn't "abandon" her family, she is emotionally shoved out the door.

Fast and true: A book doesn't have to be a masterpiece or a 'classic' in order to speak to you. I knew from chapter one that _Ladder of Years_ was a regular story, without literary pretensions or fancy schmancy trickery designed to impress the reader or flatter our sensibilities. It spoke of the regular and the everyday - mostly of the small things that infuriate us all: the condescending husband, the whinnying nagging unmarried sister of the family, abrubt or impassive children.

The main character in this novel, Delia Grinstead, does what we all, at one time or another, would love to do. On vacation with her family, she picks up her tote bag and simply walks away from the only life she's ever known and begins a new one. And it all begins with a rather unusual meeting with a stranger at the grocery store. This is a fine tale of the powers of time and perspective; not just in the need to be alone, but in the need to be with new people and in surroundings that do not require anything more than what you are willing to offer.

_Ladder of Years_ addresses everyone's favourite fantasy of erasing the past and becoming someone new, which is why it is so easy to get lost in Delia's life, in her thoughts and feelings toward her family. This is just a fantastic book, one that really picks up in the second half. I had to read the last 200 pages in one sitting - even classics aren't that attractive. Anne Tyler has again managed to impress me with the ordinary!

Aside from the import of this novel, Anne Tyler has managed to draw out a great cast of characters. I always say that the author's characters are people you already know, or would (in some cases) like to know. Please read _Ladder of Years_.

This story, peopled by a truckload of the kind of quirky, vivid characters that are Anne Tyler's specialty, is a gem. Obviously, many people have a negative first reaction to the idea that a woman could simply walk away from her life, leaving husband, children, and sibs behind. But this is the genius of Tyler's writing. She spins a tale that almost borders on allegory. It is a wonderful world of "what if." What if I just took a walk down the beach and kept walking? How would I survive? Where would I go? What would I do? Do these people really need me at all?

Tyler's creation of Delia's alter-ego, Miss Grinstead, is inspired. The notion of starting over, tabula rasa, is magic and sets the imagination in motion. The bare room, the careful meals of vegetable soup and yogurt, the tiny purchases that Delia makes with such introspection, and her hunger to keep things simple set a great stage for building the rest of the story. Tyler sets it up like a castle of Lincoln Logs, one wonderful piece at a time. As new people enter Delia's life, the complexities of just being alive on the planet come wandering back in, because that is just the way life works!

The story does end a bit abruptly, or perhaps it only seems that way because the reader is left to wonder what becomes of all those new people in Delia's life. But really, that is ALSO how life works; things are rarely if ever wrapped up in a neat package, in the final analysis.

Let your imagination off its leash for a while and take a climb on the Ladder of Years.

As a doctor's wife and mother of three, Delia Grinstead's life is pretty comfortable. While on the beach one summer afternoon, however, Delia abruptly walks away. With nothing more than her beach bag and the cover-up she's wearing over her bathing suit, Delia tries to start a new life in a nearby town. Although her family tracks her down quite easily, Delia is intensely surprised and hurt to discover they're not begging her to return...

While the concept itself is rich, as is Tyler's writing style, there was just something about the protagonist with which I couldn't connect. I can certainly identify with searching for a sense of self - who CAN'T? - but throughout the novel I couldn't quite grasp what it was that Delia Grinstead wanted. Even after she had established her "new life," I didn't get a sense of anything substantial about her as a person - which was supposedly what she had wanted so badly to change. I think the latter part of the story - when Delia accepts a job as housekeeper and caregiver for an adolescent boy - provided the most potential for actual meat in Delia's life, and personality. However, it was cut off abruptly, and I couldn't help being confused by the book's ending.

I heard the audiocassette. I'm not into romances, so I was pleasantly surprised here: it's not what I would think of as romantic, but it was interesting.

What I found most interesting was how easy Delia found it to leave her family. There seemed to be a significant age gap, maybe fifteen years, between her and her doctor husband, so although it was never made explicit by the author, I think she was just tired of this "old man." She did mention his looking and acting more aged. And he himself says he never had the "bedside manner" his father-in-law had.

Oh, that's another thing: Delia's father was a doctor, too. Are doctors known for being good lovers? Or being paternalistic? I think she feels Dr. Grinstead, her husband, is patronizing her. This is never resolved by the end of the story: she feels sorry for him, and a kind of sentimental or nostalgic remembrance of how he once was, but I don't think she loves him passionately or (can we say it?) sexually.

And I don't know if she'll ever find what she wants. She treats all her men, and her "boys" about the same. She presents as a kind and nurturing, but "dingy" woman, just following her nose, always trying to be helpful but never really knowing what she wants or doesn't want.

So, the story is interesting, and thankfully not romantic. It gives you a lot to think about in your own life, since everybody should be able to relate in one way or another to the characters: the jilted older husband, the jilted younger husband, the jilted teenage groom, the jilting teenage bride, the older couple, Nat and Binkey, with a young baby, the vengeful and resentful ex-wife (the former Mrs. Joel, who resents her father, Nat, starting all over again "at his age"), her needy and unmothered son, the innocent bystanders, the go-betweens, the walk-ons like Courtenay's caller, and, last but not least, the protagonist herself. Diximus.

I loved Ladder of Years because it reflects my own, and many others, unspoken desire to walk away from their life. After an exciting career, a good marriage, or wonderful children, most people go through a time of reflection and possible regret about things they never did with their life. Delia experiences this, but does what most people would never dare. She simply walks away. Tyler develops the characters of Delia and her family thoroughly as she sets the plot, making it easy to sympathize with everyone in this situation. Without this character development, I don't believe I would have liked Delia very much for abandoning her family. Tyler is also brilliant in her portrayal of Delia as a nurturing person even after she leaves her family. Delia takes in strays, from cats to people, causing the reader to step away from judging her as a cold-hearted selfish person. The wonderful part of the story is that in the end, Delia finds her way back to her family, and the reader can imagine that the family survives and become closer after this separation. Delia has found herself, accepted herself and her life's path, and finds room in her heart for those she loves and those who need it. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers looking for a little joy and hope.

Delia Grinstead married young, had kids and lived a self-effacing life. She woke up one day to discover she'd pretty much disappeared as a person who counted for anything in the eyes of her husband, her children, her friends - and even herself. So she did something I'll wager lots and lots of women have been tempted to do at some time or another: she walked away, took a bus to wherever it was going, settled in a small town in Nowhere, USA, and rediscovered/recreated herself.
This book is one of Anne Tyler's best. Spot-on characterization, situations, dialogue, effortless prose, hilarity and pathos on the same page. Satisfying and enlightening, endearing and emotional. A lesson in understanding and forgiveness, Ladder of Years bears up under reading and rereading.

I had high expectations for this book, based on the reviews printed on the first few pages. I was very disappointed. I disliked the style of writing and found the storyline to be both contrived and excessively drawn out. I didn't particularly like Delia, the main character, and none of the other characters were developed enough for me to really get a feel of what they were like. I thought this book would never end and when it did, I found myself left with nothing more than I had had when I started reading it.