The Slipping Down Life [Import] [Hardcover]

Anne Tyler (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Severn House; New Ed edition (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727809172
• ISBN-13: 978-0727809179
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,456,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Tylers Best but a great book!, April 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Slipping-Down Life (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book when I was a teenager. I have reread it since along with almost everything that Tyler has ever written. It is a good book. It is not a happy book. It is about life, sometimes life is not happy.

I became a Tyler fan as an adult and something reminded me of a book I'd read long ago as a teenager. Could that have been the same book? It was 'A Slipping-Down Life.'

Rereading it as an adult I could feel the emotions of Evie. That is a good book. When you can feel like an obsessed teen making stupid decisions when you are in your thirties, that is writing!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compulsive reading for any teenager., April 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Slipping-Down Life (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this book fascinating. Direct and perceptive, it examines the consequences for a lonely, fat teenage girl who slashes the name of a would-be rock star onto her forehead with a pair of nail scissors. What is so interesting is that Evie, the mutilated teenager, never once regrets her action. She only wishes she had taken control of her fate earlier, while Drum, object of her unvoiced obsession and owner of the slipping-down life of the title, lets himself be drawn in by her startling course of action.
Every other character in this book, from Evie's sad, widower father to her best (and indeed
only) friend Violet, seems drifting and unaware next to efficent, decisive Evie. I can throughly recommend this book to anyone. Not a word is wasted or misplaced by the author and the result is a startlingly vivid novel

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anne Tyler is always excellent, March 2, 2007

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Slipping-Down Life (Paperback)

Is there a better author alive today? Nope, I still can't think of one. I read this in a single sitting.

I gave the lady a short review last week, and I'm going to do it again now. I started with her first published book and am happily working my way forward through a career that the rest of us can only dream about. Not because of any financial rewards, but just because she knows she gave us this, an amazing body of literature that will always be there.

This book and IF MORNING EVER COMES have a special charm for me because they bring back memories of my own childhood. It's been said she moved her writing out of the South, but I don't think you can take the South out of the writer. I'll find out.

I went to used bookstores, but you can probably go to the local library. Do what I'm doing. Get all her books, start with the oldest, work your way to the newest, and just marvel and enjoy.