Breathing Lessons (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Maggie and Ira Moran had to go to a funeral in Deer Lick, Pennsylvania..." (more)
Key Phrases: fudge ripple, frame shop, many splendored thing, Route One, Deer Lick, Ira Moran (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Maggie Moran's mission is to connect and unite people, whether they want to be united or not. Maggie is a meddler and as she and her husband, Ira, drive 90 miles to the funeral of an old friend, Ira contemplates his wasted life and the traffic, while Maggie hatches a plant to reunite her son Jesse with his long-estranged wife and baby. As Ira explains, "She thinks the people she loves are better than they really are, and so then she starts changing things around to suit her view of them." Though everyone criticizes her for being "ordinary," Maggie's ability to see the beauty and potential in others ultimately proves that she is the only one fighting the resignation they all fear. The book captured the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1989. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In perhaps her most mainstream, accessible novel so far, Tyler spins a tale of marriage and middle-class lives, in an age when social standards and life expectations have gone askew. While she remains a brilliant observer of human nature, there is a subtle change here in Tyler's focus. Where before her protagonists were eccentric, sometimes slightly fantastical characters who came at the end to a sense of peace, if not happiness, Maggie Moran and her husband Ira are average, unexceptional, even somewhat drab; and outside of some small epiphanies, little is changed between them at the story's close. It's this very realism that makes the story so effective and moving. Taking place on one summer day, when Maggie and Ira drive from Baltimore to Pennsylvania to a funeral, with an accidental detour involving an old black man they pass on the road and a side trip to see their former daughter-in-law and their seven-year-old grandchild, the novel reveals the basic incompatibility of their 28-year marriage and the love that binds them together nonetheless. This is another typical Tyler union of opposites: Maggie is impetuous, scatterbrained, klutzy, accident prone and garrulous; Ira is self-contained, precise, dignified, aloof with, however, an irritating (or endearing ) habit of whistling tunes that betray his inner thoughts. Both feel that their children are strangers, that the generations are "sliding downhill," and that somehow they have gone wrong in a society whose values they no longer recognize. With irresistibly funny passages you want to read out loud and poignant insights that illuminate the serious business of sharing lives in an unsettling world, this is Tyler's best novel yet. 175,000 first printing ; BOMC main selection; Franklin Library signed first edition.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (October 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042511774X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425117743
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #656,527 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars life, in all its uplifting mediocrity, May 11, 2004

By	Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Breathing Lessons (Hardcover)

After reading the perfectly depressing "Amateur Marriage" I re-opened this novel, which I had read nearly two decades ago. In an instant, I was transported into the sad yet zany and hopeful world of Maggie: she meddles and fumbles, but has a good heart and never really messes anything up seriously. All of these lives are displayed with an arresting charm, through illusions, lost hopes, and the real value that there can be in a marriage that lasts in spite of all its frustrations and even its mediocrity. At least for me, this is very very moving and nakedly realistic, even wise. It is also charming in Tyler's hands and often comic without ever traducing the realism. Indeed, this novel has all of the virtues that "Amateur" lacked and I think it is a far better performance that addresses many of the same realities - just with characters that are more likable, more interesting, more fun.

Warmly recommended as a masterpiece of the mundane. Tyler makes Baltimore - of all places! - immortal. I loved it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two for the Road, February 5, 2008

By	Linda "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Breathing Lessons: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

The more things change the more they stay the same. Maggie and Ira Moran are a 50ish couple, married back in the 1950's. Like all couples, they had their hopes and dreams, and many of them have come true, though not exactly as they had envisioned. Marriage is not a Doris Day movie, but the Morans are often as polarized as Doris and Rock ever were. She is a still a dreamer subject to pulling the wool over her own eyes, while he is a dyed in the wool pragmatist without an ounce of whimsy. Typically middle class, they have their 2 children, own a little house, and go of to their ordinary jobs each day. They bicker, hold their tongues, sleep in the same bed, cope with the outrageous demands of their extended families, and grapple with the potholes and rocks that life throws in their path. Like road rage. And being caught in flagrante (or in outrageous lies.) As the reader becomes engrossed in the 18 hour microcosm of their lives, it is easy to dismiss this couple as dysfunctional. But what they are, really, is functional. Not wildly successful, not always happy, far from perfect, but together, and reliably there for each other. Are they going to change? Not likely. But they are in this for the long hall, and that's what I believe this book is all about.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Glimpse of the Ordinary, October 28, 2001

By	Kelly Budd (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

Breathing Lessons is a novel that celebrates ordinary people. Anne Tyler places us in one day of the lives of Maggie and Ira Moran. Maggie and Ira have been married for 25 years; they have raised two children and have a grandchild. By most accounts, they are very ordinary people.

The ordinariness is what brings this novel to life. The reader is often granted a glimpse of Ira and Maggie's past memories that have been triggered by the days current events. The memories illuminate what circumstances influenced both of these people and shaped them to who they are today.

Maggie is scatterbrained and seeks to manipulate almost all situations, in ways that suit her. Ira, is very strong willed and sensible, haunted by a family that he cannot escape. Breathing Lessons asks the question, what holds this marriage together. Ira and Maggie are completely different, both seem somewhat unhappy. Throughout the course of the novel, we begin to understand the relationship and unravel the strengths amidst the weaknesses.

Overall, a great novel, once again Tyler does not disappoint. If you are looking for something fast-paced and dramatic, this novel is not for you. To fully appreciate Breathing Lessons, one must understand the flavor of this novel, ordinary. I am currently on a journey through all of Tyler's work; she is truly a master of her craft.