review of redhead by the side of the road

– Goodreadsīook Title: Redhead by the Side of the RoadĪverage Goodreads Rating: 3. These surprises, and the ways they throw Micah’s meticulously organized life off-kilter, risk changing him forever. But one day his routines are blown apart when his woman friend tells him she’s facing eviction, and a teenager shows up at Micah’s door claiming to be his son. A self-employed tech expert, superintendent of his Baltimore apartment building seems content leading a steady, circumscribed life. That said, I think if you’re a fan of Anne Tyler or if you really enjoy character studies that feature contradictory characters, this will be a great book for you! I wasn’t able to form the type of deep emotional bond I look for in books that really have the ability to cut me to the core, so while good, this isn’t on my all time favourites list. The character focus was engaging, I cared about what was going to happen, I had enjoyably conflicting feelings about the main character… but I still felt a bit detached as I was reading. I definitely got along better with this book than I did my last Anne Tyler, but we’re still not a 100% match. I also enjoyed Micah’s bumbling efforts to navigate interpersonal relationships, though the results were often less satisfying. The slow and lengthy progress of the novel was my main critique, so this book was a pleasant contrast.

I enjoyed how this book was written, I liked the narrow focus, and I definitely liked that it was shorter and tighter than Spool. We then see all of these things challenged one by one, and by the end of the book a life that seemed like it was set in stone is… somewhat less so. We learn his routines (and how important they are to him), his history and who the important people in his life are. It slowly teases out the details of the main character, Micah’s life.

This is similar to Spool in the focus of the story. But pretty much from the start, I found this book much more engaging. So I went into this book with a bit of trepidation. I think people who enjoy family sagas would love it, I’m just not one of them. It wasn’t a bad book, but it was a very in-depth family saga, which isn’t my type of story. To be honest, I struggled with it a little bit. I’ve only read one Anne Tyler before this – A Spool of Blue Thread. But that’s getting a little ahead of myself. Who is this redhead? What are they doing by the side of the road? Why are they there? How did they get there? It fascinated me, and I wanted to find out the answers – turns out the explanation isn’t anything I could have guessed, and is probably my favourite part of the novel. The title of this book is the first thing that drew me in.

Review of redhead by the side of the road