This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. Tyler wrote this in 2009, so she was 68. While it doesn't rate as one of her best novels, it is certainly a fine novel. Written by an unknown, it would have been a literary sensation!
Finished on Sa 11/4/17 in one three hour marathon session on the living room couch after an early afternoon workout at Planet Fitness.
Plot summary from wikipedia-
"On the surface, Liam Pennywell leads an ordered, decent life. Once widowed and once divorced, with three grown-up daughters, he has just been dismissed from his teaching job and, for lack of funds, has moved to a smaller apartment on the outskirts of Baltimore. Toying with the idea of retiring altogether rather than going job hunting at his age, Pennywell is assaulted by a burglar on the very first night he stays at his new place. When he wakes up in hospital with a bandaged head, he cannot remember a thing about the attack.
The loss of memory disturbs him more than the crime itself. In a neurologist's waiting room he observes 38-year-old Eunice accompanying an ageing entrepreneur to his doctor's appointment and finds out that she is working for him as a "rememberer" or, as she herself puts it later, the old man's "external hard drive." Intrigued by this occupation, Pennywell contrives a chance encounter with her, and eventually they strike up a relationship with each other.
Complications in their love affair arise when his youngest daughter, 17-year-old Kitty, decides to move in with him, obviously because she expects to be enjoying more freedom than if she stayed with her mother; and when his middle daughter Louise makes a habit of dumping his four-year-old grandson Jonah at Pennywell's apartment for him to babysit. On top of that, Eunice turns out to be a married woman who, after Pennywell has found out, still does not want to let go of him.
In the end the police arrest the burglar—a juvenile delinquent whose mother has the cheek to ask Pennywell to serve as a character witness at her son's forthcoming trial. By then, Pennywell has made up with his eldest daughter Xanthe, who was bearing an old grudge against her father, has got rid of Eunice, and has got settled in at his new apartment. Also, he has started working as a zayde (Jewish word for 'grandfather') for Jewish preschool children."
PLOT NOTES;
Liam Pennywell is a fifth grade teacher who has recently been 'downsized' and has moved to a cheaper apartment in the Lutherville/Timonium area of suburban Baltimore. The first night in the new place he is viciously attacked, bitten on the hand, and knocked unconscious. He awakes in the hospital and can't remember anything about the incident.
The novel is about how he adjusts to the attack, and as a result of his quest to find out what happened, he gains new insight and acceptance of his whole life.
Kitty- Liam's youngest daughter by ex-wife Barbara. Kittys' boyfriend is Damian. Barbara still has feelings for Liam, although she has clearly moved on in her life. At the end of the novel Kitty leaves Barbara's home and lives with Liam for her final year of high school.
Bundy- Liam's Afro-American friend at St. Dyfrig where they both work, and Bundy is a PE teacher at the school. Although Liam has a degree in philosophy he has been a middle school teacher for all of his professional life. His major problem is that he has never lived up to anything close to his full potential- he always settles for less.
Xanthe- (pronounced- "Zan- thee") Liam's daughter and only child by Millie, his first wife. She is mad at Liam for most of the novel because she thinks that Damian, Kitty's boyfriend, is the one who attacked Liam.
Louise- Liam's oldest daugher by Barbara. She is married to Dougall, who is a blue collar worker, and they have a four year old son, Jonah. They are 'born again Christians'.
Mr. Ishmael Cope- an extremely rich developer, COPE DEVELOPMENT, who is having memory problems. He has hired a 'rememberer', Eunice Dunstead. This woman becomes the object of Liam's desire, and Eunice loves him even more.
Liam is 61 and Eunice is 38.
The major twist in the novel occurs when Liam learns that Eunice is married. Because his father left his mother when Liam was a boy, Liam has great respect for the institution of marriage. But, you could also say that because he is suffering from extremely low self-esteem, he uses his view of the sanctity of marriage as an excuse to not pursue Eunice, the love of his life. THIS IS PROBABLY THE MAJOR THEME OF THE NOVEL.
Norman- he is Eunice's husband. He works in the field biology at Johns Hopkins hospital.
Millie- Liam's first wife. This was an unhappy marriage and Millie was continually depressed and she finally takes her life- sleeping pills. Liam probably shares some responsibility for Millie's condition because he could not fully commit to the relationship. He most likely felt that he was unworthy of a loving relationship and as a result, was distant from his wife.
Julia- she is Liam's older sister. She is distant and aloof. She's a lawyer and pretty hard-nosed.
Lamont Edward Twill, 24- He is the man who attacked Liam on his first day at his new apartment. This man's mother goes to Liam's apartment (The Twill's live in the same complex) and asks Liam to be a character witness at Edward's trial. She feels that Twill showed remorse because he didn't steal anything from Liam's apartment. Liam doesn't buy it and believes that the reason Edward fled was because Liam screamed and his neighbors heard his cry for help.
Bard and Esther Jo- These are Liam's father and stepmother. Esther Jo was the office sex-pot and Bard left Liam's mother for this woman. When Liam talks about this with his father late in the novel, Bard tells him that he was so afraid that he would die without attaining any real happiness. BARD BELIEVES THAT YOU MUST TAKE A RISK FOR HAPPINESS WHILE LIAM REMAINS PASSIVE, HIDING BEHIND HIS BELIEFS.
Last line of the book-
"He could almost convince himself that he'd never been wounded at all"
You could write an entire critique about the novel from that final line and also the title of the book.
An explanation of the title from wikipedia-
"The novel takes its title from a discussion Pennywell has with his grandson about whether Noah was steering his ark, or just bobbing up and down in the flood. "Noah didn't need to figure out directions, because the whole world was underwater and so it made no difference," he tells Jonah. “There wasn't anywhere to go. He was just trying to stay afloat."
I love everything by Anne Tyler and the more I think about this book, the more I love it.
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