EARTHLY POSSESSIONS by Anne Tyler

Finished Su 4/19/2020

I finished this paperback in early November, 2006. On the flyleaf it shows that I was reading this novel when I was sent to 203 Goethe St., Collinsville, IL. I was to pick up a power trailer and the third wheel had sunk into the ground and I couldn't attach the cab. How much did I hate that job?

From the books page at Amazon:

"Charlotte Emory has always lived a quiet, conventional life in Clarion, Maryland. She lives as simply as possible, and one day decides to simplify everything and leave her husband. Her last trip to the bank throws Charlotte's life into an entirely different direction when a restless young man in a nylon jacket takes her hostage during the robbery--and soon the two are heading south into an unknown future, and a most unexpected fate...."

STARTS WITH A BANG:

Set in Clarion, MD

Charlotte Emory is waiting in line at the bank. She is getting cash so that she can leave her husband and children. The man behind her in line is a bank robber and he takes her hostage.

BIG QUESTION:

What would make a woman want to leave her husband and children? And the novel is a very funny, yet tragic examination of her life and how she came to believe that leaving was the only way to save herself.

Saul is her husband and he is one of four brothers. Each man has been damaged by their overbearing mother.

Saul- grim and determined to turn the whole world on to Jesus. He becomes a preacher after he marries Charlotte and she is an ardent non-believer. She learns too soon that they are vastly different people.

Linus- One of Charlotte's 'Lost Boys'. He makes tiny dollhouse furniture that's all over the house. The house is where her mother and father lived. Her mother lives with Saul and Charlotte and mom is closer to Saul and his siblings.

Julian- is a profligate gambler. He works at Saul's radio/TV repair shop to pay off his debts,

Amos- the youngest brother and he looks like Saul when he was younger and not quite so ridgid. Charlotte has an affair with Amos, but it's never really covered. It's kind of kept in the background. He wants Charlotte to run away with him, but Charlotte begins to realize that this is her life.

Jake is Charlotte's kidnapper and although he takes her at gunpoint, she develops a kind of attraction to him. They seem like the 'husband and wife' in the story.

Mindy is a young woman made pregnant by Jake. Charlotte and Jake drive to Florida to pick up Mindy who is staying in a shelter for unwed mothers. She is immature and doesn't love Jake, but she more or less kind of 'gloms onto him'. 

In the end of the novel Charlotte gives Jake the one hundred dollar traveler's check that she had hidden in her wallet 'for travel'. Jake pulls his gun and says that he will shoot her if she leaves, but he doesn't.

When Saul and Charlotte are back together Saul asks Charlotte if she would like to go on a trip. And Charlotte says no because she says that they have been traveling their whole lives and couldn't stop if they wanted.

Charlotte has changed her whole attitude to life and it's really left to the reader to determine how.

The novel unfolds with many very elegant flashbacks.

The novel's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthly_Possessions_(novel)