The Beginner's Goodbye [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

I have been reading Ann Tyler since 1979, and this is one of her best, a gentle portrait of grief and longing.

The plot synopsis is simple: Aaron's wife Dorothy dies, and as he works through his grief, he thinks he sees her now and then. That's really all there is to it. The charm of the book lies in its ability to mine the richness of everyday life for moments of pain, humor and illumination.

Aaron, a man with physical handicaps, has been fending off the care of others for most of his life. As a result he's had a mostly regular life. When he meets Dorothy, a stolid, socially clueless doctor eight or nine years his senior, he falls in immediate, dumbstruck love. I just couldn't get enough of how Aaron loved his wife, I adored his descriptions of her every little detail, the way he cherished up her looks, her plain wardrobe, her untidy ways and her blunt manner of expression. It made his pain so very real.

Aaron's life is full of whimsical, endearing people. He really is beloved, even though he prefers to push people away rather than admit to his pain. Having watched a widower work through the loss of a wife, I recognized Aaron's avoidance, his business for business's sake, the way he worked much harder at denying his grief than processing it. This is realistic, I think.

But of course, since this is an Anne Tyler book, he's going to work through it, because Tyler always gives her characters the room to change, learn, grow and find happiness. This is one of the reasons I love to read her. This is a spare little book, but it is fully realized and completely satisfying.

Very highly recommended.

Aaron is a thirtysomething book publisher. Disabled after a childhood illness, he grew up resisting the well-meaning, overprotective urges of his strong-willed mother and sister. Then, he meets Dorothy, a doctor, who has no interest in coddling him. They fall in love and establish a warm, workable marriage - until, one day, the unthinkable happens. A tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed.

Aaron struggles to absorb this crushing loss, sometimes regaining a measure of equanimity, sometimes brought to his knees with the sheer force of his grief and despair. Then, one day, Dorothy comes to visit, bringing comfort, but, also, an additional raft of worries. Is she real? Is he losing it? If she is real, why did she come back?

This is a gentle, sweet, realistic look at the grieving process, including both the stabbing, unbearable pain and the small-but-important things that can sneak up and hit unexpectedly. Aaron is a quirky and engaging, but also somewhat prickly and exasperating, especially in his interactions with those closest to him.

A few things I noticed that jarred slightly - Aaron does not seem thirty-five to me, more like fifty. Also, although the story is set in Baltimore, as another reviewer noted, it has a decidedly small-town feel. Some of the characters, like Peggy, seemed to be a bit "old-school" for their (presumed) age brackets. For instance, secretaries these days tend to do much more coordination and administration than caretaking. I was also mildly surprised at a small press that appeared to be doing well, without a mention of the recession. It felt like I was visiting a modern version of Brigadoon, with timeless characters and ageless problems. This is not necessarily a drawback, just something I noticed.

This is a refreshing, readable take on one of life's most important issues, one that I plan to keep and reread for many years to come. Recommended.

Aaron Woolcott, a thirty-something editor at a family-run publishing company, has just lost his wife in a freak accident. Naturally, those closest to him -- his older sister Nandina, the handful of colleagues at Woolcott Publishing, and a few random friends -- reach out to him, fearing his emotional and physical deterioration. Although he's always felt he's been able to manage just fine, Aaron has a disabled arm and leg, thanks to illness as a toddler; and as he and his sister are the only surviving members of the immediate family, they've tended to be a bit reclusive. Now, as Aaron insists upon remaining in his nearly destroyed home all alone, the people in his life have reason to worry.

As Aaron struggles to cope and to adjust to his new life, he suddenly begins to see his dead wife Dorothy appearing. There is no pattern to her visits, making Aaron long to have her with him all the more. During these times, the two talk and discuss their life together. All the while, Aaron wonders what others see, and what they must think.

Having read all of Tyler's books to date, I feel qualified to compare this latest with its predecessors. Overall, while the characters are richly written and the premise holds promise, the story itself just didn't feel all that intriguing to me. There have been numerous works of fiction about people who lose their spouses, and this one just didn't stand out too keenly in my mind.