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4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Tyler, April 12 2003
As with all Tyler novels, The Clock Winder is full of quirky, odd and lovable characters. While there is not much action in her stories, the writing is so well done and the characters so fully developed, by the end of her novels, you always feel like a part of the family. Such is the case with The Clock Winder.When the novel opens, Mrs. Emerson is a recent widow, who seems to aimlessly go about her days, always keeping up her image and trying to stay in tune with her grown children's lives. Never meaning harm, Mrs. Emerson seems to stress her children out, and doesn't seem to understand how she is affecting them. When she fires her lifelong handyman, she stumbles by chance upon young Elizabeth and before she knows it, Elizabeth is tangled up in the lives of the Emerson family. The rest of the novel details how Elizabeth is affected by the family, and they by her. Tyler's writing is so poignant, while not much is really happening, so much is actually happening. This is a book that Tyler fans won't be disappointed in~
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An early Anne Tyler, and still one of her very best, Sep 9 2002
Anne Tyler's "The Clock Winder" is the story of Elizabeth Abbott, a sort of aimless 20-year old girl taking a year off from college. When Elizabeth wanders into the lives of the Emerson family, she becomes, as Mrs. Emerson so tellingly describes things early in the book, "the center of the asterisk." Elizabeth is trying to earn money to go back to college for her senior year--even though "my grades were rotten"--and on her way to interview for a long-term babysitting job, she ends up helping Pamela Emerson move some porch furniture. Mrs. Emerson asks her to stay on as a handyman, to replace the one she fired that morning, and Elizabeth cheerfully agrees as long as she can "live in." This innocent beginning to the story belies the complexities and emotional connections that are made and broken in the rest of the book. Without giving away too much of the plot to those who've never had the pleasure of reading it, it's safe to say that Elizabeth's presence has an emotional impact on several of Mrs. Emerson's sons--one of whom feels strongly enough about her that he does something terrible. This is the event which finally completes Elizabeth's long metamorphosis from determinedly carefree, irresponsible girl to full-grown woman--a woman who understands, finally, the effect that one person can have on another without even meaning to. The writing is superb and the plot develops organically, fully, and with a resolution which makes perfect sense. Anne Tyler was in full control of her considerable gifts back in 1972 when she wrote this, and aren't we lucky that she was!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Locked Door of Time, Jul 14 2002
Elizabeth is a wandering free-spirited college student of the mid-1960's. Though she does not wish to influence anyone, her influence is in fact enormous. Hers is the gift of making people want to live, as though their lives were actually turned back to a past point in time when they were younger, with a natural desire to persevere. When she accidentally convinces her employer's troubled son to commit suicide, she herself gives up on life, as though she finally understood that the past cannot be turned back. At last, a call for her help convinces her to take command of the uncertain future. A heartbreaker, and enthralling.
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