Where other authors would go for the obvious storyline, Tyler works her magic with this more unusual and yet somehow more realistic premise, where a boy and a man who have no biological connection end up helping each other to change.Įlsewhere, Micah’s world-weary personality comes through in telling asides: “The thing about old girlfriends, Micah reflected, is that each one subtracts something from you. The relationship that develops between the pair is vintage Tyler – college freshman Brink thinks Micah might be his father. When the son of an ex-girlfriend arrives one morning on his doorstep, Micah is forced to care, if only for a few days, for someone other than himself. Told as one long section with no chapter breaks, there is a fable-like quality to Redhead Like most of Tyler’s characters, there is nothing inherently bad about Micah, except for the fact that the self-contained way he’s living hurts both himself and those around him. An omniscient narrator literally invites us in the opening pages to observe his safe, meagre existence: early morning runs, healthy breakfasts, few friends, detachment from his family and girlfriend, apathy for his work, and a vigorous cleaning regime for his house. In Redhead, Micah is a man sorely in need of someone to disrupt his regimented routines (recalling also Macon Leary of The Accidental Tourist). Both novels hinge on unusual scenarios that pair up older and younger generations. There are echoes of Clock Dance in her new book. A short book that gives a brilliantly detailed, tender depiction of one man's regrettable way of living, Redhead has a breezy style that is more akin to Vinegar Girl, Tyler's recent rewrite of The Taming of the Shrew for the Hogarth Shakespeare series, than it is to the titles that have made her a household name – Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, the Pulitzer-winning Breathing Lessons, Booker-nominated A Spool of Blue Thread, or last year's luminous Clock Dance. Redhead is no different in this respect, but it has a slighter feel to it than some of her masterpieces. Tyler is famous for writing extraordinary novels about ordinary people. He has a girlfriend that he likes well enough, and a big, brash extended family that he visits from time to time. He lives in Baltimore and makes a mediocre living as a computer technician. Micah is in many ways a classic Tyler character.
And it’s almost certain nobody’s ever asked him.” Meet Micah Mortimer, the curmudgeonly, mid-40s protagonist of Anne Tyler’s latest novel Redhead by the Side of the Road.
“Does he ever stop to consider his life? The meaning of it, the point? Does it trouble him to think that he will probably spend his next thirty or forty years this way? Nobody knows.
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