Digging to America

A Novel

De: Anne Tyler

Narrado por: Blair Brown

Anne Tyler’s richest, most deeply searching novel–a story about what it is to be an American, and about Iranian-born Maryam Yazdan, who, after 35 years in this country, must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”

Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport – the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the instant babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate: an “arrival party” that from then on is repeated every year as the two families become more and more deeply intertwined. Even Maryam is drawn in – up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by Bitsy Donaldson’s recently widowed father, all the values she cherishes – her traditions, her privacy, her otherness–are suddenly threatened.

A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that immerse us in the challenges of both sides of the American story.©2006 Anne Tyler; (P)2006 Random House Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“The appearance of a new novel by Anne Tyler is like the arrival of an old friend . . . With her 17th novel, Tyler has delivered something startlingly fresh while retaining everything we love about her work . . . Her success at portraying culture clash and the complex longings and resentments of those new to America confirms what we knew, or should have known, all along: There’s nothing small about Tyler’s world, nothing precious about her attention to the hopes and fears of ordinary people.”

–Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World

“Ms. Tyler deserves her reputation as a master of the fine threads of human relationships. The barely registered slights, fleeting intuitions and shivers of pity that pass between these characters are a pleasure to behold.”

–Tara Gallagher, The Wall Street Journal

“Anne Tyler has written 17 novels and you only wish for more. Her newest, Digging to America, is wonderfully wry, yet intimately involving. There’s a definite sense of loss when it’s over and done.”

–Sheryl Connelly, New York Daily News

“Tyler encompasses the collision of cultures without losing her sharp focus on the daily dramas of modern family life in her 17th novel . . . [A] touching, humorous story.”

–Publishers Weekly

“Tyler creates many blissful moments of high emotion and keen humor while broaching hard truths about cultural differences, communication breakdowns, and family configurations. This deeply human tale of valiantly improvised lives is one of Tyler’s best.”

–Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

“The veteran novelist extends her range without losing her essence in this tale of two families drawn together by their adopted daughters despite the friction created by their very different personalities and ethnicities . . . The ensuing culture clash enriches Tyler’s narrative without diminishing her skills as an engaging storyteller and delicate analyst of personality . . . Readers will hope that these flawed, lovable people will find happiness, but they won’t be sure until the final page, so deftly has the author balanced the forces that keep us apart against those that bring us together. Vintage Tyler, with enough fresh, new touches to earn her the next generation of fans.”

–Kirkus Reviews

“The author’s 17th novel exemplifies her skill at depicting seemingly quiet and unremarkable lives with sympathy and humor . . . A touching, well-crafted tale of friendship, families, and what it means to be an American.”

–Library Journal (starred review)

Life in transition

If you (or someone dear to you) has ever felt like a permanent outsider in another culture, you are sure to find this book fascinating. By coincidence, two families happen to meet at a Baltimore airport. They are both there for the same reason. Each is adopting a baby arriving on a flight from Korea. One family is mainstream American (the Donaldson-Dickensons) and embraces multiculturalism, even if somewhat clumsily and offensively at times. The other family (the Yazdans) are Iranian-American. The baby's grandmother, Maryam Yazdan, is attractive, stylish, and somewhat elusive. She, in particular, seems caught between trying to blend in and not wanting fully to blend in with aspects of American culture that might make some of us cringe. Each character in the story presents with a unique predicament around the theme of cultural transition: Maryam's son, born in America, but uncertain about Iranian customs; the two babies, each brought up aware of their Korean origins, but minimally interested in that fact; garrulous Bitsy Dickenson (or is it, Donaldson?) who embraces her child's Korean birth and welcomes the Yazdans' Iranian background with occasionally overbearing curiosity; etc. This is a warm, sometimes funny novel about all kinds of transitions, including growing up and growing old. Like most of Anne Tyler's writing, "Digging to America" is effortless to read (or listen to). She seems keenly to have observed her characters, rather than to have invented them. Blair Brown's reading is superb.

Wrong Accent

I very much enjoyed the book but found the Indian accents used for the Iranians distracting/annoying. Even the pronunciation of the Iranian names was inaccurate.

Enjoyed it very much!

I thought it was pretty good! Im a big fan of Anne Tyler
and Blair Brown! !!

Loved It!!

I absolutely loved listening to this book. Blair Brown's characterizations along with Ann Tyler's brilliant take on humanity are a great combination.

perfect, vintage Tyler.

I've been an Anne Tyler fan since I found a copy of Accidental Tourist in a sale bin back in the 1980s. This book shows she has only gotten better with the decades.

I love that half of her characters in this novel are Iranian, as was Tyler's own husband. My 'ear' doesn't have the subtlety to know if the narrator's Farsi accent is authentic, but I really love how she voices those characters! I also love that Tyler portrays them as such a rich and diverse group, from the slightly wacky cousin married to the Vermont Hippy hobbyist inventor, to the modern fashionable daughter-in-law interior decorator who buys her Korean-born adopted daughter the latest toys and sends her to ballet and private schools.

My favorite character? Has to be Maryam. I love her introverted perfectly-mannered interior life. She's not perfect, but you can see the heart there. Best chapter? It's gotta be the Binky Party, seen thru the eyes of the Big Sister. I kept wanting to SHAKE Bitsy throughout it, but that's the beauty of Anne Tyler novels to me: even when her characters are really ruthlessly unlikeable, they are also portrayed with such compassion and honesty, I fall in love with the whole lot of them every time.

I think I'll have to buy another Tyler novel with my next credit! So many to choose from Yay.