the accidental tourist anne tyler summary

Muriel Pritchett is as appealing a woman as Miss Tyler has created and upon the quiet Macon she lavishes the kind of intelligent consideration that he only intermittently gets from his own womenfolk'. In The New York Times, Larry McMurtry says, 'Tyler shows, with a fine clarity, the mingling of misery and contentment in the daily lives of her families, reminds us how alike-and yet distinct-happy and unhappy families can be. In the foreign country that was Singleton Street he was an entirely different person.' When Sarah learns of these developments, she decides she and Macon should reconcile, forcing him to come to a decision about their future. Macon finds that he loves 'the surprise of her, and also the surprise of himself when he was with her. Increasingly attached to both Muriel and Alexander, he moves into their little house in a seedy part of town. Despite his resistance to a new commitment, Macon finds himself drawn towards Muriel, surprised by her perceptiveness, strength and optimism, and ability to listen. In stark contrast to Sarah, Muriel is brash, garrulous, unsophisticated, and fond of garish outfits and in stark contrast to the relatively passive Macon, she is strong and assertive. Macon hires Muriel Pritchett, an unusual woman in her own right, to train his unruly dog, and soon finds himself drifting into a relationship with her and her sickly son, Alexander.

They eventually marry, though Rose later moves back in with her brothers, followed months later by Julian, who becomes part of the family. When Macon's publisher, Julian, comes to visit, he finds himself attracted to Rose. When he becomes incapacitated due to a fall involving his disturbed dog and one of his crazy inventions, Macon returns to the family home to stay with his eccentric siblings, sister Rose and brothers Porter and Charles, whose odd habits include alphabetizing the groceries in the kitchen cabinets and ignoring the ringing telephone. He and his wife, Sarah, separately lost in grief, find their marriage disintegrating until she eventually moves out. Set in Baltimore, Maryland, the plot revolves around Macon Leary, a writer of travel guides whose son has been killed in a shooting at a fast-food restaurant. The novel was adapted into a 1988 award-winning film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, and Geena Davis, for which Davis won an Academy Award. The Accidental Tourist is a 1985 novel by Anne Tyler that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1985 and the Ambassador Book Award for Fiction in 1986.

The accidental tourist anne tyler summary