Stuck in a life she doesn't want, Charlotte Emory decides to leave her husband and her town. At the bank, while withdrawing the money she needs to start her life anew, Charlotte is caught up in a bank robbery that goes wrong, and is taken hostage by the robber. As he flees with her to Florida in a stolen car, unwilling to release her until he can be sure he'll be safe, Charlotte and Jake get to know each other, and Charlotte reflects on how she came to this point.
I was surprised by the dated feel of this novel until I realised it was rereleased in the late '90s but first published in 1977. Although Tyler's novels (at least the ones I've read so far, having managed to skip the headliners Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and The Accidental Tourist) tend to be substantially more about people than plot, I finished Earthly Possessions with a greater sense of "so what" than I usually have with Literature, and that's saying something. I didn't warm to any of the characters, except perhaps Jake's pregnant teenage girlfriend, and I just didn't care about any of it. In fact, I only finished Earthly Possessions because when I picked it up my sister told me I could keep it, and so I read it on a very long plane ride with not many other options available. John Updike might think it's "wickedly good" but I disagree. - Alex
No comments:
Post a Comment