Are Dull People Interesting?
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Macon likely would have gone to his grave without ever having really lived had his 12-year-old son not been gunned down at a burger joint. While such a chance tragedy would strain any parent, it is particularly devastating to a man accustomed to order and devoted to writing guidebooks to help business persons travel the globe without being inconvenienced in any way.
Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award (1985). It's still considered an excellent book and sometimes selected by reading groups or assigned in college classes. More recent copies come with group discussion questions at the end.
I never really warmed up to the book, because I couldn't really relate to the characters. It's possible to be drawn to fictional persons with very different life views, but I just found the quirky people in this book too annoying to be endearing. I don't think there was one character that I would want to sit down with over dinner, and I'm very flexible in terms of the people I like to hang with.
The book does revolve around Macon. He has what could be a dream job for almost any writer — traveling the globe and putting together guidebooks. The kicker is that he is always looking for places to stay and eat that would feel like home and not travel. I suppose he is the perfect guy for the project, because he does not like to travel and would seek out such bland digs and dinners if traveling on his own.
When his wife leaves him and then he breaks his leg, Macon moves back in with his three siblings at the family home place. His sister and two brothers are also very dull people who thrive on routine. This is, perhaps, because the mother was a very flighty woman, and the kids kind of took care of themselves. Still, it would seem that at least one of them would have a little spunk. The sister does do something a bit out of character, but she does it in her own rigid way.
The only problem with Macon moving back in is that he has his son's dog Edward. He can't bear to get rid of the dog, but Edward has a problem with snapping and biting at people. This is, of course, a big problem especially since Macon travels.
Macon hires Muriel to train Edward. Muriel is a single mother with a sickly child. She lives by the seat of her pants and is definitely not the sort of person who would otherwise be in Macon's inner circle.
I wanted to like Muriel — and almost did. She was spunky and creative in her approach to life. It did seem pretty obvious that she set her sights on Macon, because he could provide for her. That I found problematic. She was managing. But, she would settle for a rather strange man in exchange for an easier life. I knew that does happen, but I really expected more from Muriel. Perhaps she really was attracted to Macon, but it didn't ring true.
The story, all in all, is rather mundane given the nature of the characters. Tyler is a very solid writer, so the reading is pretty good even if the pivotal moments in the book are not exactly earth shattering. You mentally follow Macon around for a year or so as he tries to piece his life back together. Basically he must decide whether to stay in his usual rut or try something totally new. You'll have to read the book to find out which way he goes. Then, you have to decide if you really care in the end. I really didn't, so the book didn't do much for me.
