THREE DAYS IN JUNE - Anne Tyler


I have been reading Anne Tyler books since the early 1980's when a college professor had us read Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant for a modern lit class and I then went and found and read everything she'd written prior to that. You could call me a fan. She captures the extraordinary moments of ordinary people better than anyone else I've read.

Three Days in June is a really splendid tale of human ordinary-ness and how remarkable moments in our lives can stir up the ghosts we'd rather leave forgotten.

Gail Baines, second in command at the Ashton School in Baltimore, learns that not only has she been overlooked for the open headmaster position, but the new headmistress is bringing her own deputy. The news comes only days before her daughter's wedding and the arrival of her ex-husband, who seems to not understand the boundaries of being divorced - making himself at home in her home before the wedding.

The ex-couple try to get along for the sake of their daughter, but the surprise revelation that the intended groom has cheated on their daughter, divides the pair on how she should respond, with Gail defiantly asserting that daughter Debbie should leave him immediately. It comes as a surprise to Debbie to learn that Gail was the one who had the extra-marital affair that separated them.

This is a short novel, but I think it means that Tyler has simply grown more economic with words as the book maintains all the cynical humor and family awkwardness of any of her books. It is sweet and biting, pastoral and harsh, and very satisfying. The unsung hero is Max, the father/ex-husband who goes about these three days being supportive to both the women in his life, if maybe just a little unawares.

Looking for a good book? Read Anne Tyler. Read this book, Three Days in June.

I received  digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Three Days in June

author: Anne Tyler

publisher: Knopf

ISBN: 9780593803486

hardcover, 156 pages

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