The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler [145]
Rose decides to love Julian despite her brothers’ obvious disapproval. What do you think drives her to make such a difficult decision?
Julian describes Rose’s retreat back to the Leary house as though she’d worn herself a groove or something in that house of hers, and she couldn’t help swerving back into it. Do you think Rose has made a mistake?
Do you find yourself as fascinated by the Learys as Julian is? Why or why not?
When Rose declares that she and her siblings are the most conventional people she knows, Macon cannot explain why he disagrees with her. Can you?
Do you think the Learys will ever purchase an answering machine? Do you think Julian might slip one in the house?
Do you or does anyone you know suffer from geographic dyslexia?
Why does Sarah return to Macon? Do you think they could have worked it out or had they used each other up?
Macon does not think he has ever taken steps in his life and acted. Do you think this insight is accurate, or is it a product of the helplessness he feels in the wake of his son’s death?
Do you think Macon has made the right decision in the end? Will the relationship work out?
Do you think any of the couples in this novel stand a chance?
In the end, Macon comforts himself with the thought that perhaps the dead age, and are part of the flow of time. Does this idea comfort you?
If you could learn more about a particular character in this novel, which would it be and why?
Would your group recommend this novel to other reading groups? How does this novel compare to other works the group has read?
About the Author
Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis in 1941 but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went on to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. Anne Tyler’s eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore.
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Breathing Lessons
ANNE TYLER
Her new novel
THE AMATEUR MARRIAGE
A rich and compelling novel, spanning
three generations, about a mismatched
marriage—and its consequences.
Available in bookstores everywhere
PLEASE VISIT www.aaknopf.com
By Anne Tyler
If Morning Ever Comes
The Tin Can Tree
A Slipping-Down Life
The Clock Winder
Celestial Navigation
Searching for Caleb
Earthly Possessions
Morgan’s Passing
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
The Accidental Tourist
Breathing Lessons
Saint Maybe
Ladder of Years
A Patchwork Planet
Back When We Were Grownups
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
A Ballantine Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 1985 by Anne Tyler Modarressi
Reading group guide copyright © 2002 by Anne Tyler Modarressi and The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
Ballantine and colophon are registered
trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Reader’s Circle and colophon are trademarks
of Random House, Inc.
www.thereaderscircle.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 2002090731
This edition published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
First Ballantine Books Edition: May 2002
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-41683-4
v3.0