Reading guide: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

Abby Whitshank

Abby is the matriarch of her family, a retired social worker, wife to Red and mother of four. Loving and generous, she cares deeply for her children, but tends to interfere in their lives in ways that aren’t always appreciated. Now elderly and showing signs of dementia, she suffers increasingly frequent mental blackouts. 

Red Whitshank

Red is Abby’s husband and owns a construction business which he inherited from his father, Junior, who built the family’s Baltimore home. A straightforward, down-to-earth man, he takes immense pride in his house, but after suffering from a heart attack he becomes unable to fix things like he used to.

Denny Whitshank

Troublesome and unruly, Denny is the third child of Red and Abby. He is the child who causes his parents the most worry, yet appears to be Abby’s favourite. A drifter by nature, he seems unable to hold down a steady job or a relationship and is constantly on the move. He is jealous of the attention his adopted brother, Stem, receives from his parents, and the two men have a complicated relationship as a result.

Douglas ‘Stem’ O’Brian

Red and Abby’s youngest child, Stem is smart and kind, with a beautiful wife, and is in line to take over the family business – much to Denny’s annoyance. Stem was adopted by the couple following the death of one of Red’s employees at his construction business. Little is known of Stem’s real mother, to begin with at least.

Julie Scanlon, The Conversation

‘The novel touches on the lives of four generations of the Whitshank family, exploring issues related to generational change and aspiration. Tyler traces the lines of a recognisable tradition in American fiction by exploring the illusionary nature of the American dream, the idea that progress can be made by anyone by means of hard work.’

Kate Kellaway, The Guardian

‘Tyler is sensitive to the tragicomedy of old age and its indignities. Her writing is characterised by an amused, sweeping tolerance that acknowledges imperfection at all ages. Flakiness, mystery and unpredictability worm their way into the narrative as Tyler resists the temptation to know everything about her own characters: many stay mystifying – as real people do.’

Janette Currie, The Independent

‘A Spool of Blue Thread is a richly textured story about a Baltimore house and the Whitshank family who have lived there for two generations. Anne Tyler spools back and forth between the present and the past, unpicking the “embroidered” truth of family legend – the Whitshanks “had a talent for pretending everything was fine” – to reveal self-delusion and disappointment.’

James Walton, The Telegraph 

‘Now 73, Tyler has hinted that this might be her last novel. If so, she may not have ended with a masterpiece, but she has given us plenty of reminders of her lavish strengths: the quiet authority of her prose; the ultimately persuasive belief that a kindly eye is not necessarily a dishonest one; and perhaps above all, the fact that, 50 years after she started, she still gives us a better sense than almost anyone else of what it’s like to be part of a family – which for most of us also means a better sense than almost anyone else of what it’s like to be alive.’

The Scotsman

‘Nobody – or nobody I have read anyway – writes about family life like Tyler. The slow compromises of parenthood, the gradual reconciliation of emotional opposites in the course of a long marriage, the way in which ambition might pall or fail to live up to expectations – this is hard territory for the novelist: many attempt to cross it but few succeed. But it is precisely where Tyler excels, finding quiet drama in ordinary life in a way that catches both its profundity and its transience.’

Describing how she writes, Tyler once said: ‘As far as I’m concerned, character is everything. I never did see why I have to throw in a plot, too.’ In its focus on character, did you feel that the novel lacked a sufficient amount of narrative development or conflict? Or did you find yourself so invested in the richly crafted characters that the absence of a traditional linear plot didn’t matter?

The family home plays a central part in the book. Red’s father, Junior, built the house, and it remains a source of immense pride for Red, who has maintained it over the years with the utmost care and attention. Despite their declining health, Red and Abby refuse to move out, until, towards the end of the novel, Red moves into a small apartment, to the shock of his children. Why do you think Red decides to leave the house at that point?

Writing in the New York Times, Cathleen Schine described Tyler’s writing style as ‘a style without a style’, where each observation is ‘measured and delicate, so complex is the structure and so astute and open the language, that the reader can relax, feel secure in the narrative and experience the work as something real and natural – even inevitable.’ Do you agree with Schine’s opinion and how would you describe Tyler’s writing style, in this book at least?

At Abby’s funeral, Reverend Alban says in his speech that, ‘it has occurred to me, on occasion, that our memories of our loved ones might not be the point. Maybe the point is their memories – all that they take away with them.’ (Page 247-248) What do you think of the Reverend’s comment, and how does this sentiment relate to the ways the characters in the book interact with one another?

Denny is the child who causes Abby and Red the most concern, not least due to his inability or unwillingness to settle down with a partner or retain a steady job. The reasons for his restlessness are never revealed, although the novel ends with Denny forgiving Abby – even though it isn’t made explicit what he is forgiving. Are there any details in the book that would explain Denny’s erratic behaviour and why he seems so much more directionless than his siblings?

It’s not until the end of the book that the reader finds out the meaning behind its title – with Tyler taking inspiration from a similar event in her own life after her mother died. Before the meaning was revealed, what was your interpretation of the title in relation to the book as a whole? 

Tyler often portrays the Whitshank family in mundane ways, foregrounding the intricate but unremarkable workings of domestic life. Did her descriptions of ordinary family dynamics feel authentic, and did they make the characters feel more relatable as a result? Were there any particular moments that felt especially recognisable and realistic to you, or that made you think about your own family?

Writing about Tyler in the New York Times in 1985 – a full 30 years before A Spool of Blue Thread was published – Larry McMurty observed that ‘In book after book, siblings are drawn inexorably back home, as if their parents … had planted tiny magnets in them which can be activated once they have seen what the extrafamilial world is like. … Sooner or later a need to be with people who are really familiar – their brothers and sisters – overwhelms them.’ To what extent would you agree with McMurty’s comment in relation to this book, or to Tyler’s writing generally?

When they first move into the house, Red’s father, Junior, decides to replace the porch swing and repaint it a different colour, leading to an argument with his young wife, Linnie Mae. Although on the surface this is a trivial dispute, it is presented as one of the book’s significant moments. Why do you think Tyler included it, and what insights does it provide into Junior and Linnie Mae’s relationship?

In her New Yorker review, Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, said of Tyler: ‘Her great gift is playing against the American dream, the dark side of which is the falsehood at its heart: that given hard work and good intentions, any family can attain the Norman Rockwell ideal of happiness.’ To what extent would you agree with this view? Is this really a book about the ways in which all families try to live up to – or at least present to the wider world – a mythologised but untrue image of domestic harmony and success?

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