Redhead by the Side of the Road
A novel
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3.7 • 703 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • BOOKER PRIZE NOMINEE • From the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a sparkling novel about misperception, second chances, and the sometimes elusive power of human connection.
Micah Mortimer is a creature of habit. A self-employed tech expert, superintendent of his Baltimore apartment building, cautious to a fault behind the steering wheel, he seems content leading a steady, circumscribed life.
But one day his routines are blown apart when his woman friend (he refuses to call anyone in her late thirties a "girlfriend") tells him she's facing eviction, and a teenager shows up at Micah's door claiming to be his son. These surprises, and the ways they throw Micah's meticulously organized life off-kilter, risk changing him forever.
An intimate look into the heart and mind of a man who finds those around him just out of reach, and a funny, joyful, deeply compassionate story about seeing the world through new eyes, Redhead by the Side of the Road is a triumph, filled with Anne Tyler's signature wit and gimlet-eyed observation.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This slender new novel by Anne Tyler, the author of bestsellers like Clock Dance and The Accidental Tourist, is as comforting as fried chicken and mashed potatoes. You might not have much sympathy for her unremarkable, cranky hero, Micah Mortimer, at first. A middle-aged bachelor and former tech whiz, Micah now lives a rigid, emotionally detached life in his basement apartment, emerging to fulfill his duties as the building super or help Luddite customers as a mobile computer geek. When Micah gets dumped by his easygoing girlfriend, Tyler uses her characteristic humor and thoughtful insights about flawed, everyday people to turn Micah into someone we can all identify with. Forced to rethink his way of life, Micah becomes aware of how he’s been the architect of his own isolation. A surprise and then a revelation, Redhead by the Side of the Road is a gentle, reassuring reminder that we’re all capable of change and that pain can often lead to second chances.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A fastidious everyman weathers a spate of relationship stresses in this compassionate, perceptive novel from Tyler (Clock Dance). Micah Mortimer, 43, makes house calls for his Tech Hermit business and moonlights as the superintendent of his Baltimore apartment building, where the residents observe his regimented routine and wonder, through Tyler's gossip-inflected narration, "Does he ever stop to consider his life?" The disruptions begin with a call from his schoolteacher girlfriend, Cassia Slade, who is in a panic because she is facing eviction. Then college freshman Brink Adams shows up on his stoop and claims to be his son. Micah knows it isn't true, because he never slept with Brink's mother, Lorna, an old girlfriend, but he tolerates the languid, starry-eyed kid who claims to look up to him for living a working-class life and who fixated on a photo of Micah kept by Lorna. After Micah tries to put Brink in touch with Lorna, he disappears. When Cassia dumps him for not immediately offering to let her move in, Micah descends into a funk that just might push him to prove himself worthy of her companionship. While Micah's cool indifference occasionally feels like a symptom of Tyler's spare, detached style, his moments of growth bring satisfaction. This quotidian tale of a late bloomer goes down easy.
Customer Reviews
See AllSlice of life
Endearing characters. The little things and not so little things that shape us. Micah isn’t prone to self examination. He starts to realize his blindness thanks to a very expected with a college student. Interesting and enjoyable read although a bit meandering at times.
Almost perfect
Anne has a gift for writing about quotidiem life love her authentic characters. In this case, middle-aged Micah is trying to adjust and find his way in relationships, in an ever/changing world and confusing world. I usually love her books, as did my mother-proving that Tyler’s writing speaks to several generations. My only disappointment was regarding the thankfully brief insertions of politics. Some of us read fiction to escape the politics that have consumed sports, television, academi et al. Too bad she-or perhaps her publisher-felt it necessary. Nevertheless, I will always give her books a chance because she is a modern classic.
Liked it!
Gotta say, poor Micah reminds me of—well, me. Clueless about reading a woman’s signals!
Really enjoyed the story, shorter than I expected but come to think of it I think it was billed as a short story, anyway really good stuff