Review - Clock Dance

Clock Dance
by Anne Tyler
release date 7/12/2018
304 pages
Chapter length:  medium
3 out of 5 stars

I received a copy of this eBook from Penguin Random House's First to Read program in exchange for a review.  The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

According to the publisher, "Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life: when she was eleven and her mother disappeared, being proposed to at twenty-one, the accident that would make her a widow at forty-one. At each of these moments, Willa ended up on a path laid out for her by others.

So when she receives a phone call telling her that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs her help, she drops everything and flies across the country. The spur-of-the-moment decision to look after this woman – and her nine-year-old daughter, and her dog – will lead Willa into uncharted territory. Surrounded by new and surprising neighbours, she is plunged into the rituals that make a community and takes pleasure in the most unexpected things.

A bittersweet novel of hope and regret, fulfillment and renewal, Clock Dance brings us the everyday life of a woman who decides it’s never too late to change direction, and choose your own path. "

In Clock Dance, we follow main character Willa throughout her life, from childhood  to post-retirement, each "section" of life shown in a snapshot of one particular moment in time.  Willa's life is not particularly interesting or action-packed.  The defining moments that we are shown happen to many people.  

What is interesting about this story is the way that the reader is able to trace who Willa is and what makes her tick back to each individual event.  This was the best part of Clock Dance to me.  I think it is human nature to wonder why we are the way we are and why we do the things we do; we don't often have the opportunity to see a timeline of our defining moments laid out in print.  I wonder how I would narrow down the most important moments of my life down to four or five major events and I doubt I'm alone in this thought.

As I said, Clock Dance does not have the most exciting plot, but it is a feel good novel with interesting characters and a happy ending.  My only criticism would be (doing my best to avoid spoilers here) a one-off incident on an airplane that was seemingly glossed over in the original telling, but repeatedly mentioned by other characters throughout the book.  I can see the author's intention to use this particularly airy delivery of this event as a character development tool, but the repetitiveness of it became tiresome for me very quickly.

As always, I didn't read a summary before I started reading; I was drawn to this book because of the pretty picture of the cactus on the cover and I was happily surprised with this easy read.  I think Clock Dance would be perfect for anyone who is finishing up a particularly heavy read and would like a light book to read next.

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