anne tyler redhead by the side of the road

He runs his independent business under the name Tech Hermit which is a title all too appropriate for him. The novel follows the daily experiences of Micah, a man on the brink of middle age who has a lowkey life working as a “glorified handyman” assisting local individuals with their computer problems. So this added a touching poignancy to an all-around gentle story about a man caught in the humdrum routines of his well-established lifestyle.

At one point the protagonist has a fantasy that his community has been hit by “one of those neutron bombs they used to talk about that wiped out all of humanity but left the buildings intact” so that he imagines himself as the sole survivor and, while he would occupy himself with his usual solitary activities, he’d eventually go out looking for other people and find “Nothing.” This is exactly the sort of existential crisis many are experiencing now when they venture outside to a normally bustling community and find no one around. That’s true for this book as well although there is an imagined apocalyptic scene which felt surprisingly relevant for this current time. Since she focuses on psychological nuance and a realistic portrayal of daily experience nothing very dramatic or distressing often occurs in Tyler’s novels. So the calm and measured thoughtfulness found in Anne Tyler’s new novel is greatly welcome at this time. It can be challenging to concentrate when there’s so much anxiety all around me.

Like a lot of people I’ve sometimes found reading difficult during this period of national lockdown.

Anne tyler redhead by the side of the road