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"From the beloved and best-selling Anne Tyler, a sparkling new 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"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
Micah lives a quiet, ordered life in a basement apartment of the building he manages. He also has a small business fixing people's computer issues as the Tech Hermit and a girlfriend he sees on a regular schedule. Then, on an evening he brings dinner over, she tells him that she's worried she's
Anne Tyler is a skilled writer and Redhead by the Side of the Road is just beautiful; perfectly plotted, with wonderfully flawed and human characters and not a single extraneous word. That said, this is one of her slighter novels, with far less substance than in some of her others. It was the perfect novel for me, reading in an unsettled time and I'm so happy that she wrote this, but its difficulty setting is so low; she's been writing about this character, this setting and this conflict for decades. And maybe this is Tyler realizing that she can just play with variations of this same book for the rest of her writing life. I know that I'd read a dozen more just like it.
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going to be asked to leave her apartment because of her cat. Micah makes a joke about her living in her car and can't figure out why she seems so unhappy with him. Then he gets an unexpected visitor, the son of an ex-girlfriend shows up thinking Micah is his real Dad. Suddenly, his carefully constructed life is going off-kilter and he's forced to confront his own future, one that looks unbearable.Anne Tyler is a skilled writer and Redhead by the Side of the Road is just beautiful; perfectly plotted, with wonderfully flawed and human characters and not a single extraneous word. That said, this is one of her slighter novels, with far less substance than in some of her others. It was the perfect novel for me, reading in an unsettled time and I'm so happy that she wrote this, but its difficulty setting is so low; she's been writing about this character, this setting and this conflict for decades. And maybe this is Tyler realizing that she can just play with variations of this same book for the rest of her writing life. I know that I'd read a dozen more just like it.
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LibraryThing member Course8
I have been an Anne Tyler fan forever and have read and enjoyed every book, until now. Redhead by the Side of the Road is such a disappointment with the paucity of character development and shallow story line. It feels like the first third of a larger work. It ends abruptly. The only character that
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is developed is Micah. He is similar to characters in her earlier works. Micah is a self-absorbed loner with an affinity for strict routines and lack of understanding about how relationships work or how others think. His interactions with others are off-key because he misses social clues. The other characters that show up are two-dimensional at best. We don't get to know or appreciate them because we only see them through Micah's myopic viewpoint and he is not able to comprehend how others might have a feeling or thought process that is different from his own internal logic. I would have enjoyed seeing the inner workings of Cass, Micah's woman friend. I would like to know how Brink, privileged son of Micah's college girlfriend, grew into a prickly college student who would rather run away from home to a stranger's apartment than have a slightly difficult chat with his loving parents. How did Micah become the regimented, under-achiever that he is now? The text provides some anecdotes but not enough to really explain why he made the choices that led him to live in the basement as an apartment super and work part time as a tech support person. Why did he not have the resilience to do something more with the his gifts and talents? Why did he give up? Sadly, these are questions that are not adequately resolved in this book. Perhaps if it had been presented as a novelette rather than a novel then I would have enjoyed it more by having lower expectations. Show Less
LibraryThing member kayanelson
Anne Tyler is a genius. She takes a simple story and turns it into a page turner. I've always said that she is a master at character development and she has proven that once again. I loved the story of Micah. At first I thought this would be another "on the spectrum" book but it isn't. Micah isn't
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on the spectrum, he's just a product of his life's experiences. Show Less
LibraryThing member SamSattler
I’m going to go out on a limb here and call Anne Tyler’s Redhead by the Side of the Road a coming-of-age novel. And it is one, if you concede the point that some people don’t manage to get that job done before reaching their fortieth birthday. Micah Mortimer is one of those people.
Micah is in
The world sees Micah this way:
“He has a girlfriend, but they seem to lead fairly separate lives. You see her heading toward his back door now and then with a sack of takeout; you see them setting forth on a weekend morning in the Kia, minus the TECH HERMIT sign. He doesn’t appear to have male friends. He is cordial to the tenants but no more than that. They call out a greeting when they meet up with him and he nods amiably and raises a hand, often not troubling to speak. Nobody knows if he has family.”
The scary part about all of this is that Micah is perfectly content to go on living exactly the same way for the next thirty or forty years. Even when his girlfriend makes it obvious that she has had enough of the status quo, Micah is so egocentric that he doesn’t get the message. And when a teenager shows up at Micah’s front door wondering if he might just be the boy’s biological father, all Micah can think about is how his old girlfriend, the boy’s mother, suddenly dumped him the way she did all those years ago.
So it’s now or never for Micah. If he’s ever going to grow up, this may be his last best chance.
Bottom Line: Redhead by the Side of the Road is a satisfying character study of a novel centering on a not-so-young-anymore man who is still trying to find himself. He is not particularly likable, even to the reader, the way he is, so it is easy to root for an emotional awakening on his part. This Anne Tyler novel may be a relatively short one, but Micah Mortimer is a complete character – like him or not.
Micah is in
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his early forties now, and he still lives alone. In fact, he lives in the basement of the small apartment building he manages on the side for its out-of-state owner. In lieu of a salary, Micah lives rent-free in the basement apartment. His “real” job, the one that actually brings him in a little cash, is as a computer-problem troubleshooter for his little one-man company called Tech Hermit. Tech Hermit could not be a more appropriate name for the company – or for Micah – because it’s who he is. The world sees Micah this way:
“He has a girlfriend, but they seem to lead fairly separate lives. You see her heading toward his back door now and then with a sack of takeout; you see them setting forth on a weekend morning in the Kia, minus the TECH HERMIT sign. He doesn’t appear to have male friends. He is cordial to the tenants but no more than that. They call out a greeting when they meet up with him and he nods amiably and raises a hand, often not troubling to speak. Nobody knows if he has family.”
The scary part about all of this is that Micah is perfectly content to go on living exactly the same way for the next thirty or forty years. Even when his girlfriend makes it obvious that she has had enough of the status quo, Micah is so egocentric that he doesn’t get the message. And when a teenager shows up at Micah’s front door wondering if he might just be the boy’s biological father, all Micah can think about is how his old girlfriend, the boy’s mother, suddenly dumped him the way she did all those years ago.
So it’s now or never for Micah. If he’s ever going to grow up, this may be his last best chance.
Bottom Line: Redhead by the Side of the Road is a satisfying character study of a novel centering on a not-so-young-anymore man who is still trying to find himself. He is not particularly likable, even to the reader, the way he is, so it is easy to root for an emotional awakening on his part. This Anne Tyler novel may be a relatively short one, but Micah Mortimer is a complete character – like him or not.
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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
Nothing happened until the totally unbelievable ending.
LibraryThing member browner56
Micah Mortimer is stuck in a rut, even if he does not quite realize it. Now in his early forties, he is still single, having made a mess of several previous romantic relationships in ways that he cannot understand. Living alone in an apartment he rents for free in exchange for janitorial services,
That is the gist of Redhead by the Side of the Road, Anne Tyler’s slice-of-life novel that is really more of a brief character study than a fully developed, plot-driven story. Indeed, there is little of consequence that happens in the book, aside from a few set pieces involving Micah interacting with his family, girlfriend, clients, and alleged offspring. Still, this was an enjoyable look into one man’s forlorn and lonely life—although I’m not sure that ‘enjoyable’ is the right word here—if only for the sparkling dialogue that the author has created in chronicling her protagonist’s encounters with the various people he meets over the course of few days. In fact, the scene involving Micah attending a dinner at his sister’s house in celebration of his nephew’s engagement is nothing short of brilliant. Overall, this is a bittersweet novel that will not take too much of a reader’s time, but one that is also likely to be forgotten just as quickly.
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he also struggles to make ends meet as a personal technology consultant. His life is highly regimented, with a jog on the same route every morning and designated household chores for each day of the week. One fall day, his routine is upset by the appearance at his door of a teenaged boy claiming to be his son from a long-ago romance. This sets into motion a series of events that causes Micah to reevaluate his past relationships and the direction of his entire life. Can he change his ways enough to get out of the malaise he has sunken into?That is the gist of Redhead by the Side of the Road, Anne Tyler’s slice-of-life novel that is really more of a brief character study than a fully developed, plot-driven story. Indeed, there is little of consequence that happens in the book, aside from a few set pieces involving Micah interacting with his family, girlfriend, clients, and alleged offspring. Still, this was an enjoyable look into one man’s forlorn and lonely life—although I’m not sure that ‘enjoyable’ is the right word here—if only for the sparkling dialogue that the author has created in chronicling her protagonist’s encounters with the various people he meets over the course of few days. In fact, the scene involving Micah attending a dinner at his sister’s house in celebration of his nephew’s engagement is nothing short of brilliant. Overall, this is a bittersweet novel that will not take too much of a reader’s time, but one that is also likely to be forgotten just as quickly.
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LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
What is it about Anne Tyler novels? Even when I’m thinking throughout that this is really fairly weak, not nearly her best, and I need to move on, I turn a page and find myself actually caring about the protagonist and his mundane self-inflicted problems and really hoping he or she reaches some
Micah Mortimer is forty. He lives alone managing a small apartment block whilst operating a personalized IT service called Tech Hermit. He’s not technically a hermit — he has an actual girlfriend, and he’s had other girlfriends in the past — but he might as well be. He lives a well-ordered life but despite his orderliness he can’t quite come to life himself. Perhaps that is why he current girlfriend, Cass, has left him. Perhaps that is why his many sisters, who live very chaotic lives, think he is a bit odd. Perhaps that is why the son of his college girlfriend has arrived at his door seeking refuge and claiming that he is his father. He’s not, of course. But life keeps happening to Micah, impinging one might say, and he’s at a loss. In fact, he’s beginning to think his whole life is a loss.
I wish there were more to Micah’s story. More of Cass or Lorna or his sisters. Something to flesh things out. Things are so thin here, it’s like a sketch for an Anne Tyler novel. There are many aspects of this novel that appear in other Tyler novels. But the repetition doesn’t detract. It just makes things feel familiar. Almost cozy. But is cozy a good aim for a novelist? I don’t think so. Still, I just can’t help liking Tyler’s novels.
Very gently recommended.
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sort of resolution. What is Tyler doing right that other novelists are missing?Micah Mortimer is forty. He lives alone managing a small apartment block whilst operating a personalized IT service called Tech Hermit. He’s not technically a hermit — he has an actual girlfriend, and he’s had other girlfriends in the past — but he might as well be. He lives a well-ordered life but despite his orderliness he can’t quite come to life himself. Perhaps that is why he current girlfriend, Cass, has left him. Perhaps that is why his many sisters, who live very chaotic lives, think he is a bit odd. Perhaps that is why the son of his college girlfriend has arrived at his door seeking refuge and claiming that he is his father. He’s not, of course. But life keeps happening to Micah, impinging one might say, and he’s at a loss. In fact, he’s beginning to think his whole life is a loss.
I wish there were more to Micah’s story. More of Cass or Lorna or his sisters. Something to flesh things out. Things are so thin here, it’s like a sketch for an Anne Tyler novel. There are many aspects of this novel that appear in other Tyler novels. But the repetition doesn’t detract. It just makes things feel familiar. Almost cozy. But is cozy a good aim for a novelist? I don’t think so. Still, I just can’t help liking Tyler’s novels.
Very gently recommended.
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LibraryThing member kimkimkim
A very simple story very well told.
LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
Great characterisation of Micah, his family and the relationships he has over college years and beyond. I was immediately drawn into the story and cared about the main protagonist. The ending seemed a little abrupt and left me puzzled as to what would really develop, going forward in Micah's life,
I've not read anything else by Anne Tyler! How can that be? She's so accomplished in taking a very ordinary existence and adroitly creating interest and engagement. Reminds me of Anita Brookner in that way.
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but overall, didn't interfere with my satisfaction.I've not read anything else by Anne Tyler! How can that be? She's so accomplished in taking a very ordinary existence and adroitly creating interest and engagement. Reminds me of Anita Brookner in that way.
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LibraryThing member lostinalibrary
Micah Mortimer is a very organized, persnickety, but somewhat myopic 43-year-old male in both his eyesight and his ability to grasp social cues especially where the women in his life are concerned. He lives in a basement apartment where he acts as caretaker of the building in exchange for free
Anne Tyler has an amazing ability to look at the mundane lives of regular people and create fascinating stories from them and this is no more true than in Redhead by the Side of the Road. Despite his many quirks and there are many, Micah is extremely likeable making the reader root for him even while hoping he'll gain a little insight. This book is well-written and completely absorbing character study. It is fairly short and my only quibble is the ending which seems a bit sudden. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Knopf for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
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rent; owns a one-man computer help service company named Tech Hermit which is a very apt name in more ways than one; and has a girlfriend whom he feels is a perfectly compatible companion even though, or perhaps more accurately because, they lead fairly separate lives. Micah is a man satisfied with his life - that is, until a young man shows up at his door with a rather surprising revelation and his girlfriend dumps him for what seems to Micah no reason that he can discern. Finally, he begins to suspect that his well-ordered life may not be quite so perfect.Anne Tyler has an amazing ability to look at the mundane lives of regular people and create fascinating stories from them and this is no more true than in Redhead by the Side of the Road. Despite his many quirks and there are many, Micah is extremely likeable making the reader root for him even while hoping he'll gain a little insight. This book is well-written and completely absorbing character study. It is fairly short and my only quibble is the ending which seems a bit sudden. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Knopf for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
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LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
Anne Tyler is one of my favorite writers. I believe that this is the 14th book of hers that I have read. They usually deal with the same theme. A central character in Baltimore that is a little bit different. In this case it is Micah a 44 year old unmarried man with a school teacher girlfriend. He
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lives an orderly life that has a definite routine. Early morning run, taking care of the building that he lives in rent-free, being the tech-hermit who fixes peoples computer problems. Through his customers and family you get to know him. Tyler always populates her novels with great side characters, usually family, that are both a support and a challenge for the main character. Eventually, Micah's precise routine is upset by a series of events that allow him to question the assumptions of his life.Ultimately he does get to step outside himself and see his life. If you have never read a Tyler novel, then this book is perfect because it is short and is the personification of what she is as a writer. Show Less
LibraryThing member pgchuis
This was short, beautifully written and amusing in a very gentle way. There was no plot to speak of, but the ending was good.
LibraryThing member dawnlovesbooks
Micah Mortimer is what you would call a loner. The name of his tech company suits him perfectly, “Tech Hermit.” He keeps everything neatly organized and on a schedule. He prefers to “free of all that fuss and bother,” that relationships cause people. His family calls him “a stick in the
Anne Tyler as usual writes with wit and compassion about eccentric and endearing characters. I wish the book had been longer. I could have read about these characters for much longer.
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mud,” and jokes about his curious ways. His life is thrown off course when a strange teenager shows up at his door one day suspecting that Micah might be his father. Then his “lady friend” breaks up with him. Will Micah finally be able to put his ways aside and let people in his life or will he continue to be a lonely hermit for the rest of his life?Anne Tyler as usual writes with wit and compassion about eccentric and endearing characters. I wish the book had been longer. I could have read about these characters for much longer.
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LibraryThing member novelcommentary
Reading Redhead at the Side of the Road is like taking a bike ride down some familiar streets. It's a pleasant ride and the air is perfect for appreciation. Of course the streets are in the suburbs of Baltimore, and of course the main character, Micah, is a finicky bachelor with concerned sisters.
Is it possible she is getting better? A Spool of Blue Thread was one of her best, and this one has a kind of perfection to the slice of life presented.
The redhead of the title is actually a fire hydrant that Micah mistakes for a human as he runs each morning without his glasses. "He has noticed that his faulty vision most often reveals itself in attempts to convert inanimate objects into human beings." Yes he certainly has routines: days for mopping, days for kitchen cleaning, including a rotating schedule of one complete cabinet. Even his relationship with a teacher named Cassia is routine: " He and Cass had been together for three years or so, and they had reached the stage where things had more or less solidified: compromises arrived at, incompatibilities adjusted to, minor quirks overlooked. They had it down to a system, you could say." Micah does not adjust well to changes. So when she is possibly going to be evicted from her apartment, the idea of offering her a live together invitation does not occur to him. "If Micah had learned anything from all those previous girlfriends, it was that living with someone full-time was just too messy." So he has failed another chance at intimacy.
This has happened before, like Lorna from college who he hasn't thought about much until her son shows up at his door, seeking the possibility of finding his father. So this is his story; a forty four year old computer tech and landlord, who lives for free in a basement apartment and enjoys going out on calls helping people with their computer needs. Why would you care right? Trust me you will. I have read many of Tyler's novels and will probably do myself a favor and read them all.
Some lines:
He’s a tall, bony man in his early forties with not-so-good posture—head lunging slightly forward, shoulders slightly hunched. Jet-black hair, but when he neglects to shave for a day his whiskers have started coming in gray. Blue eyes, heavy eyebrows, hollows in his cheeks. A clamped-looking mouth. Unvarying outfit of jeans and a T-shirt or a sweatshirt, depending on the season, with a partially-erased-looking brown leather jacket when it’s really cold. Scuffed brown round-toed shoes that seem humble, like a schoolboy’s shoes. Even his running shoes are plain old dirty-white sneakers—none of the fluorescent stripes and gel-filled soles and such that most runners favor—and his shorts are knee-length denim cutoffs. He has a girlfriend, but they seem to lead fairly separate lives.
It was Micah’s personal theory that if you actually noticed the difference you made when you cleaned—the coffee table suddenly shiny, the rug suddenly lint-free—it meant you had waited too long to do it.
Her wording amused him, because she did look a little bit henlike. She had a small, round head and a single pillowy mound of breasts-plus-belly atop her toothpick legs. Even here at home she wore little heels that gave her walk a certain jerky quality.
He considered her restful to look at.
But Ada, like all of Micah’s sisters, had a boundless tolerance for clutter. Micah had to swerve around a skateboard and a sippy cup on his way up the front steps, and the porch was strewn not only with the standard strollers and tricycles but also with a pair of snow boots from last winter, a paper bag full of coat hangers, and what appeared to be somebody’s breakfast plate bearing a wrung-out half of a grapefruit.
Micah always thought that of course his sisters would choose to be waitresses. Restaurants had the same atmosphere of catastrophe that prevailed in their own homes, with pots clanking and glassware clashing and people shouting “Coming through!” and “Watch your head!” and “Help! I’m in the weeds!” A battlefield atmosphere, basically.
He slowed to a walk on the last stretch approaching York Road. He momentarily mistook the hydrant for a redhead and gave his usual shake of the shoulders at how repetitious this thought was, how repetitious all his thoughts were, how they ran in a deep rut and how his entire life ran in a rut, really.
Under the surface, he thought, maybe he was more like his family than he cared to admit. Maybe he was one skipped vacuuming day away from total chaos.
But each new girlfriend had been a kind of negative learning experience. Zara, for instance: only in hindsight did he see what a mismatch Zara had been. She was so sharp-edged, both literally and figuratively—a shrill, vivacious mosquito of a girl, all elbows and darting movements,
but she herself was a slim young blonde in jeans and a wool turtleneck. A ponytail sprouted vertically from the very top of her head, reminding Micah of a pineapple spike, and her lips curved naturally upward at the corners as if she’d been born smiling.
The only place I went wrong, he writes, was expecting things to be perfect.
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We have certainly been in these neighborhoods before, but as I get older I seem to really appreciate my Anne Tyler outings. Is it possible she is getting better? A Spool of Blue Thread was one of her best, and this one has a kind of perfection to the slice of life presented.
The redhead of the title is actually a fire hydrant that Micah mistakes for a human as he runs each morning without his glasses. "He has noticed that his faulty vision most often reveals itself in attempts to convert inanimate objects into human beings." Yes he certainly has routines: days for mopping, days for kitchen cleaning, including a rotating schedule of one complete cabinet. Even his relationship with a teacher named Cassia is routine: " He and Cass had been together for three years or so, and they had reached the stage where things had more or less solidified: compromises arrived at, incompatibilities adjusted to, minor quirks overlooked. They had it down to a system, you could say." Micah does not adjust well to changes. So when she is possibly going to be evicted from her apartment, the idea of offering her a live together invitation does not occur to him. "If Micah had learned anything from all those previous girlfriends, it was that living with someone full-time was just too messy." So he has failed another chance at intimacy.
This has happened before, like Lorna from college who he hasn't thought about much until her son shows up at his door, seeking the possibility of finding his father. So this is his story; a forty four year old computer tech and landlord, who lives for free in a basement apartment and enjoys going out on calls helping people with their computer needs. Why would you care right? Trust me you will. I have read many of Tyler's novels and will probably do myself a favor and read them all.
Some lines:
He’s a tall, bony man in his early forties with not-so-good posture—head lunging slightly forward, shoulders slightly hunched. Jet-black hair, but when he neglects to shave for a day his whiskers have started coming in gray. Blue eyes, heavy eyebrows, hollows in his cheeks. A clamped-looking mouth. Unvarying outfit of jeans and a T-shirt or a sweatshirt, depending on the season, with a partially-erased-looking brown leather jacket when it’s really cold. Scuffed brown round-toed shoes that seem humble, like a schoolboy’s shoes. Even his running shoes are plain old dirty-white sneakers—none of the fluorescent stripes and gel-filled soles and such that most runners favor—and his shorts are knee-length denim cutoffs. He has a girlfriend, but they seem to lead fairly separate lives.
It was Micah’s personal theory that if you actually noticed the difference you made when you cleaned—the coffee table suddenly shiny, the rug suddenly lint-free—it meant you had waited too long to do it.
Her wording amused him, because she did look a little bit henlike. She had a small, round head and a single pillowy mound of breasts-plus-belly atop her toothpick legs. Even here at home she wore little heels that gave her walk a certain jerky quality.
He considered her restful to look at.
But Ada, like all of Micah’s sisters, had a boundless tolerance for clutter. Micah had to swerve around a skateboard and a sippy cup on his way up the front steps, and the porch was strewn not only with the standard strollers and tricycles but also with a pair of snow boots from last winter, a paper bag full of coat hangers, and what appeared to be somebody’s breakfast plate bearing a wrung-out half of a grapefruit.
Micah always thought that of course his sisters would choose to be waitresses. Restaurants had the same atmosphere of catastrophe that prevailed in their own homes, with pots clanking and glassware clashing and people shouting “Coming through!” and “Watch your head!” and “Help! I’m in the weeds!” A battlefield atmosphere, basically.
He slowed to a walk on the last stretch approaching York Road. He momentarily mistook the hydrant for a redhead and gave his usual shake of the shoulders at how repetitious this thought was, how repetitious all his thoughts were, how they ran in a deep rut and how his entire life ran in a rut, really.
Under the surface, he thought, maybe he was more like his family than he cared to admit. Maybe he was one skipped vacuuming day away from total chaos.
But each new girlfriend had been a kind of negative learning experience. Zara, for instance: only in hindsight did he see what a mismatch Zara had been. She was so sharp-edged, both literally and figuratively—a shrill, vivacious mosquito of a girl, all elbows and darting movements,
but she herself was a slim young blonde in jeans and a wool turtleneck. A ponytail sprouted vertically from the very top of her head, reminding Micah of a pineapple spike, and her lips curved naturally upward at the corners as if she’d been born smiling.
The only place I went wrong, he writes, was expecting things to be perfect.
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LibraryThing member Nancyjcbs
Redhead by the Side of the Road is a very short and sweet book that presents a quirky character. Micah is a free-lance tech repairman who lives a completely structured life. In the time period of the novel he has a few disturbances to his life that make him question his future.
LibraryThing member shazjhb
Amazing book. Short but very sweet.
LibraryThing member Doondeck
Micah in an interesting character but really stuck in a rut. Disappointing ending. He should have followed up with girl who inherited her grandmother's house.
LibraryThing member Beamis12
3.5 Smooth as butter. First thing I noticed as I started reading was how seamlessly this novel flowed. Micah is a common man, a rather ordinary person albeit with a few quirks. He has a solid schedule on how his housework gets done, certain days for certain chores. I thought this might be an
Anyway, Micah runs his own IT business, so he has plenty of time for other things. He is in his forties and in a relationship that is showing stress. A few unexpected events will confront Micah, causing him to re-evaluate himself and his life.
No big thriller scenes, deaths to be solved, illnesses to conquer, just a solid story, done well. A fun, quirky family provides a little humor. The ways and means of a ordinary life.
ARC from Edelweiss.
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enviable quirk which with to live. A detailed housekeeping husband. Though I'm sure that within a short period of time his perfectionism would irk me terribly. I'm having enough trouble with the non perfectionist with which I am now quarantined.Anyway, Micah runs his own IT business, so he has plenty of time for other things. He is in his forties and in a relationship that is showing stress. A few unexpected events will confront Micah, causing him to re-evaluate himself and his life.
No big thriller scenes, deaths to be solved, illnesses to conquer, just a solid story, done well. A fun, quirky family provides a little humor. The ways and means of a ordinary life.
ARC from Edelweiss.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Redhead by the Side of the Road, Anne Tyler, author; MacLeod Andrews, narrator
Tyler’s writing is unique. In simple, but elegant prose, she tells a story of an ordinary man, Micah Mortimer. The youngest sibling, raised in a chaotic, but loving home, he fights back by creating complete order in his
One day, a young man, 18 years old, appears on the doorstep of the building for which he moonlights as a janitor. He lives in a basement apartment there. He also runs a pretty fledgling business called Tech Hermit. The young man, Brink, is the son of a former girlfriend. He has run away from home and seeks refuge with Micah because he believes they may be related.
When Micah’s girlfriend, Cass, discovers that he has asked this young man to stay over, but has not asked her even though she is having anxious moments about her own living arrangements, she breaks off their relationship. She misunderstands the entire situation as Micah has done in the past with others. The consequences don’t fit the crime.
At first, Micah takes the breakup in his stride, but soon, because of events taking place, he begins to question himself an finally has some self-awareness.
This is a lovely story about a young man coming of age, facing his shortcomings and starting all over. It is also about a middle-aged man, finally doing the same. Self-discovery, forgiveness, second chances, and love are very much at the forefront of the novel, and no one could write it better than Anne Tyler.
Tyler’s writing is unique. In simple, but elegant prose, she tells a story of an ordinary man, Micah Mortimer. The youngest sibling, raised in a chaotic, but loving home, he fights back by creating complete order in his
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own environment . Everyday, he has a set program which he follows religiously, from exercise to cleaning chores. However, because he is so rigid, he is not easily able to forgive or look for alternatives when problems arise. One day, a young man, 18 years old, appears on the doorstep of the building for which he moonlights as a janitor. He lives in a basement apartment there. He also runs a pretty fledgling business called Tech Hermit. The young man, Brink, is the son of a former girlfriend. He has run away from home and seeks refuge with Micah because he believes they may be related.
When Micah’s girlfriend, Cass, discovers that he has asked this young man to stay over, but has not asked her even though she is having anxious moments about her own living arrangements, she breaks off their relationship. She misunderstands the entire situation as Micah has done in the past with others. The consequences don’t fit the crime.
At first, Micah takes the breakup in his stride, but soon, because of events taking place, he begins to question himself an finally has some self-awareness.
This is a lovely story about a young man coming of age, facing his shortcomings and starting all over. It is also about a middle-aged man, finally doing the same. Self-discovery, forgiveness, second chances, and love are very much at the forefront of the novel, and no one could write it better than Anne Tyler.
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LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy
I never wanted this book to end! I love Anne Tyler and own all her books. Her characters always seem so familiar like you've met them before or someone in your family!
LibraryThing member brangwinn
Maybe I really liked this book because I identified with Micah. I like a schedule in my life. I like to be helpful, but sometimes people, including good friends take my humor wrong. If I was a runner, and took my glasses off while running, I could easily confuse a fire hydrant with a woman. Micah
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is just an everyday sort of guy who takes care of problems as they arise calmly and politely. And he solved the problem of a broken love life in the end chapter so well. Bravo, Micah. Show Less
LibraryThing member TooBusyReading
I loved this short audio book. Michah has a nice, orderly, well-controlled life, perhaps even a bit mundane. And a couple of monkey wrenches are thrown into the mix. This book is all about the characters, and the characters are wonderful. It's about perception vs. reality, the redhead by the side
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of the road. If you are looking for suspense and mystery, this is not it, but if you are looking for a lovely look at everyday people, this one is great. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmoncton
Anne Tyler is such a gifted writer and that comes out in this book. The characters are interesting, the prose is excellent. However, what was the theme or the plot for this book? Yes, things happen, but thinking over that plot mountain description (beginning, rising action, climax, falling action
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and end), this was more of a hill, or maybe a bump in the road. Well written, but not the huge impact that we know Anne Tyler is capable of. It's short though, so it might appeal to someone who is looking for a quiet, well-written novella. Show Less
LibraryThing member maryreinert
More of a character study of one man, Micah Mortimer, who lives alone and works as a tech nerd. Micah grew up in a chaotic but loving family with sisters who now have families. Micah has had several relationships with women, but nothing seems to have worked out. One day a young man, Brink, comes to
Nothing really much happens here. There are some entertaining parts, some very mundane parts, and some interesting parts. Overall, it's a quick read and a look at a man who might be considered very average.
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his door claiming Micah is his father. Nothing really much happens here. There are some entertaining parts, some very mundane parts, and some interesting parts. Overall, it's a quick read and a look at a man who might be considered very average.
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LibraryThing member Hccpsk
When you’re Anne Tyler, you can obviously do and write anything you want. If that means publishing what is basically a novella and selling it like a fully fleshed book ($13.99 for the Kindle edition, thank you very much!) then that is what we’ve got with Redhead by the Side of the Road. Micah
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Mortimer, the Tech Hermit to his clients, has reached nearly 40 with a number of failed relationships, a small apartment, and barely profitable computer help service. He likes his routine--laundry on Wednesday, mop on Mondays, eat, sleep, etc. all at the same time. When a young man shows up at his door, and his current girlfriend breaks up with him, Micah finds himself examining his deliberate life and doesn’t like what he sees. Redhead is a beautiful little book--little being the operative word--as Tyler gives us a deep dive into an interesting character and does it exceptionally well. It may be just what you are looking for this summer, as it can be easily finished in a few hours, but if your summer book needs to be big and meaty then look elsewhere. Show Less
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2020)
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — Fiction — 2021)