A Pastime for Everyone... |
About this book:
In this novel, her 17th Anne Tyler manages to portray the vast topic of the collision of cultures without losing her sharp focus on the daily dramas of modern family life. As Digging to America opens, Maryam Yazdan has accompanied her son, Sami, and her daughter-in-law, Ziba to the Baltimore airport to welcome the newest member of their family, a baby girl from Korea. Bitsy and Brad Donaldson, also at the airport with their large, boisterous clan to pick up their own adopted infant, invite the Yazdans back to their home to celebrate. This encounter marks the beginning of a long, intense, though sometimes awkward friendship. The "arrival day" party becomes an annual affair, one of the many get-togethers the two families share over the years. Maryam, an Iranian immigrant who came to America as a young bride more than thirty years earlier but still thinks of herself as an outsider, participates in these events with a mixture of pleasure, curiosity and disdain. Her American-born son and his wife, who came to America as a teenager, and has worked hard to fit into the culture, move a bit more easily in the Donaldsons' world. Author Anne Tyler captures this world perfectly, conveying the wry and telling detail the combination of unstinting devotion, obsession, and competitiveness Sami and Ziba and Bitsy and Brad ring to their roles as modern American parents. Maryam is perplexed, however, at her son and daughter-in-law's relationship with the loud, opinionated, unabashedly "American" Donaldsons.
As time passes and the girls begin to grow up, Maryam, who has come to regard the Donaldsons with restrained but genuine affection, is taken aback when Bitsy's widowed father, Dave, begins to court her. As their intimacy grows, Maryam finds herself caught between her attraction to Dave's open, spirited American charms and her desire to hold fast to the separateness that has defined her life as an immigrant in America. Their story, like the stories of their children and grandchildren, becomes in Tyler's deft hands a wonderful exploration of the meaning of belonging to something.
Stretching from the babies' arrival in 1997 until 2004, the novel is punctuated by each year's Arrival Party, a tradition manufactured and comically upheld by Bitsy; the annual festivities gradually reveal the families' evolving connections. Though the novel's perspective shifts among characters, Maryam is at the narrative and emotional heart of the touching, humorous story, as she reluctantly realizes that there may be a place in her heart for new friends, new loves, and her new country after all.
Discussion Questions:
What does the title Digging to America mean to you? Who is digging to America?
How do the characters in the novel define what it means to be American? The Yazdans and their extended family never tire of hearing Sami talk about Americans. Do you agree with how Sami characterizes American culture? What do you think it means to be American?
The novel is set around a series of parties and get-togethers held by these two families. The structure is basically like a series of short stories; each event has a beginning, a middle and an end that tells a piece of the whole story. Some readers criticize the book, saying they felt there was no plot or story to this book. Do you agree? This book is told from multiple perspectives... why do you think Anne Tyler did this? Does it work for you, or is it confusing?
What aspects of her heritage does Maryam value and why? Why is she unsettled when she visits Iran? Why is she annoyed by her cousin's American husband? Why has she raised Sami to be so American, when she clings so much to her "otherness?"
Are any of the other characters "outsiders?" How do different characters try to belong? Do any of them isolate themselves?
The Yazdans call their baby Susan, which is an Americanization of her Korean name, Sookie... the Donaldson's keep their baby's Korean name, Jin Ho. What is the significance of these choices? What do you think should happen in adoptive families? Is it important for parents to keep a sense of their child's identity?
Is Jin Ho an outsider in her own family? Have her parents created this by emphasizing her difference from them? Does she feel any different?
Why did Maryam break up with Dave? Did she love him? Did he make her happy?
Why is Maryam so careful with her daughter-in-law Ziba? Did her attitude help with their relationship, or keep them apart? Was Maryam a good mother-in-law? Why did Ziba's family call her "her highness?"
What roles do Susan and Jin Ho play in the story? Is it their story?
Ziba and Bitsy are very different... is their friendship believable to you? Why is Ziba so susceptible to Bitsy's opinions and criticisms? Does Bitsy change through her relationship with the Yazdans?
OTHER SUGGESTION FICTION:
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez ♦ Saffron Sky by Galareh Asayesh ♦ Sister of My Heart by Banerjee Divakaruni ♦ House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III ♦ Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas ♦ The Love Wife by Gish Jen ♦ Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee ♦ Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee ♦ Run by Ann Patchett ♦ Foreigner by Nahid Rachlin ♦ White Teeth by Zadie Smith ♦
OTHER BOOKS BY ANNE TYLER:
The Accidental Tourist ♦ Breathing Lessons ♦ Back When We Were Grown-Ups ♦ The Amateur Marriage ♦ Ladder of Years ♦ Saint Maybe ♦
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of seventeen novels, including Breathing Lessons, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Methuen Reads is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered
by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
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