Breathing Lessons

De: Anne Tyler

Narrado por: Alyssa Bresnahan

Unfolding over the course of a single emotionally fraught day, this stunning novel encompasses a lifetime of dreams, regrets, and reckonings.

Maggie and Ira Moran are on a road trip from Baltimore, Maryland, to Deer Lick, Pennsylvania, to attend the funeral of a friend. Along the way, they reflect on the state of their marriage, its trials, and its triumphs - through their quarrels, their routines, and their ability to tolerate each other's faults with patience and affection.

Where Maggie is quirky, lovable, and mischievous, Ira is practical, methodical, and mired in reason.

What begins as a day trip becomes a revelatory and unexpected journey, as Ira and Maggie rediscover the strength of their bond and the joy of having somebody with whom to share the ride, bumps and all.

©1988 ATM, Inc. (P)2020 Recorded Books

Slow and boring

The whole book takes place over one day with flashbacks not so seamlessly thrown into it. Couldn’t finish the book, felt like I was wasting my time. Characters are quite the characters indeed. Prepare to listen to endless bickering haha

it was a slow read

probably was more relevant years ago but i found it a little boring and too many irritating characters

One of Her Best

I have almost every single book of Tyler's in my Audible library and this one is one of my favorites. The narrator is excellent and Tyler's insight into human behavior is perfect. She has a talent for capturing what's under the Bandaids we apply to getting by amongst each other.

It was my timing I think.

Enjoying Delia’s spunk and growth in Tyler’s very good Ladder of Years, I went on to this book wanting more of Tyler’s calm, quirky commentary.

Unfortunately, this book was a bit too much the same without brave Delia.

Both women had contentious, rather supercilious husbands, and their escapes were too similar. I had to jump ship.

I well may have chosen the worse two books in a row, and I just didn’t like the narration.
Your s truly, Pissy Me in this case

Truth

Anyone can relate to the sentiments in this book, Anne Tyler’s work with character development is astounding.

This novel has earned all the recognition ---

Anne Tyler has a craft, an art, a gift, whereby she can transcribe the musings from her heart and mind onto the page. She is a keen beholder of the human condition, and she stuffs each of her characters with an assortment of traits: some good, some bad, some praiseworthy, some annoying, and some destructive. No matter the amalgamation, it all manages to meld into believable, yet quirky characters, who are often stuck in circumstances of their own making, whether they want to admit it. Some of Tyler's characters learn from their mistakes, while others obliviously march-on through life without changing one bit.

Upon finishing the novel, it will be clear to the reader why “Breathing Lessons” has managed to win all the accolades it has earned.

Beautiful

Sad and Beautiful. Anne Tyler is a marvel. Love her books. This is one of the best.

A Tedious Optimistic Heroine

“Breathing Lessons” was a disappointing Anne Tyler reading excursion. The story and the people were extremely tedious and the entire books was more a downer than I was looking for. This read was in a different direction then the two previous Anne Tyler books I have recently read. I should have quit listening but I spent money for the book and felt I should endure to the end. More than likely this will be then end of my reading Anne Tyler and I will begin, again, my search for some light, well written upbeat leisure reading. Experienced as an Audio book.

day in the life

Narrator is excellent, as is the story. The characters are authentic and reflective of long marriages and trivial and not so trivial issues. Maggie is relentless as she obliterates boundaries in attempting to control her world.

it was okay

I have listened to two other books by Anne Tyler. The Redhead by the Side of the Road and The Vinegar Girl. I love them both so much! So I assumed I would love this book too. I love her style of writing. There were several places in this book where I laughed out loud. But, by the end of the book I was left wondering if I had wasted my time. The ending was just not very satisfying.