
Digging to America
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Blair Brown
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By:
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Anne Tyler
Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport: the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the instant babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate: an "arrival party" that from then on is repeated every year as the two families become more and more deeply intertwined. Even Maryam is drawn in, up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by Bitsy Donaldson's recently widowed father, all the values she cherishes - her traditions, her privacy, her otherness - are suddenly threatened.
A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that immerse us in the challenges of both sides of the American story.
©2006 Anne Tyler (P)2006 Random House Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Digging to America succeeds on many levels - as a satire of millennial parenting, a tribute to autumn romances, and most important, an exploration of our risible (though poignant) attempts to welcome otherness into our midst." (Atlantic Monthly)
"Handling time with a light touch, Tyler creates many blissful moments of high emotion and keen humor while broaching hard truths about cultural differences, communication breakdowns, and family configurations. This deeply human tale of valiantly improvised lives is one of Tyler's best." (Booklist)
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and Blair Brown! !!
Enjoyed it very much!
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Narrative
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The immigrant experience
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Life in transition
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Wrong Accent
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Loved It!!
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I love that half of her characters in this novel are Iranian, as was Tyler's own husband. My 'ear' doesn't have the subtlety to know if the narrator's Farsi accent is authentic, but I really love how she voices those characters! I also love that Tyler portrays them as such a rich and diverse group, from the slightly wacky cousin married to the Vermont Hippy hobbyist inventor, to the modern fashionable daughter-in-law interior decorator who buys her Korean-born adopted daughter the latest toys and sends her to ballet and private schools.
My favorite character? Has to be Maryam. I love her introverted perfectly-mannered interior life. She's not perfect, but you can see the heart there. Best chapter? It's gotta be the Binky Party, seen thru the eyes of the Big Sister. I kept wanting to SHAKE Bitsy throughout it, but that's the beauty of Anne Tyler novels to me: even when her characters are really ruthlessly unlikeable, they are also portrayed with such compassion and honesty, I fall in love with the whole lot of them every time.
I think I'll have to buy another Tyler novel with my next credit! So many to choose from Yay.
perfect, vintage Tyler.
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Enjoyable Listen!
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A Must Read
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Usually my favorite author
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