It's Just Anne Tyler Being Anne Tyler, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Which does not mean that "Clock Dance" is not good, girls.  It's just that it has everything one expects from an Ann Tyler novel.

                                             Willa Drake has had a tough life.  Her childhood consists of an estranged sister, an unbalanced mother, and a weak willed father.  Next, she marries Derek, a straight lug.  She has two boys, Sean and Ian, by him, who are no better than their dad.  Derek dies, and Willa remarries Peter.  No happiness here, either, for Willa.

                                                  But when Callie, a neighbor of Sean's ex-girlfriend, Denise calls, with news the latter needs help, Willa flies to Baltimore to find her true calling, which is to be needed by other people, even if they are not particularly people in her life.

                                                     With beautiful language and insightful acuity, Anne Tyler shows how Willa comes to this discovery, and the decisive impact it ultimately has on her life.

                                                         "Clock Dance" is a fascinating character study, and the title is a metaphor for how Tyler lays out her plot.

                                                            Darlings, if I see Anne Tyler's name on a book, I will buy it.

                                                              How about you, girls??????????????????