A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

On June 20, 2016 we held our meeting at

Rockstone Pizza. It was a small group of 6 members,

Kathy, Betsy, Donna, Sue, Carol and Nettie.

Sue did a fantastic job of leading the discussion with

the help of the book club suggested topics.

The Spool of Blue Thread was a quintessential

Anne Tyler book about 4 generations of an

American family totally heartwarming and at the

same time dysfunctional.

We discussed the characters we felt were important

and agreed they were Denny the problem child and Abby

the mother who was going to keep her family united.

She was the spool of blue thread who tried to keep

her family grounded and together.

The house that was built by the eldest Whitshank for a 

wealthy client  almost becomes 

a character in the book and so it was surprising that none

of the Whitshank children chose to keep the home.

The story flip flops between the different generations

but all came together. 

Eventually they had to deal with old age and dementia

like all families.  The Whitshanks could be any of our

families, just  ordinary people trying to attain togetherness.    

Kathy chose "Under The Influence" by Joyce Maynard.

It is about a recovering alcoholic who makes some

bad choices regarding a couple who greatly influenced her.

September 7th was targeted for the next meeting.