Book Review: The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler

The Accidental Tourist is the story of Macon Leary, a travel writer who hates travel. The books he writes are for businessmen who want to feel as though they are still at home, despite travelling to exciting cities around the globe. As usual, Anne Tyler has created a central character that is quirky but often relatable.

As with all of her books, Tyler deftly combines tragedy and comedy. When we meet Macon, it’s one year on from when his son Ethan was killed in a shooting at a fast food restaurant. And now his wife Sarah wants to move out. Sounds rather depressing, but this is Anne Tyler, so it’s really not.

After his wife leaves, Macon’s already ordered life develops and is documented in entertaining detail. For example, he switches to showering in the evening, where he treads water on the clothes he’s worn that day to wash them. Then he puts on clean underwear so he won’t need to launder his pyjamas. His bed is stripped of linens, and he creates body bags to sleep in that don’t need tucking in and are easily changeable. But when Macon creates a system for dressing that involves wearing sweat suits at home to serve as both pyjamas and day wear, he realises something may be amiss.

Soon after that realisation, a food shop delivery ends in disaster and injury. So Macon returns to the family home where his three siblings are cohabiting. His sister, Rose, is there because she’s never left. Brothers Porter and Charles because their wives have left them. When he tells Rose that Sarah has gone, she simply says: “Everyone knows the Leary men are difficult to live with.”

The Accidental Tourist’s descriptions of life in the Leary household are brilliant. A dysfunctional group if ever there was one. But so likeable; the descriptions of their daily lives and interactions are some of the book’s best pages. Their eccentricities include arranging groceries in alphabetical order and ignoring the ringing telephone in the house. This despite it being the only way to reach them. The Accidental Tourist was written in 1985, long before the advent of mobile phones.

Catapulted into this mix is Muriel Pritchett from the Meow-Bow dog clinic. Macon’s son had a dog, Edward, who is now Macon’s responsibility, and it’s not going well. Muriel, the dog trainer, has questionable methods, never stops talking and doesn’t do systems or routines. But somehow they forge a working relationship to solve Edward’s issues. And despite being much younger, Muriel clearly wants more. But is it something Macon can give, particularly when Sarah reappears?

To find out, you’ll have to read the book, which I’d highly recommend. Despite its age, The Accidental Tourist is a story that will delight and surprise you with wonderful characters that you’ll remember for a long time to come.

I bought my copy of The Accidental Tourist from an independent bookshop, but you’ll likely find it in your local library. Or you could try an Oxfam shop or the charity’s online store. For more book reviews, visit the Books section of my blog.