Another gem from the incomparable Anne Tyler, sparkling with diamond-sharp wit and observation, glowing with the warmth of her characters' multifaceted, flawed, resilient humanity.
Friday August 15th, 1997. The night the girls arrived. Two tiny Korean babies are delivered to Baltimore to two families who have no more in common than this. First there are the Donaldsons, decent Brad and homespun, tenacious Bitsy (with her 'more organic than thou' airs, who believes fervently that life can always be improved), two full sets of grandparents and a host of big-boned, confident relatives, taking delivery with characteristic American razzmatazz. Then there are the Yazdans, pretty, nervous Ziba (her family 'only one generation removed from the bazaar') and carefully assimilated Sami, with his elegant, elusive Iranian-born widowed mother Maryam, the grandmother-to-be, receiving their little bundle with wondering discretion.
Every year, on the anniversary of 'Arrival Day' their two extended families celebrate together, with more and more elaborately competitive parties, as tiny, delicate Susan, wholesome, stocky Jin-ho and, later, her new little sister Xiu-Mei, take roots, become American. While Maryam, the optimistic pessimist, confident that if things go wrong - as well they may - she will manage as she has before, contrarily preserves her 'outsider' status, as if to prove that, despite her passport, she is only a guest in this bewildering country.
Full of achingly hilarious moments and toe-curling misunderstandings, DIGGING TO AMERICA is a novel with a deceptively small domestic canvas, and subtly large themes - it's about belonging and otherness, about insiders and outsiders, pride and prejudice, young love and unexpected old love, families and the impossibility of ever getting it right, about striving for connection and goodness against all the odds. And the end catches you by the throat, ambushes your emotions when you least expect it, as only Tyler can.
Reading Group Book Questions
- The Yazdans call their adopted daughter Susan while the Donaldsons call their baby Jin-ho; what does this tell us about the different family’s attitudes towards their children and their countries of origin? Discuss your group’s attitudes towards adoption, particularly international adoption.
- Do you think Maryam is a good mother-in-law? How close do you think she and Ziba are?
- The pacifier party when Bitsy tries to get Xiu-Mei to give up her dummies is one of the comic highlights of the book – do you think the author means only to make us laugh or does she have a more serious point to make?
- Why do you think Maryam raises Sami to be ‘more American than the Americans’ whilst keeping to traditions from her own country? Does Maryam see herself as better than the Americans she meets? Do you think Maryam is a sympathetic character?
- Who are your favourite and least favourite characters in the book? At the conclusion of the novel Maryam realises that, despite everything, she does love Bitsy – had your opinion of any of the characters changed by the end of the book?
About The Author
Born in Minneapolis in 1941, Anne Tyler lives in Baltimore where her novels are set. She is the Pulitzer-prize winning novels of Breathing Lessons and other bestselling novels, including The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe, Back When We Were Grownups and The Amateur Marriage.
