Written by Anne Tyler⭐ ⭐
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The blurb:
So when she receives a phone call from a stranger informing her that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot, she drops everything and flies across the country.
The spur-of-the moment decision to look after this woman and her nine-year-old daughter leads Willa into uncharted territory and the eventual realisation that it’s never too late to choose your own path.
Literary Fiction
My thoughts:
Chosen as our Book Club read for December, I found Clock Dance very slow-going as nothing really happens, whilst at the same time curiously interesting.Willa Drake has a difficult childhood, stepping up to take over her mother's household responsibilities whenever she takes flight. She meets a boy at college, Derek MacIntyre and they marry before she has graduated. They move to California so that he can start his career and she ends up with two babies. Derek is killed in a road accident, and her two boys are at the point of leaving home to live their lives.
We next meet Willa married to Peter Brendan and living in Tucson. Peter seems to have everything he needs in life but Willa doesn't. He calls her "Little one" and treats her as though she is completely helpless without him by her side.
When Willa receives a phone call from a woman in Baltimore concerning one of her son's ex-girlfriends, she decides to fly to Baltimore to help out. Peter, unable to deter her, decides to accompany her. He wants to get back to his life as quickly as possible, and when he can't persuade Willa to return with him, he flies home leaving her behind, expecting her to flounder without him.
In his absence, Willa finds what she is looking for. Does she have the strength to snatch a piece of happiness for herself or will she return to Peter in Tucson and allow him to continue to dictate her life?
In each snapshot of Willa's life, I could see that other people determined how Willa's life would play out. Somehow, she never found her own voice, and simply carried on doing what was expected of her. For me, this is the reason for the title Clock Dance. Willa has been living her life as others dictate, while she watches the seconds and minutes on the clock dance by.
This is the first time I've read anything by Anne Tyler and I would say that it is not so much a story as a comment on the human condition. It is not something I would choose to read myself, yet I found it strangely captivating as I waited for the charming Willa to stand up for herself.
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