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Digging to America

anne tyler

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In what is perhaps her richest and most deeply searching novel, Anne Tyler gives us a story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her “outsiderness.”

Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport—the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an “arrival party,” an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined.

Even independent-minded Maryam is drawn in. But only up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by one of the Donaldson clan, a good-hearted man of her vintage, recently widowed and still recovering from his wife’s death, suddenly all the values she cherishes—her traditions, her privacy, her otherness—are threatened. Somehow this big American takes up so much space that the orderly boundaries of her life feel invaded.

A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that cast a penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in.

277 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2,2006
Literary awards
orange prize, dublin literary award, 
Places
baltimore maryland, 

This edition

Format
277 pages, Hardcover
Published
May 2, 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN
9780307263940
ASIN
0307263940
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

About the author

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anne tyler

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Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went on to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. She has published 20 novels, her debut novel being If Morning Ever Comes in (1964). Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
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100 reviews All reviews
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FabianoBiruta
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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ترجمه ی .... داشت ( این روزها عناوین ترجمه شده زیاد شده اند ولی اکثرترجمه ها نا امید کننده هستند).
بعضی کتاب ها با وجود تمام تشویق ها و تقدیرها برای گروه مشخصی از مخاطبین نوشته شده اند و این کتاب به نظرم مشخصا برای آمریکایی های سفید پوستی نوشته شده بود که به جز گروه اجتماعی خودشون درکی از بقیه ی آدم ها از نژاد و فرهنگ دیگر ندارند، تلاشی برای آموزش با چاشنی مسئله ی هویت و وطن داشتن و نداشتن که نویسنده با آشفتگی که در روایت داستانش داشت از این نظر خیلی ضعیف عمل کرده بود که خب فکر کنم وقتی هدف اولیه از نوشتن تحت تاثیر قراردادن گروه خاصی باشد این مشکل هم پیش می آید
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Belaris
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Can I just be Anne Tyler? She's exactly the kind of novelist I want to be.
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mermaidsandstuff
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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I've read all of Anne Tyler's books, many of them more than once. What never ceases to amaze me is how much emotion there is between the lines. The proposal scene will break your heart. I confess after studying it that I still don't quite understand how its emotional impact is achieved. Understated, certainly. Unexpected, yes. Organic because nothing else could have happened here.

Ms. Tyler loves every one of her characters dearly. There are no ugly souls in her books, just ordinary people who make mistakes.
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mordziaty
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Gave up by pg.75. Way too much about the grown-ups, and not nearly enough about the two little adopted girls.
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FearlockS
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Truly enjoyed this novel by Anne Tyler, Digging to America (2006). The book tells the story of two families who meet by coincidence at the Baltimore airport where each family is awaiting the arrival of a baby girl adopted from Korea. The families become friends, one family from America and one from Iran. The blend of characters and culture (and coincidence) makes a wonderful story. I realize that it sounds clichéd, but Tyler's writing truly brings those characters to life for me. A wonderful book. The Audible.com edition that I read is beautifully narrated by the actress Blair Brown. I am looking forward to reading more by Tyler, who is perhaps best known for The Accidental Tourist (1985) and her 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning novel Breathing Lessons.
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Luminaree
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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نقب زدن به آمریکا داستان فرزند خواندگی دو کودک کره ای در آمریکا است که یکی توسط یک خانواده ایرانی و دیگری توسط یک خانواده آمریکایی پذیرفته می شود، موضوع کلی داستان "آمریکایی نبودن" و بیگانه بودن در این مملکت است، با توجه به اینکه خانم تایلر همسری ایرانی داشت، اشارات فراوانی به فرهنگ و آداب رسوم ایرانی، بدون هیچ قضاوت و ترجیح یکی بر دیگری انجام شده است
در این داستآن از افکار و احساسات کسانی که بیش از سی سال در امریکا بوده و هنوزاحساس بیگانه بودن می کنند، سخن گفته شده است، تفاوت برخوردهای دو خانواده با فرزندان کره ای و حتی میزان پذیرش و دلبستگی کودکان به آمریکا نیز قابل توجه است
قسمتی از کتاب:
تو این دنیا صدمه زدن خیلی آسانتر از بهره رسوندنه، آسونتره که به بچه صدمه بزنی اما درست کردن بچه ای که مشکل داره خیلی سخته.
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Sun_Rodriguez
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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is novel Anne Tyler explores the American culture and what it means to be American. But more than that, she looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds can intermingle and reject each other at the same time. How a person can live in a country for more than 30 years, adopt its nationality and yet never really integrate. And by which process someone who has grown and lived in several cultures might build his own identity, torn between his origins, national culture and that of his friends, ultimately mixing it all up and (hopefully) keeping the best from each.

Each of her characters is legally American, and yet they all have different levels of foreignness. Maryam was born Iranian but migrated as an adult and now has the American nationality; Sami’s heredity is 100% Iranian but he was born and educated in America; Jin Ho is American by all rights, through adoption, but cant negate her foreign origin… And Susan combines a Korean biological origin, an American upbringing and nationality and the Iranian roots of her adoptive parents. Bitsy and Brad are the only rooted Americans.

Throughout the book they all struggle in their own way to fit in and define themselves. From Sami who alternates between being ‘more American than the americans’ and upholding proudly his Iranian heritage; through the Donaldson’s who fear being left out and adopt all the foreign traditions they encounter (adapting them along the way); to Susan who complains about not celebrating Christmas “the way other people do”, even though she had the tree, presents and carolling; each of them has his own tactics and fears.

All in all, this is an incredibly insightful look into cultural identity and intermingling, as well as a wonderful, very funny read. Highly recommended!
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King_Of_Heaven
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Самая милая книга, которую я читала за последние 10 лет. Легкая и добрая. Сначало, правда, она показалась мне примитивной, потом немного скучной, но, на последних страницах, к собственному удивлению, обнаружила слезы у себя на глазах. Это именно та книга, с которой, укутавшись в плед, можно замечательно провести ленивое воскресенье.
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