Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler

 The Anne Tyler project is hosted by Liz Dexter at Adventures in reading, running and working from home. We read two books a month and this is the second book for May. So, slightly late here is my review. 

"Morgan Gower works at Cullen's hardware store in north Baltimore. He has seven daughters and a warmhearted wife, but as he journeys into the gray area of middle age, he finds his household growing tedious. Then Morgan meets two lovely young newlyweds under some rather extreme circumstances--and all three discover that no one's heart is safe..."

The young protagonists in this novel are Emily and Leon. Emily fell head over heal in love with Leon at university. Leon is a very extrovert young man, aiming to be an actor, while Emily is rather introvert. As we have seen in other Tyler novels, a relationship starts out with a strong and driving man, loved by a rather quiet but determined woman. Somewhere along the line this balance of power slowly changes. This love story reminds me of Evie and Casey in A Slipping Down Life. 

We first meet the young couple as they are managing a puppet show. In the middle of it all Emily, who is pregnant, goes into labour. Leon asks the public if there is any doctor there. After a short while a man gets up and says he is a doctor. He says not to worry, babies do not come that fast, I will take you to the hospital. On the way there the baby is also on its way and they have to stop midway. The doctor helps out with the birth and has everything in his hands by the time the ambulance comes. 

This is our introduction to Morgan Gower, a man of many talents. We soon learn he is not a doctor at all, but he goes around town pretending to be someone else. He dresses out in strange costumes, help out where is needed. Whatever need there is, he is the specialist needed. He is so convincing so people always believe in him.

With the birth of Emily's and Leon's baby he forms a special interest in them. He starts following Emily around, wearing different disguises. She soon discovers that he is there but pretends she does not know. Today we would call this behaviour for stalking and it is not a good thing. However it is, Morgan soon becomes a part of the couple's life.

At home he has a wife and seven, or is it eight(?) daughters so the house is full. Most of them have already got married and moved out. His mother and sister have moved in instead. As in other Tyler novels, here is a big house, described in detail, inhabited with strange characters. Everyone seems to be living life in their own style and occasionally they intermingle. A problem with Morgan is that he loves his daughters while they are young but when they grow up he looses interest. There is no indication of anything inappropriate, but today we are more aware of sensitive situations.

"She said, "Couldn't you still love the girls anyhow? You don't stop loving people just because they change size."

I am fascinated by Tyler's occupation with houses and their inhabitants. Here I find similarities with The Clock Winder which is also about a big house with strange inhabitants. Bonnie, the wife of Morgan, is like a queen holding the strings to keep the house on its course.

"He never saw the mysterious way the house started slipping downward, or sideways, or whatever it was that it was doing."

The story takes an unexpected turn when Morgan, rather tired of the unruly and loud environment of his house, more often venture out in different disguises. And when he and Emily become more entangled their lives take another turn.

The character of Morgan is quite different from other characters in her novels. He sticks out, just like Jeremy in Celestial Navigation. Two characters who live in their own world, but sometimes integrate with other people. Even if this is not my absolute favourite of her books, I enjoyed the story and to see what Morgan would do with his life. Emily and Leon, like Evie and Casey do grow apart and start new lives. Tyler always has an interesting approach to family ties and that is what her books are about. It will be interesting to see how I feel about the different family connections once I have read them all.

I cannot help finishing off with a letter Morgan wrote to one of his daughters. He writes a lot of letters but never send them off. Maybe it is some kind of therapy. Anyway, this letter reveals a lot of his character, and I would say, fits quite well into the thinking of modern people when it comes to belongings.

"Dear Amy,

I notice that you appear to be experiencing some difficulty with household clutter.

Understand that I'm not blaming you for this, your mother has the same problem. But as I've been telling her for years, there is a solution.

Simply take a cardboard box, carry it through the rooms, load into it everyone's toys and dirty clothes and such, and hide it all in a closet. If people ask for some missing object, you'll be able to tell them where it is. If they don't ask (now, here is the important part), if a week goes by and they don't notice the object is gone, then you can be sure it's nonessential, and you throw it away. You would be surprised at how many things are non-essential. Throw everything away, all of it! Simplify! Don't hesitate!

All my love, sweetheart,

Daddy"

A good advice even today for cluttered houses.