Breathing Lessons: A Novel - Softcover

Tyler, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345485599 ISBN 13: 9780345485595

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2006

Synopsis

Maggie and Ira Moran have been married for twenty-eight years–and it shows: in their quarrels, in their routines, in their ability to tolerate with affection each other’s eccentricities. Maggie, a kooky, lovable meddler and an irrepressible optimist, wants nothing more than to fix her son’s broken marriage. Ira is infuriatingly practical, a man “who should have married Ann Landers.” And what begins as a day trip to a funeral becomes an adventure in the unexpected. As Maggie and Ira navigate the riotous twists and turns, they intersect with an assorted cast of eccentrics–and rediscover the magic of the road called life and the joy of having somebody next to you to share the ride . . . bumps and all.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

Review

Maggie Moran's mission is to connect and unite people, whether they want to be united or not. Maggie is a meddler and as she and her husband, Ira, drive 90 miles to the funeral of an old friend, Ira contemplates his wasted life and the traffic, while Maggie hatches a plant to reunite her son Jesse with his long-estranged wife and baby. As Ira explains, "She thinks the people she loves are better than they really are, and so then she starts changing things around to suit her view of them." Though everyone criticizes her for being "ordinary," Maggie's ability to see the beauty and potential in others ultimately proves that she is the only one fighting the resignation they all fear. The book captured the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1989.

From the Inside Flap

2 cassettes / 3 hours
Read by Jill Eikenberry

Breathing Lessons was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

Breathing Lessons is the wonderfully moving and surprising story of Ira and Maggie Moran. She's impetuous, harum-scarum, easy-going; he's competent, patient, seemingly infallible. They've been married for 28 years. Now, as they drive from their home in Baltimore to the funeral of Maggie's best friend's husband, Anne Tyler shows us all there is to know about a marriage - the expectations, the disappointments, the way children can create storms in a family, the way a wife and husband can fall in love all over again, the way nothing really changes.

Anne Tyler's funny, unpredictable and endearing characterizations make Breathing Lessons a truly entertaining audio experience.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0345485599
• ISBN 13: 9780345485595
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 368