Review of THREE DAYS IN JUNE by Anne Tyler (New Release)

5 Stars 

Once again, Anne Tyler does not disappoint. Her latest novel is as delightful a read as her previous titles.

This book, detailing three days in the life of 61-year-old Gail Baines, begins on a Friday. The day is consequential for Gail: she learns she has been passed over for an expected promotion, her ex-husband Max and a fostered cat arrive on her doorstep, and her daughter Debbie shares a secret about Kenneth, the man she will be marrying the next day. Max’s visit, Debbie’s revelation, the rehearsal dinner, and the wedding the next day leave Gail thinking back on her own marriage and how it came to an end.

As always, Tyler excels at characterization. Gail is eminently relatable, an ordinary woman with both flaws and positive traits. She’s an introvert who is not socially adept; she is told, “’social interactions have never been your strong point.’” She’s a perfectionist who cannot “settle for just okay.” She worries about everything. Max even teases her: “’Do you keep an itemized list of things to worry about? How do you remember them all?’” As befits her career as an educator, Gail lives a planned life: “I ached for it.” She tells Max, “’I don’t feel I have the option of just . . . trying out various random ideas and giving up if they don’t work out.’” It’s also obvious that she’s very sensitive to any perceived slight, like her daughter calling her in-laws before calling her. She gives the impression of competence, but her interior monologue shows her lack of confidence; she describes herself as “too inept, too uninformed. How come there weren’t any grownups around? Why did everyone just assume I knew what I was doing?”

Mild-mannered Max is very much Gail’s foil. He’s not practical like his ex-wife. He seems to have drifted or bumbled through life. He shows up for his daughter’s wedding without a suit. Unlike the judgmental Gail, he’s amiable and tends to see the best in people. It’s impossible to dislike Max and as the narrative progressed, I found myself liking him more and more.

The novel touches on the joys and heartbreaks of love, marriage, and family life. Tyler’s insightfulness cannot but impress. I found myself agreeing with many of her observations, like the one about a woman loving her husband “at least in the on-again-off-again, maybe/maybe-not, semi-happy way of just about any married woman” and the one about “married-couple conversations that continue intermittently for weeks, sometimes, branching out and doubling back and looping into earlier strands like a piece of crochet work.”

And as in other of Tyler’s books, there are touches of humour. In this case, the cat’s interactions with Gail cannot but bring a smile. As a former English teacher, I particularly enjoyed Gail’s correcting people’s grammar: “I decided against telling her that especial was almost not used anymore.” I chuckled at Max’s confusing Kegel pelvic floor exercises with “’doing geckos.’”

At less than 200 pages, this is a quick read, but its economy conveys so much. It may seem simple but it’s so masterfully crafted that nothing feels contrived. It’s an unpretentious but wise novel about imperfect but authentic and appealing people.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.