Feb 1

Feb 1 Three Days in June

About the book

Author: Anne Tyler
Publisher: Knopf

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

Three Days in June is the latest from literary titan Anne Tyler, who has now written more than two dozen novels. This was only my second book by her — the first was Redhead by the Side of the Road back when it was nominated for the Booker. Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a miss for me.

First, though, the good stuff: There’s no denying that Tyler can write characters who could walk off the page and relationships that feel deep and real. She takes a tiny slice of these characters’ lives and uses it to say big things about what it means to be human. The vibes are cozy, and I almost want to put her and Elizabeth Strout on a shelf together (although Strout does it better, IMO). This book tugged at my heart, and because it was short — around 4 hours on audio — it felt like a nice use of an evening despite the places I thought it felt short.

Now for the parts that I thought didn’t work. First, this book is meant to be set in the present day but feels very out of touch. Gail, the main character, is meant to be my mother’s age, but reads much more like my grandmother, like the fact that she only uses the landline while at home and her cell phone stays in the purse, as a rule (by contrast, MY mother is addicted to TikTok). Her daughter is supposed to be in her early 30s, but her friends all have Gen X names — Debbie, Kenneth, Bitsy, etc. Tbh, it feels like Tyler wrote a 60yo main character from the POV of when she was 60, which was 23 years ago, and it’s really distracting. Other things also felt out of touch and distracting, like the fact that nobody in this book seems to know how weddings work — for example, the members of Debbie’s bridal party giving toasts didn’t know they were supposed to give toasts until they saw it on the programs printed at the tables? Finally, and worst, Tyler left one of the biggest relationship plotlines, a major component of the story, completely unresolved.

At the end of the day, it felt to me like Tyler’s publisher is happy to keep putting out her heartwarming stories but afraid to give her editorial feedback to make sure the books have both emotional impact and cultural relevance.