By: Anne Tyler
Narrator: J. Smith-Cameron
Random House Audio
ISBN: 9780593803486
Publisher: Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf
Publication Date: 02/11/2025
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.
Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.
But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.
Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, Three Days in June is a triumph, and gives us the perennially bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer at the height of her powers.
My Review
Anne Tyler's latest, THREE DAYS IN JUNE, is richly textured, full of raw emotions, humor, and complex family dynamics. The story unfolds over three days, each day playing a significant role in the narrative, particularly around a wedding.
About...
Gail Baines is in a bit of a pickle. She's lost her job, her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she's not invited to the spa day arranged by the groom's mothers. And when she thought things couldn't get any worse, her ex-husband Max shows up unannounced with a cat. With nowhere else to stay since Max is allergic and has no suit.
Then, when Gail thinks she has a handle on things, her daughter drops a bombshell about the groom. Is the wedding still on, or is it off?
My thoughts...
THREE DAYS IN JUNE is charming, funny, and full of hope. It beautifully captures the complexities of family, the challenges of marriage, the joys and struggles of parenthood, and the messy, unpredictable nature of life.
Anne is a pro at delving into the lives of her characters, making them authentic and alive. Readers will resonate with Gail, a funny heroine who speaks her mind and gets lots of laughs from an ex-husband and her daughter's struggles. With lots of wisdom and insights from a natural-born storyteller.
Told from a socially awkward mother of the bride navigating the days before and after her daughter's wedding.
Recs...
THREE DAYS IN JUNE is for fans of the author and those who enjoy stories by Liane Moriarty, Elizabeth Strout, Fredrik Backman, and Elizabeth Berg.
Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for a digital advanced review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 11, 2025
Praise
“What a treat.” —Washington Post
“Simply exquisite.” —Liane Moriarty
“Nobody understands human nature better than Tyler. And nobody understands the complexities of love the way she does.” —Boston Globe
“Three Days in June is like reading a hug.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Anne Tyler remains my favourite author in the world. I’ve adored everything she’s ever written. Three Days in June is, of course, simply exquisite.”
—Liane Moriarty
“Three Days in June is like reading a hug. [Tyler] embraces us from the very first sentence. . . . A high-octane thriller this is not, but Three Days is as compelling as one. Tyler’s pacing is incomparable. . . . You’ll want to stay in the warmth of her storytelling. Let it hug you, too, and don’t be afraid to give it a snuggle back.”
—Maren Longbella, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Tyler’s fan base is rock-solid, but as word gets out, all fiction lovers seeking a smart, sunny novel will ask for this one. . . . [A] delectable, tightly focused, and piquant comedy. . . . Tyler is exceptionally adept at exhilarating dialogue and the nuances of relationships. . . . With every character, cat included, incisively and vividly realized, and myriad preoccupations and emotions limned with nimble wit and empathy, this is a keen delight.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist
“Sweet, sharp, and satisfying. . . . Tyler’s touch is as delicate, her empathy for human beings and all their quirks as evident in her 25th work of fiction as it was in her first, published an astonishing 60 years ago.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Anne Tyler’s novels plumb the everyday to make magic. . . . Beneath the tidy crust of her plainsong sentences, as ever, seethes the lava of familial and marital relations. . . . Tyler is too deep and nimble a writer, of course, to skate dramedy grooves, though much of her droll banter would shine in a screenplay; she ballasts Three Days in June with the hard weight of life. (Not for nothing did she major in Russian literature.) . . . Family life [is] the source of the unexpectedly heart-busting poignancy at the novel’s close. Are families absolutely, intrinsically interesting? Updike asked. Anne Tyler’s are. Just ask the people at the coffee shop who saw me wiping my eyes as I closed this novel shut.”
—Jonathan Miles, Garden & Gun
About the Author
ANNE TYLER was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of more than twenty novels. Her twentieth novel, A Spool of Blue Thread, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2015. Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
