What a comfort in this moment when we are battened down in our own tight worlds to read Redhead by the Side of the Road and enter Anne Tyler’s. Hers is a world where connections aren’t taken lightly, but are, instead, thoughtful and deliberate, even a little awkward. Maybe a place like where we’re all living right now.
Redhead fits right in to what we think of as Tyler’s world, with Micah and his modest and just slightly odd life. On the surface he appears to have connections to a lot of people. He’s a tech expert and gets calls for help every day. One of his several sisters—Tyler’s men tend to have hovering, attentive siblings nearby, often sisters—checks in and expects his presence at family gatherings. As superintendent of his apartment building he knows not only who needs a new towel bar or light switch, but the state of their health or dating life. There’s also his girlfriend and a preppy teenaged boy who appears on his doorstep in a slightly paraphrased are-you-my-mother moment.
But he experiences them at a slight remove; his business name, Tech Hermit, speaks volumes. Not that his distance has rough edges. He’s not pushing anyone away, at least not consciously. He just isn’t entirely noticing that they’re in his life. He’s there, but a little bit not. Sort of like being on Zoom.
In our quarantine moment, when our attachments to each other are maybe a little too close or sadly too far, we’re all right there with Micah. All our relationships need to be thought through; nothing can be taken for granted. Like him, our daily life doesn’t just happen. It takes some thinking for him to fit activities and people into a regimented life: he has days and times allotted to running, mopping floors, and cleaning out one cabinet at a time in rotation. He lives his life the way he sees it, even if his vision is a little circumscribed. Even the redhead of the title is—spoiler alert—the product of myopic Micah’s going out for a run without his glasses.
So isn’t that pretty much where we are right now? Trying to think through the kinds of daily activities that only recently were routine? Trying to figure out why our connections to other people suddenly feel a little baffling and in need of conscious attention? But Tyler doesn’t leave us without comfort or guidance. Micah is redeemable. He’s willing to take the trouble required. He listens and opens himself to the deeper connection. He sees the value in trying out a new normal. If he were here right now with us he’d be venturing onto Zoom.