His marriage, his two jobs … all seemed to have simply befallen him. He reflected that he had not taken steps very often in his life, come to think of it. Macon is the accidental tourist of his own life. Macon’s wife remarks that she knows Macon better than he knows himself, whereas Macon, in the company of the unlikely Muriel, asserts that he is “more myself than I’ve been in my whole life long”. Perceptions of identity are at the centre of the novel: how we can become trapped in other people’s ideas of who we are. With a young son in tow, she cannot afford to fail.

On the other side of the train tracks, Muriel, considered the black sheep of her family, lives a hard life with little love and no breaks. Macon’s marriage disintegrates after a robber shoots his son. Their dialogues are the highlight of the novel.īut it’s not all kitchen sink bubbles. Macon thinks listening to blank cassettes is a brilliant travel idea. She’s streetwise and tenacious - and she has Macon in her sights. Its increasingly vicious behaviour forces Macon to seek help - and into the story clatters thrift-shop maven and dog trainer Muriel Pritchett: permed hair, deep lipstick, high heels, and manicures. He’s a travel writer - the circumspect voice behind the Accidental Tourist travel guides for businessmen who want to minimise all sense of the foreign when abroad. He’s got a broken leg, a nasty dog, a failing marriage, and a fast-approaching deadline. Winning the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985, Anne Tyler’s tenth novel The Accidental Tourist sets squeaky-clean Macon Leary up against firecracker Muriel Pritchett in this domestic drama of mis-matched manners.

The accidental tourist book review