Clock Dance

Tyler published her first novel in 1964 and her second in 1965. After taking a short break to raise her daughters, she has produced a steady stream of domestic literary fiction focused on character depth and development, loss, relationships, and the quirky nature of humanity ever since. Clock Dance is Tyler’s 22nd novel, and it features several things in common with her previous work.

Part of Clock Dance takes place in Baltimore—a recurring location in Tyler’s writing, as seen in the novels The Accidental Tourist (1985), Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020), and others. Tyler’s own residence in Baltimore allows her to create specific and in-depth pictures of the suburban Baltimore landscape.

Tyler is also interested in the process of travel. The mundane details of checking in for flights, boarding planes, takeoffs, and landings are all captured in Tyler’s minutely comprehensive style. Clock Dance includes a key scene set in an airplane, which colors our perceptions of many of its characters.

Tyler’s fiction is full of highly specific observations of everyday quirks. Characters’ peculiarities, idiosyncratic streams of thought, and anxieties highlight Tyler’s penchant for realistic detail. This interest continues in Tyler’s attention to relationships: Why some people fit together and others do not is a common theme in Tyler’s novels, including Clock Dance, which asks what it means to be family, how small choices lead to large changes, and how people find one another.

Tyler’s collection of work has developed its own tropes, like the fussy and overly particular older man, the rebellious young adult whose actions hurt others, and the passive woman who must learn to take as much as she gives and let go of things that no longer serve her. All three of these tropes are present in Clock Dance.

Anne Tyler’s work has been criticized as “cozy” or “cute” for focusing not on large-scale drama, but on the subtle conflicts of everyday life. The domestic setting of her work allows readers to feel close to her characters, inhabiting their world rather than judging it from afar. This vantage point allows readers to share Tyler’s curiosity about the benefits and drawbacks of sharing space with another person.