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A Ladder of Years Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of A Ladder of Years


A Ladder of Years is the story of a housewife who walks out on her family one day. She hitches a ride and ends up in this small town where she lives starkly in a boarding house and works as a secretary for minimum wage. This is a huge switch from the sprawling home of a doctor's wife, but she revels in the simplicity of this new life. No longer Mrs. Grinstead, she's now Miss Grinstead. She transforms from extrovert to introvert and back again over the course of a year. Early on, her family finds out where she is and writes to her but mostly respects her privacy and her new life choice. She's at once hurt and relieved by this. She grows back into her outgoing self by the book's end, conveniently abdicating responsibilty for running away, which left her family with serious issues to work out. She ends up running away yet again, but this time running back to something.
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The review of this Book prepared by Krisha Williams



Chapter Analysis of A Ladder of Years

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Plot & Themes

Tone of book?    -   thoughtful Time/era of story    -   1980's-1999 Internal struggle/realization?    -   Yes Struggle over    -   midlife crisis Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   secretary Age:    -   40's-50's Ethnicity/Nationality    -   White (American)

Setting

How much descriptions of surroundings?    -   4 () Small town?    -   Yes Small town people:    -   nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Writing Style

Amount of dialog    -   significantly more descript than dialog

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Anne Tyler Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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