Spell-binding narrative, as always, from Anne Tyler.
All her characters are fully realised but I am particularly captivated by her male protagonists - and this one is especially endearing, with his imaginary 'Traffic God' commenting on his driving (I have one too).
I think this one is my second favourite novel of hers after 'Breathing Lessons' but there are no duds in any of them. If you haven't read any yet, then what are you waiting for?

Well I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I picked it up today to read a chapter or two and before I knew it I was on the last chapter. Admittedly it is a short book probably more of a novella but it really was such a good read. This is way different to what I’d usually read but I was hooked from the first page. This isn’t a fast paced book nor is it one full of suspense but one that just moves along nicely. A lovely descriptive book with great characters and a few laugh out loud moments..

I really enjoyed this short novel. I had such a lovely afternoon reading it. It is gentle but the narrative flows so well. The story is about Micah, a decent guy in his early forties who had high hopes of success as a Computer Science major at college but who has drifted in life and now runs a tech guy service alongside being the janitor of a block of flats for which he receives the free rental of a dismal basement flat. Micah seems attractive to women but his realtionships stall. He is a bit obsessive aboout his routines and structures in his life. He can't see his own faults clearly just as objects have started to seem obscured when he doesn't wear his glasses. One day an 18 year old boy shows up at his apartment, the son of an ex who claims Micah could be his father and he starts to realise a whole heap of things about his life and his behaviour.

A heart-warming and poignant story from one of America’s best authors.
The charming tale of Micah, an eccentric tech expert who receives an unexpected visit from the son of an ex-girlfriend.
Micah reflects on his past relationships and the mistakes he has made while still struggling to understand the lessons to be learnt from his mistakes.
Anne Tyler has the ability to keep the reader hooked while presenting a very gentle story without twists or shocking revelations. Her subtly is the key to her brilliance. She understands human behaviour and writes about it with a delicate precision that is hard to replicate.
If you’ve never read her work before then this is the perfect short introduction. It's classic Anne Tyler. I loved it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage for the copy.

Every time I read a book by Anne Tyler I ask myself the same question........ ‘How does a writer describe the minutiae of the lives of ordinary people is such a way as to make it absolutely absorbing, from the first word until the last?’m The subject of this gently charming book is Micah, a decent man, with tendencies towards obsessive behaviour, and an inability to understand the needs of the people he cares most about. His story is without drama, sudden revelations , twists or turns, yet still manages to hold the reader tight throughout, becoming engaged in his life and hoping against hope that everything will turn out well for him. I read this in one sitting, as I have all Anne Tyler’s other books, and hope that there are many more still to come.

Delightful. Read it in one evening. Time flew. It was so easy and rewarding to read. I laughed out loud quite a few times.
My first Anne Tyler and I have bought more. I loved Micah and his understated story. You could say not much happens and everything does. Ordinary everyday events glow like jewels. You will laugh when you find out ‘who’ the redhead of the title is. We amble with Micah through tech jobs, family meals and dates and really grow to love him and care deeply what happens to him. Luckily it is a happy ending. Thank you #Netgalley for a review copy. This review appears on Amazon and Waterstones.

5+ stars! What can I say? It's Anne Tyler. I loved it. Her unique blend of humour and eccentric characters. Brilliant!

Classic Anne Tyler - Micah, the main protagonist of Redhead by the Side of the Road, is a familiar-feeling misfit to readers of Tyler’s fiction, with a noisy, untidy family who love him but tease him for his odd, ordered life. Brink, the son of Micah’s first love, unexpectedly appears in his life and inadvertently gives him the opportunity to reassess his relationships past and present. This is a beautifully written, rather short and definitely sweet novel.

Anne Tyler doing what she does best: laying out for you the minutiae of every day and family life. Micah is in total control of his life and circumstances until two events throw a spanner in the works. I identified quite a lot with Micah- I recognised Tyler’s careful observations and was greatly entertained by her descriptions of the family gathering. Life isn’t and can never be perfect. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

The story is of the mundane life of Micah, he finds pleasure in order and routine in his daily life. He is more connected to these habits than the relationships with others around him.
His ordered life is thrown awry when he finds someone waiting for his return from his daily run one morning.
Throughout the book you warm to Micah and his ways and also to the small cast of characters that surround him in the story.
Will events pull him out of himself and let him view his ordered world in a different way?

Absolutely love Anne Tyler and absolutely love this book. Her reading of the human mind is extraordinarily accurate and her observational powers remind me of Alan Bennet . The skill of storytelling the gentle love story of Micah and Cass are second to none. The laughed out loud at the bits where Micah was driving... it was almost uncomfortably close to home.

You know what you’re getting with an Anne Tyler novel and I think this is the gentlest of hers I’ve read, perfect relaxation material for troubled times. One of the things I like about her most is her utter lack of judgement. Her characters make mistakes, learn from them or not, but they are never castigated for their lack of awareness or downright foolishness - if judgement is made, it is by the reader. In fact, the one, rare criticism aimed at one of the characters here is that she is too ‘judgy’.

She packs a lot into quite a slender volume. We follow Micah’s realisation that his life has become too small and inward-looking, partly through the introduction of a distressed young man, the reconnection with a former girlfriend and the potential loss of the one person able to bring him out of himself. All done with that light, sure touch of a writer who knows her business. A delightful read that I can heartily recommend.

A charming masterclass of fictional characterisation and human insight. Cass, Micah, and his family are quickly as real as the words on this page in this short but perfectly paced and elegant novel. Anne Tyler manages, again, to effortlessly draw you in, dance you around and let you go again when - before you know it - you've closed the last page with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart.

A soothing balm for the soul - Anne Tyler gently takes us through the life of Micah. He has lots of sisters and grew up in a loud, chaotic household. As an adult he likes routines and peace and quiet. However one can get set in ones ways and miss out.

I adore the descriptions of sibling relationships, how Micah deals with a young adult who turns up on his doorstep and how he changes his view on how his life has panned out. Perfect for my current frame of mind. A book by Anne Tyler is always something to look forward to, and this certainly delivers.

Redhead by the Side of the Road is the perfect antidote to the dystopian world we are living in at present. As with other Ann Tyler books it is impossible to describe why a slim book about an average life is so compelling, but it is. In other hands Micah would have been a rather unlovable strange oddball. Tyler makes him a very human individual a kind man with a wry sense of humour, love of family and without in any way presenting him as other than ordinary. The writing is deceptively simple yet beautifully clear and absorbing. Big thanks to Anne Tyler, Random House and Netgalley for providing me with this free ARC and a couple of hours of sheer bliss

Micah Mortimer is a set-in-his ways man in his forties. He has his own computer repair business and works as a caretaker for the building he lives in. His life is ordered and predictable.
It takes the break-up of his relationship (yet another relationship) and the reappearance of a girlfriend from long ago and her son to help him understand where he’s going wrong.
This slight novel - it feels more like a novella or long short story - is typical Ann Tyler.
The minutiae are beautifully observed and we get a real sense of who this unassuming man is.
I particularly liked Micah’s interactions with the customers whose computers he tries to fix.
It doesn’t have the heft of -say- the Accidental Tourist - but is a small gem that I’d recommend.

I loved the glimpse into the life of Micah and his family. He seems destined to be alone as another relationship ends. The description of his family is realistic and at times amusing
My only regret is I didn’t read it more slowly

This is a masterpiece and Anne Tyler is a genius. It's a quiet novel, a slow meander through someone's life, but somehow Tyler just embodies the life and the details of this person until you're immersed deep in their existence as if she IS Micah, just narrating his life. I genuinely don't know how she does it.

Everything in Micah Mortimer’s life is in the best order imaginable. He has developed his routines of the house chores, of running every morning at exactly the same time before having a shower and eating breakfast. His company “Tech Hermit” provides enough for himself to survive and he is independent in every way. But then one day, his life somehow runs out of control. First, an 18-year-old boy shows up at his door claiming to be his son and then, his girlfriend Cass leaves him unexpectedly. He is not well equipped to deal with this interruption of his routines and certainly not when everybody suddenly seems to be meddling with his love life.

Anne Tyler is a wonderful narrator and thus, also in her most recent novel I got exactly what I had expected. “Redhead by the Side of the Road” is the story of a very peculiar man who seems somehow to go unnoticed when you cross him in the street, who is totally reliable, but also quite predictable. In his Baltimore apartment block, he takes care of everything that needs to be tended to and he seems to be totally ok with his life as he has established it. He shows little interest in matters outside his cocoon and would go on in this way forever if he weren’t interrupted. The author shows that crucial moment, when suddenly everything is put to a test, is questioned and what seems to be perfectly fine turns out to be quite the opposite. He is confronted with the decisions he has made, has to take others’ perspectives and question himself and his habits.

Micah’s obsession with tidiness and order is well explained by the contrast with his chaotic sisters. What the reader sees immediately is that not only are they quite messy and tumultuous in certain ways, but they also seem to be alive. In comparison, Micah is well organised but somehow also lifeless. Nevertheless, they love and support him and would like him to have a fulfilled partnership, their teasing is their way of showing fondness, however, he is not yet at the point of recognising this. It needs another confrontation with his past to fully understand what goes wrong.

He is not a character you immediately sympathise with, but I adored his direct and somehow naive way of addressing people, especially when Brink appears and maybe it is exactly this somehow innocent straightforwardness that makes the boy open up to him.

It is not a novel that goes totally deep with hidden meanings and messages, but without any doubt, it advocates for those nondescript, unimposing characters who have to say much more than you’d expect and it also holds the mirror up to the reader to question what is important in life, where to set the priorities and most of all, to ask yourself if you’re really happy. A moving story that I totally adored to read.

The perfect book for these difficult times. Classic Anne Tyler. Simple yet nuanced and unpredictable.