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A Ladder of Years
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Plot Summary 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. "
Krisha Williams, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of A Ladder of Years
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
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)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - doctor
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

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

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
Most similar books to A Ladder of Years
The Deep End by Joy Fielding
The Interruption of Everything by Terry McMillan
A Trick of Nature by Suzanne Matson
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg


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Anne Tyler Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Susan Coffey  

SCHOLARS:
Lori Cossens  Krisha Williams  Julie L.  


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