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    Digging to America
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    Digging to America
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    Digging to America
    Audiobook8 hours

    Digging to America

    Written by Anne Tyler

    Narrated by Blair Brown

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Friday August 15th, 1997: the night the girls arrived. Two tiny Korean babies are delivered to Baltimore to two families who have no more in common than this.

    First there are the Donaldsons, decent Brad and homespun, tenacious Bitsy (with her 'more organic than thou' airs, who believes fervently that life can always be improved), two full sets of grandparents and a host of big-boned, confident relatives, taking delivery with characteristic American razzmatazz. Then there are the Yazdans, pretty, nervous Ziba (her family 'only one generation removed from the bazaar') and carefully assimilated Sami, with his elegant, elusive Iranian-born widowed mother Maryam, the grandmother-to-be, receiving their little bundle with wondering discretion.

    Every year, on the anniversary of 'Arrival Day' their two extended families celebrate together, with more and more elaborately competitive parties, as tiny, delicate Susan, wholesome, stocky Jin-ho and, later, her new little sister Xiu-Mei, take roots, become American.... While Maryam, the optimistic pessimist, confident that if things go wrong - as well they may - she will manage as she has before, contrarily preserves her 'outsider' status, as if to prove that, despite her passport, she is only a guest in this bewildering country.

    Full of achingly hilarious moments (Xiu-Mei's 'pacifier' party is worthy of The Simpsons) and toe-curling misunderstandings, Digging to America is a novel with a deceptively small domestic canvas, and subtly large themes - it's about belonging and otherness, about insiders and outsiders, pride and prejudice, young love and unexpected old love, families and the impossibility of ever getting it right, about striving for connection and goodness against all the odds.... And the end catches you by the throat, ambushes your emotions when you least expect it, as only Tyler can.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House UK Audio
    Release dateJul 3, 2014
    ISBN9781473512696
    Unavailable
    Digging to America

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    Reviews for Digging to America

    3.5/5

    56 ratings56 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Two families meet at the airport when they collect their adopted daughter arriving from Korea. One family (originally from Iran) try to keep up with the other (typical American). Understanding the others culture and they way they choose to bring up their children is sometimes a challenge. Easy reading and entertaining. No huge climax – a story of family relationships and bringing up children.
    • 1/5
      288 pages of absolutely no story, boring characters and just poor writing. The emphasis of this novel is on subtlety, if by that you mean that nothing actually happens then yes, that would be an accurate description.
      Seriously, I finished each chapter and thought to myself: "so what actually happened there?" And the answer is nothing. This is a very boring book, I wasted a painful few weeks of my life trying to drag myself through it, I have to finish a book once I start it but I very nearly gave up with this one.
      There are no interesting characters, not one I can feel any kind of endearing emotion towards... I always try to find something good to say about a novel, even the ones I really didn't like, but I can't think of anything good to say about this. I hated it.
    • 4/5
      The Yazdans and the Donaldson’s have a chance meeting as they wait for the arrival of their new daughters from Korea. This begins a new friendship that continues for many years and intertwines the two very different American clans. The yearly “Arrival Party” becomes a snapshot into the changing lives of these families. Bitsy Donaldson and Ziba Yazdan couldn’t be more different, but each is striving to fit into the new mom niche these foreign daughters have created. Maryam Yazdan, the family matriarch, immigrated from Iran as a new bride. She is perfectly controlled, perfectly dressed and carefully American. Bitsy is a careless housekeeper but a fiesty granola hippy when it comes to her new daughter. As the years pass you get to hear a variety of voices as they deal with uncertainties and life in America. It comes to a head as Bitsy’s father begins to court Maryam and Bitsy adopts a new daughter from China. Life abruptly changes for all - bringing more questions and shaking what each thought they wanted in the world. One of Tyler’s best!!!
    • 3/5
      Anne Tyler consistently writes good stories well. Two families meet at the airport while picking up their Korean infants for adoption, and thus begins a special relationship which lasts a lifetime. It is the story of sharing experiences, sharing the riches of varied ethnic backgrounds, and sharing the joys and sorrows which life throws at everyone regardless of ethnicity. So, the reader digs in and discovers some of the wonderful aspects of life in America. Nice story, nice writing, nice ending!
    • 4/5
      I liked this book. It was easy to read and description of the characters were good. At first I thought it was the story of the two adopted girls from Korea but it was about the mother and father of the parents who adopted the kids. A good diversion.
    • 5/5
      A story of two quite different couples who happen both to adopt Korean orphans at the same time; it's about family, and friendship, and food, and love, and loss, and cultural identity, and, for that matter, it's about pride and about prejudice – but mostly it's about people, and it's beautiful.
    • 4/5
      What I like best about Anne Tyler is the way she lets the reader peer inside her characters' lives to understand the workings of a particular family or relationship. In this case, it's the all-American Donaldsons and the Iranian Yazdans, who meet by chance when they both pick up their adopted Korean daughters from the airport. Over the course of the next several years, through triumph and tragedy, the two families form a lasting and sometimes complicated bond. I particularly liked the way Tyler handled the issues of identity and belonging, which I assumed to be partly informed by the experiences of her late husband, an Iranian-American. Digging For America isn't Tyler's best novel, but it definitely has the insight, warmth and humour her fans have come to expect.
    • 3/5
      Listened to the NLS Talking Book version. The book is interested by comparing and contrasting different cultural beliefs. Two vastly different sets of parents adopt infants on the same day and end up forging lifelong friendships. The friendship's are not without tension as both sides struggle to understand with and navigate their way through various relationships. The adopted children are not focused on very much in the book. It is mainly the story of their parents and grandparents.
    • 4/5
      A chance meeting at an airport arrival gate leads to a cross-cultural friendship between two adoptive families. One family is typically American, and the other is Iranian American. Both families have adopted Korean babies who arrive on the same flight. Each year the Donaldsons and Yazdans celebrate their daughters' adoptions with an elaborate Arrival Party. Each year's party is viewed from the perspective of a different family member.This was my first Anne Tyler novel. I didn't know what to expect when I started the book, and it was a pleasant discovery for me. I identified with most of the characters. Like the Yazdans, I've lived in a culture as an outsider. Like Maryam, I found it was easier to become friends with other cultural outsiders, even when we didn't share the same cultural background. Like the Donaldsons, I've helplessly watched the decline of a parent and grandparents caused by cancer. As a child, I was part of a welcoming party for an adopted cousin. I know several families who have adopted internationally and/or inter-racially. Reading this book reminded me of those relationships and experiences and how they have enriched my life.Although I liked this book very much, I'm not sure it's one I'll read again. I think a lot of its impact came from the gradual revelations of character as the book progressed, as well as a few surprises along the way. I don't think a re-reading would have the same effect since I would know what's coming. Even though I won't be re-reading this one, I will be adding more of Tyler's work to my TBR list.
    • 4/5
      I first read this book about 3 years ago and liked it very much. On the reread for my book club by opinion has greatly decreased. Anne Tyler writes about the difficulty in adjustment - to each other, to family, to friends and to country. But by the end the reader is left wondering why a person works so hard to be an outsider. Tyler shows how hard it is for foreigners to adjust to America and that whether Americans welcome them, assist them, embrace their culture or try to encourage assimilation to the new culture they're doing the wrong thing. It seems in many instances this is true, but makes for a depressing and even, by the end, an annoying end.
    • 3/5
      I really liked the premise of this book - it was an interesting look at a microcosm of a multicultural society and identity, and how we all as Dave puts it "feel like we dont quite belong."I think the differences in the two families was handled well and the characters (with the exception of the husbands) were well drawn. The shift during the story from the focus on the girls and their mothers to begin with to the relationship between Dave and Maryam and Maryam in particular seemed a little odd and I felt a bit like the girls story and perhaps Ziba's didnt really finish as a result.I think there could have been two more effective separate books of the story.I found the first quarter of the book really intriguing but the middle third seemed quite repetitive - the story didnt really seem to move forward all that much, it picked up again during the last third.However I really did like the idea behind the book and think its a worthwhile read so I give it3 stars
    • 4/5
      I think I have read one of Anne Tyler's book before, maybe "Searching for Caleb" since I vaguely remember something about a fortune-teller. Since then I have occasionally read the blurbs on the back covers of her books when I have seen them in Waterstones, but I have never been keen enough to buy one (or even borrow it from the library).I only read this because it was picked for my on-line book club's February / March read and I wasn't really looking forward to it, but I enjoyed it way more than I had expected. It is the story of two families who become friends after picking up their newly adopted Korean daughters at Baltimore the airport at the same time, one a family of middle-class liberals and the other a family of Iranian immigrants. Each year the families hold a joint Arrival Day party to commemorate the day that Susan Yazdan (formerly Sooki) and Jin-Ho Dickinson-Donaldson became part of their families, attended by their extended families.I liked how the tale was told from multiple points of view so that I got to know both families, seeing them from both the inside and the outside. It starts with Susan's grandmother Maryam, who resents the Donaldson's and especially Jin-Ho's right-on mother Bitsy for thinking that they are always right about everything, but later on you realise that Maryam is not exactly perfect herself, being prickly and quite hypocritical, moaning about Dave showing an interest in Iranian fairly tales when it was Maryam who brought up the subject, and resenting her cousin's American husband for embracing all things Iranian.
    • 4/5
      I thought that Anne Tyler created a super story in “Digging to America” The book portrayed some of the hidden snares that are involved with the book’s doptive families as they go about adopting their Korean daughters The story takes place in Baltimore, with two families from different cultures; a suburban Caucasian family and a Iranian family. These two families become the focus of the book since both have adopted a daughter from Korea. It’s an interesting story and there lots of humorous discussions. Highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      3.5 Stars. I listedn to this book on audio and "read" it for book club. I honestly am not sure how to rate this book. I was often irritated at the cliched use of stereotypes and the way Ms. Tyler did not know her characters but she instead relied on stereotypes to draw and paint her characters personalities. However, by the end I cared emotionally about the characters, so I am rating it up 1 star than what I had intended to give the book. The portrayal of death, marriage relationships, and mourning was very touching. I thought Ms. Tyler's portrayal of parenting to be really tired and irritating. But despite this, there were several scenes that either moved me emotionally or made me laugh.My main issue with this story is that I really dislike using stereotypes to make fun of people or to convey a certain message. I felt that Ms. Tyler was doing this with several of her characters, Bitsy in particular, and it really felt awkward and uncomfortable to me. I have alot of other thoughts about this book, I may add them later or just save them for book club meeting.
    • 1/5
      I thought this book was going to be about two Vietnamese babies/girls growing up in the US after being adopted. Well, it was only on the periphery about them. Instead it was also about their adopted parents, grandparents and aunties; and about two families trying to outdo each other with parties. Really lacked a solid story line. Every time I got into a character the story would be dropped and another focus made elsewhere. I found this very annoying. I don't recommend this book at all. Basically I found it to be a 'nothing book'. It was not enjoyable to read and left me with no lasting impressions.
    • 5/5
      Two families adopt baby girls from Korea. They meet at the airport and end up becoming friends.
    • 4/5
      I found this a little slow to start with, though this probably wasn't helped by the fact I didn't have chance to have a good long sitting at it. However, I started to warm to the characters and found that Anne Tyler was looking at the lives of not only the children and their immigration but also to that of Maryam. It showed how difficult some people find it to move country and contrasted different methods of coping with a massive cultural change. These themes didn't appear to me until quite a way into the book. I loved the ending.
    • 3/5
      This book was a quick read with some well defined characters. I'm not a big fan of Tyler's books so I can't compare it to others I've read.To me the main thread was the conflict between being yourself and trying to be someone you are not.
    • 2/5
      There was a time when the release of a new Anne Tyler or John Irving novel made my heart race with anticipation. However, her more recent works - Ladder of Years, Back When We Were Grownups, Amateur Marriage - fade in memory as an amorphous mass of sameness, while his have degenerated into aimless ramblings that try the patience of his staunchest fans. Sad to see one's favorites lose their touch. With an entirely new array of characters, Digging to America held so much potential, but sadly became just something to fill the reading void while waiting for a much more promising work by a new favorite, Julia Glass. We are given a modicum of back-story for Sami & Ziba, and for Bitsy & Brad. Maryam is the central character, and yet she, too, despite Tyler's effort at character development, remains largely an enigma. The complexity of her budding romance with Dave is skimmed oh-so lightly, while a drawn-out farewell to a baby's binkies is detailed ad nauseam. And the ending just feels pasted on like a Lifetime movie approaching its time limit. Perhaps Ms. Tyler, like Mr. Irving, has simply exhausted her reservoir of talent. In the hands of a more energetic writer, Digging to America could have struck gold.
    • 4/5
      The title of this book comes from this question: if children in the U.S. dig a hole to China, are children in China digging to America? This seems to be a metaphor for the question of whether perhaps we're all, even the most American-seeming American, digging to America, or trying to figure out what it means to be American.When the Donaldson (American through-and-through) and the Yazdans (Iranian-American) adopt baby girls from Korea on the same day, the families become the best of friends. It is no surprise, perhaps, that the Donaldsons opt to keep their baby's Korean name and put lots of emphasis on her Korean heritage, whereas the Yazdans Americanize their daughter's name, and generally raise her as an American.Unpredictably, it seems that the Donaldsons look as much to the Yazdans for clues about raising their daughter as the other way around. Which is what this book is really about, I think. It's not about being American. it's about creating a family.
    • 4/5
      The characters in this are the focus of the book and all are believable if not always likable. They are very human. The Donaldsons and Yazdans meet at the airport as each family picks up a tiny Korean baby to become a part of their family. They forge an uneasy friendship and a year later Bitsy Donaldson creates the arrival day 'tradition' which brings the extended families together year after year. The differences between the two families and how they still manage to build meaningful relationships is what the book is all about. Bitsy is typical pushy Mother, she disapproves of Ziba Yazdan working and sending her daughter to playschool, she insists on planning the arrival celebration 'her way' when it is staged at her house, despite what others suggest. She also insists on dressing her daughter in Korean outfits and keeping her original name ('Jin Ho). The Yazdans on the other hand immerse their daughter in their own hybrid American/Iranian culture and rename her 'Susan'. Neither of the children seems to suffer from the differences (although Jin Ho is determined to rebel against the Korean outfits and arrival day video) and they become sharply drawn individuals as much as the adults in the story do, each with their own distinct personality. A major theme of this book is 'foreignness' and how the characters react to it. Maryam (Sami Yazdan's Iranian Mother) in particular is very conscious when other people react to her 'foreignness) and this is a stumbling block for her blossoming relationship with Dave (Bitsy's Dad). Jin Ho's rebelling against arrival day is basically from the same root - a desire for her 'foreignness' not to remarked upon above anything else. The book doesn't have a driving plotline but just covers the lives of the families for the first few years after the girls arrive. It is all based on small observations of the everyday lives of the families and their interactions. This a not a book fo rthose who need books to be 'about' something or those who only like fast-paced plots. On the other hand it is perfect for those who enjoy getting to know each new set of characters and following their lives at a more leisurely pace.
    • 4/5
      2008 All Iowa Reads choice; I had to read it since I had offered to lead a book discussion about book at work. (Figured I knew how that would turn out based on past book discussions at a past job, but anyway ...) I didn't mind reading it, I like to read the All Iowa Reads books, still regret missing last years. The first Anne Tyler I've read, and I hear it is different from her other stuff, but I enjoyed this one. i liked the writing style a lot, so would be interested in trying another of her books to see. This was about two families who adoped Korena babies, one American and one Iranian immigrants, and how they came to be friends based on their daughters' cultural backgrounds and on the fact that they were in airport at same time to pick up babies. Turned out to be a romance, too, which was nice. I liked the ideas about "fitting in,' worth thinking about.
    • 4/5
      Iraian/American families adopt Korean girls
    • 4/5
      This is the first Anne Tyler book I've read, and it is one of my bookclub's choices. It is about two families who meet while waiting for the arrival of their baby daughters adopted from Korea. One family is American, one family is Iranian-American, and the story is about the interaction of the families. The characters and their finteractions are quite ralistic; for example, two women wind up with what niether of them want becasue they are too polite to say what they do want.
    • 4/5
      A touching story of two dis-similar families drawn together by their adoption of Korean infants.
    • 3/5
      Two culturally differing couples adopt babies from Korea, and forge a friendship based only on this common ground.I very much enjoyed this book, although it didn't quite take me in the direction I expected to go. Despite the very different attitudes to raising their adopted children, I felt that the two families still inhabited a very insular world, with little or no influence any source other than their own families. That said, I don't think the characters could have developed in the way they did had it not been for that seeming isolation from external influence forcing them to forge relationships only with each other.Tyler has created some beautifully drawn characters - the older generation particularly, and I would recommend Digging to America as a quick, fun read.
    • 4/5
      Like most Anne Tyler books, this one has many levels. I think that there is a reason for the stereotypes she presents - most people do not leave their heritage when they immigrate. Perhaps total integration into America was not possible - nor desirable - for the Iranian family. I found it interesting that the American family retained the Korean name of their adopted baby (and insisted on her wearing tradition Korean garb), while the Iranian family changed their daughter's birth name to a very American name and dressed her as an American child. Surely this is worthy of contemplation. I think that Anne Tyler is saying many things in this book - it simply is not possible nor desirable for many to totally assimilate, nor is it healthy to retain every custom from their places of birth. This is not a book advocating for or against foreign adoption, but about the ways that people see themselves when they become Americans. I liked Dave the best. He seemed to endure the absurdity of many of his daughter's actions and to see byond the backgrounds to the people themselves.
    • 3/5
      Two families meet by chance while waiting the arrival of their adopted infants from Korea. They continue to meet each year to celebrate the anniversary of their girls' arrival into their families. I've enjoyed some of her other books more, but an interesting and enjoyable story. She also provides some interesting insights into perceptions of American immigrants.
    • 4/5
      Anne Tyler reaches a bit beyond her usual population when she investigates the lives of two Baltimore couples who adopt Korean babies. One of the couples is a classic WASP family reaching beyond their own stereotypes, and the others are young members of an Iranian immigrant community. Both of the extended families are also very much a part of the mix, so the young couples’ lives reach out to impact numerous others. The story begins when the two families meet at the airport on the day they will receive their babies, and continues to document the friendship they forge as the years pass, the children grow up, and the families weather the usual crises, celebrations, deaths and misunderstandings. Like all of Tyler’s tales, it is a simple but thoughtful story, full of human growth, but not high-speed action. Ultimately, it examines what it means to be American, and how each member – native-born or not – must forge his or her own path to membership, his or her own definition of national identity. I thought it was excellent.
    • 4/5
      An interesting book about two families that adopt from Korea (and later one from China) that become friends. One of the families is your average middle class American and the other family is made up of immigrant Iranians. The thing that brings the families together is meeting at the airport when the Korean adoptee's are delivered to their new families, and one family makes it a point to start a relationship and celebrate "Arrival Day" for the girls. As adoptive parents, you will recognize the familiar clashes in child raising practices between the two families (working vs. non-working mothers, etc.) and seeing how the girls assimilate into their new families. Also, you get a look at how the Iranian immigrants adapt to life in America and how some always feel very much like an "other" instead of fitting in. That aspect is interesting as the adoptee's will also deal with this in some form as they grow up. I wonder if the Iranian parents will be more in-tune to those feelings when the children are older?