Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Digging to America: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Digging to America: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Digging to America: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Digging to America: A Novel

    Written by Anne Tyler

    Narrated by Blair Brown

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In what is perhaps her richest and most deeply searching novel, Anne Tyler gives us a story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after 35 years in this country must finally come to terms with her "outsiderness."

    Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport-the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an "arrival party," an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined.

    Even independent-minded Maryam is drawn in. But only up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by one of the Donaldson clan, a good-hearted man of her vintage, recently widowed and still recovering from his wife's death, suddenly all the values she cherishes-her traditions, her privacy, her otherness-are threatened. Somehow this big American takes up so much space that the orderly boundaries of her life feel invaded.

    A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that cast a penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 2, 2006
    ISBN9780739333112
    Unavailable
    Digging to America: A Novel

    More audiobooks from Anne Tyler

    Related to Digging to America

    Related audiobooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Oct 21, 2022

      The Satsuma Complex By Bob Mortimer Bob Mortimer is the latest celebrity to follow a bestselling memoir with fiction, in this case a crime novel set in south-east London. Your enjoyment will largely depend on your view of the main character, Gary, wh

      2 min read

    • Article

      The 10 Best Books Of February Reckon With The Past – And Present

      Feb 27, 2024

      Float Up, Sing Down, by Laird Hunt In Laird Hunt’s collection of stories, residents of an Indiana farming community in 1982 go about their routines, with secrets and regrets roiling beneath the surface. “Things grew where they grew and flew where the

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Horrocks, Russo, Lenz, Zink, and More

      Jul 30, 2019

      New Richard Russo and Nell Zink, a darkly humorous coming-of-age novel, and a powerful debut on the faith and politics of Middle America. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Horrocks, Russo, Lenz, Zink, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      9 min read

    • Article

      Better Books

      Oct 15, 2020

      Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, $32.99 Rookie FBI agent Odessa Hardwicke’s life is derailed when she’s forced to turn her gun on her partner, who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justifie

      2 min read

    • Article

      Brilliant BEST READING

      Jun 4, 2020

      Brilliant BEST READING
      3 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Allende, Smith, Eisenberg, Cummins, Chayka, and More

      Jan 21, 2020

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from the likes of Isabel Allende, Danez Smith, Emma Copley Eisenberg, Jeanine Cummins, Kyle Chayka, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read ou

      5 min read

    • Article

      Dead But Not Buried

      Nov 15, 2020

      Dead But Not Buried
      2 min read

    • Article

      Christmas Books Guide

      Nov 30, 2022

      This is Fiona McIntosh’s first novel set entirely in Australia. Her heroine, Fleur, is just eight when she is already helping her adoptive undertaker parents prepare bodies. Mother Mae knows their only daughter is capable of running the Port Adelaide

      10 min read

    • Article

      Common Touch

      Jun 12, 2022

      Common Touch
      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Oct 5, 2022

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Ohlin, Adrian, Jin, and More

      Jul 27, 2021

      Our own Thom Beckwith takes a look as some notable books publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Ohlin, Adrian, Jin, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Li, Bender, Smith, and More

      Jul 28, 2020

      We take a look at some notable books—including titles from Yiyun Li, Aimee Bender, and Zadie Smith—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Li, Bender, Smith, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Joining The Club

      Aug 13, 2023

      Joining The Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      SECRETS & LIES

      Jul 28, 2023

      BY MARK BILLINGHAM LITTLE, BROWN Detective Sergeant Declan Miller is back at work following the murder of his wife, Alex. His new partner is DS Sara Xiu, a heavy-metal enthusiast who rides a powerful Yamaha motorcycle. Their first case is the double

      3 min read

    • Article

      Better Books

      Dec 9, 2020

      John Grisham, $32.99 Jake Brigance (introduced in A Time to Kill) is a lawyer who seeks truth and justice at all costs, even when his life is on the line. This time he’s at the centre of a murder trial that bitterly divides the citizens of Clanton, M

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Joukhadar, Celan, and van Heemstra

      Nov 24, 2020

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Zeyn Joukhadar, Paul Celan, and Marjolijn van Heemstra—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Joukhadar, Celan, and van Heemstra appeared first on The Millio

      2 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Nov 30, 2022

      After a disastrous election night loss political staffer Dominic Cochrane decides to take a break to review his career options and moves into a mate’s converted boatshed in picturesque Flounder Bay on Sydney’s northern beaches. The peaceful haven is

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Burns, Adiga, Taylor, Phillips, Vollmann, and More

      Feb 18, 2020

      Our own Thomas Beckwith take a look at some notable books publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Burns, Adiga, Taylor, Phillips, Vollmann, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Books That Celebrate Multicultural London

      Jul 4, 2022

      by Zadie Smith An epic story told through the eyes of complex and compelling characters, mostly first and second-generation immigrants from the Commonwealth. It has cross-cultural friendship at its heart and will make you laugh out loud. by Kamila Sh

      1 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reads

      Dec 9, 2019

      Summer Reads
      8 min read

    • Article

      Story Time

      Jul 21, 2019

      Story Time
      1 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading

      Dec 29, 2019

      A wealthy bibliophile brings a treasured manuscript to her Paris binder. The pages are creased, yellowed and pungent with the nutty aroma “that old paper exhales as it decays”, and underneath the title is a jumble of figures. It is an alternative pag

      6 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Oct 5, 2022

      Champion storytelling from Drewe in this fact-filled, daring reimagining of the life of Johnny Day, Australia’s youngest international sporting star. Starting out at 10 as a pedestrian (walker), as launched by his Ballarat butcher father Tom Day (the

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Oct 27, 2023

      By Janice Hallett Bestseller Hallett’s latest novel reunites us with the Fairway Players, the beleaguered am-dram group who featured in her debut, The Appeal. As before, young lawyers Femi and Charlotte must work out whodunnit from a bunch of emails,

      2 min read

    • Article

      Tom’s Tales

      Nov 4, 2021

      Order books online at gaystheword.co.uk Tom Daley/HQ An emotionally articulate memoir from the most-decorated British diver of all time and winner of the 2021 Attitude Sport Award. Starting with his bronze medal at London 2012, Coming Up for Air foll

      2 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Nov 27, 2019

      THE Reading room
      7 min read

    Reviews for Digging to America

    3.5/5

    1,103 ratings66 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      This book tells the story of two families who adopt children from Korea at the same time. On this basis, they become friends even though the two families are very different from one another. In particular, as Iranian immigrants (or children of immigrants), the one family has the additional burden of negotiating their own identity within the American experience.Having previously read and disliked a book by this author, I wasn't particularly optimistic about this title. However, I did finding myself liking it more than I thought I would. The characters are interesting and feel three-dimensional, especially as different chapters are told from different characters' viewpoints. The story is also compelling, but I felt like there were almost two different books in here -- one is the story about motherhood and parenting, particularly when the children are adopted whereas the second story is about dating across cultures, particularly among older, widowed spouses. It seemed like the two stories detracted from one another so that there was not a cohesive whole.For the audiobook reader, the narrator did an excellent job bringing all the characters to life.
    • 4/5
      Digital audiobook narrated by Blair BrownA story of the immigrant experience and two families united by the decision to adopt. The novel opens at the airport where the Donaldsons and the Yazdans wait for the daughters they’ve adopted from Korea to arrive. Bitsy and Brad Donaldson, their parents, siblings, nieces and nephews are all there, loud, boisterous, excited to welcome the new addition to their family – Jin-Ho. They virtually take over the gate area. Lost at the back of the crowd wait Maryam, her son, Sami, and his American-Iranian wife, Ziba. Maryam Yazdan had come to America as a young bride and was widowed before she was forty. She retains the reserved, formal demeanor of her Iranian upbringing. Though they don’t express it outwardly, the Yazdans are just as excited to welcome Sooki, whom they will call Susan, to their family. Tyler writes so well about family dynamics, about all the little events in our lives that both form and show who we are. One sentence perfectly sums it up: “Like more life-altering moments, it was disappointingly lacking in drama.” Over the course of the novel the reader will witness many of these little moments, will watch as two families come together based on a chance meeting, will learn how they differ and how they are the same. The book also explores what it means to be “American.” Maryam, having lived two thirds of her life in the United States, carrying an American passport, still feels like a foreigner. Ziba, having come to America as a teenager, is fully assimilated, though she still speaks with a slight accent. Bitsy could never be mistaken for anything but an American; friendly and outgoing, offering her opinion on everything without a thought to how it might be received, and yet desperate to infuse her children’s upbringing with some of their native cultures (even when the kids want nothing more than to fit in with their peers, and not wear those “ridiculous outfits”). As I got to know these characters, I grew to love them. And I wanted to give them all a big hug at the end. Blair Brown does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She’s a talented actress and breathes life into all these characters. I particularly liked the way she interpreted Maryam and Bitsy, two women who are virtually polar opposites.
    • 5/5
      Anne Tyler weaves wonderful stories about everyday folk and this tale of the lives of people in two very different families in America who adopt baby girls from Korea is no exception. Wonderful characterisation and observant story telling throughout.
    • 4/5
      Two families meet at the airport waiting for their adopted children from Korea.They are very different families. Long time Americans and new immigrants from Iran.I loved how everyone's story was developed.
    • 3/5
      This is a book about family, about culture, and about the daily lives of two families who somewhat accidentally end up a part of each others lives. If you want a book with action and a lot of deep, exciting plot... this book won't be for you. In order to appreciate what is happening, you really need to be able to just sit back and watch the lives of people unfold before you without a lot of action, suspense or twists and turns. In watching how two very different families handle adopting Korean children we learn a lot about what it is to be part of a family and what it means to be American. I enjoyed the glances into each family, even if I don't remember it like one would remember most books that you look back on and smile.
    • 3/5
      Disappointing.
    • 3/5
      I give the book three stars though the book was a pleasure to read the characters were well rounded and had depth. Maryam's personality seemed genuinely Iranian and anne tyler succeeded in depicting interaction between the American family and the Iranian family very well. one of the themes of the novel seemed like the writer set the novel amid scenes of get togethers and parties.the part I did not like is when writers make up their minds to write a book of no less than 300 pages and so set about filling the pages with boring stuff that has no relevance to the novel or does nothing to advance the story, like the episode on pacifiers.
    • 5/5
      Very well written and engaging. I enjoyed how the perspective of the story telling changed each chapter from a member of the Donaldson's family to a member of the Yazdan family. A great story about everyone's search to find their place in the world.
    • 2/5
      I've really enjoyed Anne Tyler's books in the past, and this mines basically the same territory - family, fitting in, growing old. As always, there's not much plot, there are shifting perspectives and the writing is solid. But this time around it all just really bored me - I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or what happened to them and was just glad to finish it.
    • 3/5
      This was my first Anne Tyler book and I enjoyed it. I chose it because it dealt with foreign adoptions, which I relate to. It was well written and believable. Recommend!
    • 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.