a famiglia Peck è una vera e propria istituzione a Baltimora: ha un impero economico, è titolare di un importante studio legale e vive, numerosissima, in una grande tenuta. I Peck sono, di norma, tutti uguali: biondi, educati e conformisti. Ma non il vecchio Caleb, figlio del capostipite, che è scappato di casa ancora giovane seguendo la sua passione per il jazz. E anche Duncan e Justine, cugini innamoratisi uno dell'altra, fuggono dalla famiglia in cerca di qualcosa di diverso. Mentre vagano negli Stati Uniti, i due giovani si metteranno quasi involontariamente sulle tracce di Caleb, ma sarà alla fine Justine, ormai diventata una signora di mezza età, a compiere il passo decisivo in quello che sembrava un viaggio senza speranza.

So, my spouse's best friend from high school has a daughter, Becca, who just gave birth to a son. Apparently, in Jewish culture, it is common to write up a little essay on the new child's name and what it means to the parents. Becca's new son is to be named Caleb, and one of the reasons, it seems, is that one of her favorite books is Searching for Caleb. So, I figured I should check the book out. It was quite good.

It seems that back in the 19th century, Justin Peck set up a very successful import/export business in Baltimore. One of his sons, Daniel, decided to study law. The other son, Caleb, wanted to be a musician, but he was forced by family pressure into taking over the family business.
But, one day in 1912, Caleb had had enough and he disappeared. No one knew where he went, and no one bothered much trying to find out. Well, some sixty years (more-or-less) later, Daniel takes it into his mind to find his brother Caleb. He gets his granddaughter, Justine, to help him. Justine was a bit of a free spirit, having taken up fortune telling and having married a cousin, Duncan, also a bit of a family renegade. Duncan was restless and kept switching from one location and one career to another every couple of years.

Anyway, we have sections where we learn about the family or mostly repressed individuals living in the same neighborhood in Baltimore (the city of my birth). And also sections wherein Justin and Daniel wander around looking for clues to the whereabouts of Caleb. It's all rather fascinating, and well worth the time to read through to find out whether or not Caleb is actually found in the end (I know, but I'll never tell).
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This was Tyler's sixth novel, from 1975, when she was starting to become well-known - Wikipedia tells us that this one was favourably reviewed by John Updike. We're initially wrong-footed by being introduced on the New York train to some characters who live in Virginia and are on the point of moving to a small town in Maryland, and we have to wonder whether this can really be a proper Anne Tyler novel at all, but it soon becomes clear that Justine and her grandfather are actually fugitives from a complicated extended family that lives in a couple of big houses in Baltimore, as is the grandfather's elusive brother Caleb, who hasn't been seen since 1912. So all is as it should be!

It turns out to be a touching and often very amusing story about whether it's better to live our lives according to preset rules and patterns, or to be open to the whims of chance. Justine, like her missing great uncle, is an extreme case of the follow-the-whims school of thought; the rest of the Peck family are so afraid of any randomness in their lives that they have great difficulty in ever leaving the family home in Roland Park, Baltimore. Not as hard-edged as some of her later books, perhaps, but there are some great scenes (especially the one where a young clergyman comes to ask Justine and Duncan for their daughter's hand, and everyone is so distracted by other things that they hardly even notice him until he resorts to eloping with her) and some very memorable bits of observation - the Peck obsession with not forgetting to write a thank-you note after a visit, even if you have decamped through the window, for instance...

Nothing very profound, but worthwhile as always. ( )

An easy to read family saga by Anne Tyler. The writing is good, and her characters are nice. This book is enjoyable, if not overly memorable. ( )

Tyler's families are always so dysfunctional, but because their personalities charm us, we do not drown in existential angst. A fun journey into one family's identity. ( )