Three Days in June, Anne Tyler (pub date March 2025, Knopf)
This lovely little novel centers around Gail Blaine — mother, ex-wife, suddenly unemployed educator — and three days surrounding her daughter’s (Debbie) wedding. And her ex, Max, who shows up unannounced for said wedding, expecting to stay at Gail’s house. With a cat. Not his, he claims, but a foster; does Gail mind that the cat is staying too? The cat clearly has her own mind made up; she settles right in on Gail’s pillow. Gail is unimpressed, however, by the entire circumstance. And then there’s her daughter’s wedding to worry about.
Humor shines throughout the book in a terrific balance of slight snide asides and funny descriptions of events and people, and yet the book is serious as well, with love and relationships as a centerpiece.
The day before, the day of the wedding, and the day after cover the entirety of this short novel, in a charming way, paced perfectly — not too frantic, not too slow, but rather leisurely despite the antics of the wedding and Max’s stay with Gail. Perhaps leisurely sounds too slow for this book, which is rather paced perfectly. Perfectly for three days in June.
I don’t usually read authors like Anne Tyler, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I listened to the #LibroFM audio of this instead of reading, which is quite different for me. The actress reading it was a perfect fit; she hit the “he saids/she saids” in a tone that made them disappear into the background, as they should on the page. Her characterizations of voice were subtle yet distinct for the characters. All in all, a perfect audiobook experience.
I’m going to go back and read the book in paper as soon as possible.
