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Digging to America

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.


Friday August 15th, 1997. Two tiny Korean babies are delivered to Baltimore to two families who have no more in common than this. Every year, on the anniversary of 'Arrival Day' their two extended families celebrate together, with more and more elaborately competitive parties, as little Susan and Jin-ho take roots and become American.

Full of achingly hilarious moments and toe-curling misunderstandings, Digging to America is a novel about belonging and otherness, pride and prejudice, young love and unexpected old love, families and the impossibility of ever getting it right...

OVER A MILLION ANNE TYLER BOOKS SOLD

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© Anne Tyler 2006 (P) Penguin Audio 2014

 Family Life Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction United States World Literature Witty Comedy

Critic reviews

Magnificent
Deliciously funny and sharply observed
Wise and funny...a multidimensional exploration of what it means to belong, not only to a family but also to a nation
Out of this everyday material she spins gold: stories so achingly truthful, so achingly funny, so sad and so real that you can only marvel (Elizabeth Buchan)
Anne Tyler draws a comedy that is not so much brilliant as luminous – its observant sharpness sweetened by a generous understanding of human fallibility
All stars
Most relevant
My second time with this book. Just as perfect as the first. My absolute favourite part is the Binky party.

A lovely story of family and all the complications we humans bring to it.

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Any additional comments?

This story describes what happens when people from different cultures meet and I found it a very enjoyable listen. It is sometimes funny, sometimes embarrassing, but its strength is that it rings true. It demonstrated the complexities of our feelings for others, how we value eachother and are annoyed with eachother at the same time.

Funny and thought-provoking

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I liked observing the differences between the cultures and mixed generations. the insight into adopting foreign children and the intricate thread of love between them all. How easily the love could be lost and how fragile life can be

The Culture Complex

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