Redhead by the Side of the Road, by Anne Tyler

 

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Readers of this novel expecting to read about a damsel in distress by the side of the road who happens to have red hair will be disappointed to learn that it's just a fire hydrant that looks like a redhead to our protagonist who's not wearing his glasses. It's no big deal because our protagonists has jogged past this hydrant before and he knows it's just a hydrant. But this is a hint (to us readers) that perhaps there are some other things in his life that are not what they seem to be to him.

Our protagonist is a forty-five year old bachelor who has had a number of girl friends in his life, but they have all dumped him after several years for no good reason that he can perceive. One evening there's a knock on his door and it's a young college student who introduces himself as the son of a former girl friend of his, and he has concluded that our protagonist is his biological father. 

As it turns out there's no suspense about this possibility because a quick review of the chronology of history rules out any possibility of such relationship. But one thing leads to another and eventually it leads to a conversation with the young man's mother (the former girl friend). He learns in this conversation that the details of their breakup years earlier were not as he perceived them to be. 

Parallel with all the above happenings our protagonists has a current lady friend who has suggested that maybe they should end their relationship. This lady friend is a really nice person, and the protagonist's sisters seem to like her more than they like him their brother. 

Is he going to let history repeat? Or is he going to learn from his recent lesson from his past relationship?

Below is a comment I have regarding a detail in this story that I've decided to put in a hidden spoiler area because it was revealed near the end of the book: (view spoiler)

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