Breathing Lessons Summary
Anne Tyler

Breathing Lessons Summary

Part One: The Funeral

The novel opens with Ira reflecting on the amount of waste in the world, including his own life. Ira runs his father's picture framing business in Baltimore, while Maggie works as a nurse in a nursing home. On this Saturday they are preparing to go to a funeral, and Maggie is picking up their car from the mechanic's shop. As she drives home, she listens to a call-in radio program, and is convinced that the woman announcing her impending marriage is former daughter-in-law, Fiona. She collects Ira and they set out for the funeral in rural Pennsylvania.

Ira and Maggie argue in the car as he grows increasingly impatient with her wish to drop in and see Fiona and their granddaughter, Leroy. Nearly lost, they stop to buy a map and get coffee in a small town. While Ira checks the map, Maggie confides her family woes in a... View more of the Breathing Lessons Summary