Breathing Lessons

Breathing Lessons (1989), a novel by Anne Tyler, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1994, it was adapted into a television movie starring Joanne Woodward, who won a Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award for her performance. The novel was also adapted for the stage in 2003, where it played for three weeks.

The story follows the middle-aged couple Maggie and Ira Moran as they travel to their childhood home to attend a friend’s funeral. The story opens with Maggie preparing for the interstate drive. Several unusual things happen that indicate all is not right with the Moran’s marriage and that their relationship with their two grown children is strained as well. Their son, Jesse, has recently divorced Fiona, and Maggie deeply regrets their split. She is sure that given the right circumstances, they will reconcile.

On the way to the funeral, Maggie continues to worry about Jesse and Fiona. She talks to Ira steadily, but Ira is largely silent. He is annoyed by Maggie’s chatter and considers her somewhat crazy. Maggie also thinks about her old friend Serena. It is Serena’s husband Max whose funeral they are attending. Maggie remembers Max as chatty and pleasant, completely unlike her own husband.



When they arrive at the funeral, Maggie reconnects with her free-spirited friend, Serena. Rather than a traditional funeral, Serena has organized an event where the guests re-enact important events from the past. She asks Maggie and Ira to sing the song they sang at her wedding, but Ira refuses. Instead, Maggie is joined by a man who asked her out in high school. She begins to wonder what would have happened if she had chosen to marry this man instead of Ira.

As the funeral and wake at Serena’s house progress, Maggie continues to think about the past. She especially thinks about how her personality has changed since she married Ira, and she wonders if she still likes herself as she is. However, she also remembers the good times she had with Ira, and she is determined to reconnect with him. She finds him in Serena’s bedroom and begins to make love to him. Serena walks in on them and is not pleased to find them behaving in such a way right after her husband’s funeral, so she throws them out.

The narrative then switches to Ira’s point of view. Ira is cynical and nihilistic. He feels that neither he nor Maggie has accomplished anything with their lives. He also resents his son, Jesse, because Jesse is regularly cold and dismissive towards his parents. Maggie suggests going to visit Jesse and his daughter, Leroy; though Ira doesn’t like the idea, he agrees.



When they arrive, they find Fiona watching Leroy. Maggie tries to convince Fiona to get back together with Jesse. Fiona says she is still in love with Jesse but knows that if she gets back together with him they will fall back into old destructive habits. Maggie covertly calls Jesse and convinces him to come over to the house for dinner with his ex-wife and daughter.

Maggie reflects on her two children. Jesse’s biggest flaw is that he lacks the ability to commit to a task and see it through to the end, while her daughter, Daisy, is overly cautious and never takes risks. Ira tells her that this is the way her children are, and she needs to accept it rather than constantly trying to change them into the people she wishes they were.

Jesse meets with Fiona and Leroy. Though he is pleased to see his daughter, he immediately begins fighting with Fiona. Ira encourages the fighting when he says some harsh things about Jesse’s work ethic and ability to commit. Jesse storms out. Maggie tells Ira that he is to blame, and she will never forgive him. Fiona yells at them, and then, she takes Leroy and leaves. Maggie chases after them but quickly realizes that it’s no use and all their family problems will just keep repeating themselves.



After Fiona leaves, Maggie gets ready for bed. She calls Serena, who assures her that she isn’t mad about what happened at the funeral. Maggie then begins to tell Ira about a plan to get Leroy to live with them for a while. Ira firmly refuses. He comforts Maggie by telling her that it’s still possible to live in the moment, without trying to fix the mistakes of the past. Comforted by this thought, Maggie goes to bed, ready for tomorrow.

A loose, episodic structure allows Breathing Lessons to function as an in-depth character study. Over the course of the novel, Maggie gradually learns to accept things that she cannot change. However, despite her best intentions, the ending of the novel suggests she will have a lot of work to do before she can get things right.