Stating the premise of your work simply and clearly in the first sentence requires courage. Readers might say, “Is that all?” Or, some might feel skeptical about your ability to show how an original story can follow from a classic premise that Kafka, Dante, and other masters have already used. So why would Anne Tyler tell her readers exactly what they can expect from her novel? My guess is that she was confident that she could tell us things we didn’t know already about what it’s like to second-guess yourself, feel regret, and find your way toward something new.
Tyler, Anne. Back When We Were Grownups. Knopf, 2001, p. 3.