What is the author's style in A Slipping-down Life by Anne Tyler?

Two interrelated aspects of the writing in this novel stand out. The first is the simplicity of its vocabulary and sentence structure. Rather than giving the impression that the story itself is simple or childish, this unpretentious style is used with great effectiveness to get at the heart of situations in the story.

The second aspect of her style is the dialect of her characters, which uncannily depicts people who are not well-educated and yet are not rubes or illiterate. Aside from the precision of the author's ear in creating this dialogue, the way the characters speak reveals much about how they think.