bookswelike

Books by Anne Tyler

A Patchwork Planet

Barnaby Gaitlin is an endearing loser, at odds with society and a misfit within his own successful, aspiring family. The gentle narrative spans a year in his life, his relationships with the diverse people around him and the effects they have upon one another. Anne Tyler once again uses small everyday detail to bring alive the book and its characters in a thoroughly enjoyable manner.
(Sue Pratt - bwl 67 Winter 2013)

A Spool of Blue Thread

For Anne Tyler's apparently final novel she has created the wonderful Whitshank family from Baltimore. Just an ordinary family saga? Maybe, but in Tyler's hands they seem 'extraordinary'. The family house takes centre stage, with all the comings and goings over three generations, subtle and not so subtle interplays between grandparents, parents and children. It doesn't need dramatic plot, reading her is pure therapy. Highly recommended.
(Mary Standing - bwl 78 Autumn 2015)

Back When We Were Grownups

Fifty-three year old Rebecca lost her husband years ago but brought up their child and his three teenage daughters as well as looking after a lot of his family. One day, she thinks she has become a wrong person. If only she had married her teenage boyfriend would life have been much better or not? Rebecca is a real character and she doesn't know it. It's a great book and would make a great movie.
(Laurence Martin Euler - bwl 10 August 2001)

Clock Dance

With her family grown, Willa"s life feels pointless and empty so she decides, on a whim, to cross the country to care for her son''s ex-girlfriend who has been shot. Never having met her or her young daughter she quickly becomes embroiled in their lives, while failing to understand the consequences of her actions. I'm a great fan of Anne Tyler but was disappointed. I couldn't empathise with Willa or believe in some of the characters, while the narrative felt disjointed.
(Sue Pratt - bwl 97 Summer 2020)

Digging to America

Two families - one American, one Iranian - adopt baby girls from Korea and thereafter have an annual 'Arrival Party'. Throughout the next (10?) years we get to know the girls, their immediate families, their extended families, and learn about their differences and similarities, and about their shared humanity. Tyler shows us - again - how difficult life can be if we make it, and how easy if we let it. Warm and wonderful, and easy to race through.

Shortlisted for 2007 Orange Broadband prize
(Julie Higgins - bwl 36 September 2006)

Earthly Possessions

This is one of Tyler's earlier novels, recently reissued, and has all the ingredients her fans have grown to expect: ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives who find themselves, either accidentally or on purpose, in less than ordinary situations, in this case Charlotte taken hostage by an inept bank robber. From the opening sentence: 'The marriage wasn't going well and I decided to leave my husband', we both agree, we were hooked.
(James Baker - bwl 10 August 2001)

French Braid

She said there wouldn't be another novel - but hooray, another Anne Tyler! As ever it's centred around an ordinary Baltimore family, the Garrett's, and spans three generations. I like the book's structure - chapter 1 is set on 2010, then it goes back to 1959 moving forward to 2020 during the pandemic. Near the end we learn the significance of the title. It's all there - sadness, humour and poignant moments, secrets, slights and misunderstandings. In essence, a family!
(Mary Standing - bwl 105 Summer 2022)

Ladder of Years

My favourite by Anne Tyler, I just couldn't put it down. It's the story of Delia who, during a family seaside holiday, simply walks off the beach, leaving her husband and her three teenage children. She starts her life again in a nearby town, reinventing herself as a serious and independent-minded woman without ties.
(Katherine Swann - bwl 3 May 2000)

Morgan's Passing

This tells the story of the eponymous Morgan, an eccentric Walter Mitty character, his large and long suffering family and his obsessive relationship with a young couple which starts with a dramatic incident and ends in an unforeseen way. Told with her customary warmth and affection, this book is full of humour and poignancy, set amid the minutiae of everyday American life.
(Sue Pratt - bwl 64 Spring 2012)

Noah's Compass

Liam Pennywell - widowed, remarried, divorced - loses his job and moves to a tiny apartment where a shocking occurrence jolts him out of his certainties. Tyler's depiction of Liam's relationships with his daughters, his grandson, his ex-wife and a new woman he encounters make you laugh and cry and want to shake him for being so himself. This is vintage stuff, small town America inhabited by ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 53 September 2009)

Redhead by the Side of the Road

Tyler has the unfailing ability to tenderly observe the tiny details of ordinary lives and make them so interesting that you care about the characters. Micah leads a happily ordered, if somewhat OCD, existence until his 'lady friend' deserts him - understandable to the reader but not to Micah. Then the son of a former girlfriend arrives on the doorstep to unravel his life even more. The ending is hopeful which pleased me greatly.
(Christine Miller - bwl 97 Summer 2020)

Saint Maybe

Can Ian ever atone for his part in the tragedy that his family are struggling to survive? Compassionate, perceptive with underlying humour, all the characters from Ian to his parents, the three children he has inherited, the endearing members of the Church of the Second Chance and the inept foreign students next door are brought to three-dimensional life. Is family a haven or a curse, can any of us survive it? Vintage Tyler.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 90 Autumn 2018)

The Amateur Marriage

In Anne Tyler's latest book Pauline and Michael marry in 1942 - they hardly know each other, they certainly don't understand each other. Over the next 60 years they do the usual things: have children, move to better houses, earn more money. But the marriage never seems to work properly, especially after their elder daughter disappears. They spend their lives simply dealing with things, never really examining them. I raced through it and enjoyed it tremendously.
(Julie Higgins - bwl 23 April 2004)

The Tin Can Tree

Janie Rose Pike, aged six, is killed in an accident. The story revolves around the impact this traumatic event has on her immediate and extended family, how each of them cope with grief, guilt and each other. The second of her many novels, not considered one of her best, nevertheless, as a devoted fan of Anne Tyler, it didn't disappoint. The characters - typically sad, funny, eccentric - are wholly believable. Dysfunctional? Probably, but no more so than most families.
(Mary Standing - bwl 67 Winter 2013)

Vinegar Girl

Her reinterpretation of The Taming of the Shrew set in modern day Baltimore. While not a typical Anne Tyler, lacking her usual subtlety and quirky characters, and of course the outcome is never in doubt, it is nevertheless a quick, lighthearted and enjoyable read.
(Sue Pratt - bwl 85 Summer 2017)