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Summary: Welcome to Anne Tyler's world!
Review: No one can create quirky, beguiling, harmless misfits as well as Anne Tyler, and in A Patchwork Planet, Barnaby Gaitland steps onto the page. He's the black sheep of an affluent family, living in a rented basement studio, divorced, wanting to be a better father to his daughter, working for Rent-a-Back, a service company that does household jobs its elderly clients can no longer manage. Along comes 'an angel,' and his life seems to take a major turn for the better. But niggling in the background of this too-perfect arrangement are hints of Barnaby's dissatisfaction - and he can't quite put his finger on what's wrong with the relationship till he's accused of theft. Then his REAL angel is revealed.
Wonderful plot structure, wonderful characters, wonderful conclusion.
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Summary: Refreshing
Review: I finished this book with a smile on my face - Anne Tyler never ceases to entertain. What I love about her books is the fluid drawing out of interesting people, her characters are fleshed out into genuine characters - it's like walking into a scene peopled with friends and family of your own.I did have one beef (or two) with the novel. I was hoping that Anne would focus more on the relationship between Opal and Barnaby, for there seemed to be no satisfactory closure there, or no real hint of what was to come of their relation to one another. Opal was a fascinating character! As was Barnaby, of course - focussing on these two would have been the real clincher in this book. Perhaps a sequel? Also, the ending left me confused . . . was he finally turning to Martine? Was his last line a realization of some sort, a discardment of Sophia? (Good choice: Sophia was a dullard) Read this book! I also recommend "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant." :)
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Summary: A Whole Lot of Nothing
Review: This is my first Anne Tyler book. I have to say that by the time I finished it I was so mad I had spent the time to read it. She developed the characters well and there were several funny, cynical parts, but nothing HAPPENS. I like for the character to accomplish something, or to resolve a problem, or to learn something. The story is more like "a year in the life" of Barnaby, and then just ends. I turned the last couple pages thinking "Where is the rest of it?" The only parts I liked were about the elderly who hired Rent-A-Back even though that was a little depressing. I don't recommend it.
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Summary: A solid look at an ordinary person
Review: Among Anne Tyler's many gifts as a writer, one of her greatest is her ability to make us care about ordinary-seeming people and events we might not otherwise care about, or might actively shun. In few other of her books is that gift on display as much so as in "A Patchwork Planet," an uncharacteristically scrappy novel that chronicles a year in the life of a 29-year-old former juvenile delinquent named Barnaby Gaitlin who begins to reform his life after meeting what he believes to be his guardian angel. The novel's central theme--the importance of trust--is compellingly presented and results in one of Tyler's trademark "inevitable" surprise endings. Still, why does Tyler so persistently (in all of her books) portrays her ambitious, achieving, or successful characters (e.g., Barnaby's brother, Delia Grinstead's husband in "Ladder of Years," Daisy Moran in "Breathing Lessons") as unlikable, obnoxious, or untrustworthy people, and why does she almost always leads us to appreciate only mild-mannered, befuddled, or failing characters (e.g., Barnaby, Delia Grinstead, Maggie Moran)? At any rate, this book is still entertaining and honest and deserves a read by her fans.
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Summary: One of the BEST Books of 1998!!!
Review: I never thought I would pick this book up. When it first came out, I did not give a thought to it. After reading a NY Times Book Review essay on this, I decided to pick it up, plus I needed something quick to read. What resulted was a book that totally amazed me and surprised me. Anne Tyler writes an original novel here. In her past novels, she deals a lot with the development of characters(i.e. ACCIDENTAL TOURIST and DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT). A PATCHWORK PLANET is one fascinating novel that deals with character study. Each line she wrote is unforgettable and meaningful. Tyler is an insightful author...it's too bad she didn't write more on this novel. Barnaby Gaitlin is one character I will never forget. It would seem as though he would not be likable, but he really is. He is kind in his own way, and is smart in his own way. This is one book I most definitely would recommend to any fiction reader...AND I would most definitely read this again!!!!
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Summary: Anne Tyler sets a remarkable stage of ordinary life.
Review: More of my favorites this time! Even though these are older novels, they are new to me and went on my favorites list the first read through. When I covered "The Accidental Tourist" by Anne Tyler, her other books were still unknown to me. Since then, I've read several, more than half, and am looking forward to the remaining titles, which I expect to love just as much. All are deeply moving and engrossing stories, but "A Patchwork Planet" keeps surfacing as this chapter unfolds, so that's where we'll go this week. How do men create such delightful female characters, and women males? It's not as common as you might think, but a few do this remarkably well. Anne Tyler is a master at creating believable, faulty, lovable men, with all the blundering endearment you might recognize in a close friend or family member. With Macon Leary, her "tourist," she personified the quiet closed men we all know, but with remarkable insight. In "A Patchwork Planet " we meet very different man who is growing up in his 30's. Barnaby Gaitlan is a man complete with childhood demons and neurotic lapses of thought, but so rich with a simple honor, that he's unforgettable. Barnaby is the younger of two sons, the "black sheep" of an industrially successful family living on the ends of an early fortune. In his teens, he found the same trouble to get into that many boys find, pilfering in their neighborhoods, but while his friends raided the liquor cabinets, Barnaby was irresistably drawn to the photo albums and personal momentos of strangers. Finally bearing the brunt of one such caper, Barnaby is sent to a private school for light reform, and guilt follows him for years after. From his continually harping mother to his own personal reparations, Barnaby pays for his deeds long past any reasonable amends. Working for a simple service oriented company that provides physical help for elderly people, he thrives in the mundane realism that everyday life brings. From the depths of her heart, Tyler seems to pull the best of her characters through the muck of baggage we all have, and the result is as shiny and bright as the tin man's armor when he attends Ozma's birthday celebration.
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Summary: Overflowing with good writing
Review: Barnaby Gaitlin is an employee of Rent-A-Back. He has a daughter, Opal, who lives in Philadelphia with her mother, Natalie, and Natalie's second husband. Natalie believes it is detrimental to his daughter's well-being for him to visit her once a month. When the story opens Barnaby is three weeks short of thirty. He has not completed college. He has not found his life work. He is a member of a notable family that even has a charitable foundation bearing its name. He meets Sophia on the train between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Sophia Maynard visits her mother every week. Fortunately Barnaby does not stop visiting his child because it turns out that Opal does care about him. Barnaby celebrates his birthday at his parent's house. Sophia arranges to have Barnaby work five hours a week for her aunt. In one of the scenes Barnaby and his mother attend Opal's dance recital. It is related that Barnaby thinks of his mother as spiny-backed. (She changed the spelling of her first name on her wedding invitations to honor the acquisition of her new foundation-endowed married name.) Since Sophia got her roommate's name from a community bulletin board she claims she doesn't care what the roommate thinks about the relationship between Sophia and Barnaby. As when pregnant cats start looking for drawer space and older people start sorting their possessions, it seems that something is about to happen. This is the sort of really solid information Barnaby obtains on the job. One of the Rent-A-Back clients confuses names through anxiety. Sophia and Barnaby make a remarkable couple. Sophia loves to dash the expectations of her tyrannical mother. The book is hilarious. Barnaby reports he has an aversion to restaurant dishes with dropped g's in their names. Barnaby had taken a sort of voyeuristic pleasure in the burglaries committed in his youth. On the Rent-A-Back gig Anne Tyler gives him a similarly-charged propensity to enumerate carefully people's personal effects. When Sophia's aunt accuses him of theft he is shattered. His other customers rally to his defense and call his boss to schedule extra hours for him. Sophia tries to cover up for him and then the aunt realizes that she had moved her money. Pretty soon his equilibrium is restored and Barnaby is reporting that the little dogs in the park are dressed better than he is. Thanksgiving dinner is at Barnaby's brother's house. There is no turkey, but three desserts are available. Sophia and Barnaby run into a rough spot and it isn't even clear they will remain a couple. The book has exuberance. It is overflowing with good writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: *A Patchwork Planet* tells the story of misfit, Barnaby Gaitlin. Barnaby's in his early thirties, and is not particularly pleased his life. He's got a demanding ex-wife, a pre-teen daughter he can't connect with, a nowhere job and wealthy parents that don't understand him. He's in a rut, and he doesn't know how he got there or how to get out of it. Really, it isn't so much that he made poor choices, as that he never really made *any* choices--he just sort of lets things happen to him. I think that's why I didn't like him as a character, and couldn't get terribly interested in what happened to him next. Barnaby believes that his life will improve once he finds his "angel". (His family fortune came about as a result of several family members finding their angel--kind of like a muse, I guess.) Early on in the book, Barnaby believes his found his angel in Sophia, a woman whom he overheard in conversation in a train station. Against his character, he decides to pursue her. Once they become involved he proceeds, for essentially the rest of the book, to wait for the "angel" to bring about his reversal of fortune. What passive, frustrating character! He doesn't grow or improve. Things do somewhat improve for him by the book's end, but more by chance than by his actions. Tyler's writing is good, but perhaps I've missed her point. I can't recommend this book.
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Summary: My first Anne Tyler novel - not disappointing!
Review: This was my very first Anne Tyler novel - I picked it up after hearing so many great things about her writing. I was not disappointed in the least. I thought this was a very good book, well-written and touching. The story kept me involved, and was one where you wonder what the characters are doing even when you're not reading the book! There were several times when this book made me laugh out loud - and a time or two when I got tears in my eyes. I will miss Barnaby and Sophia and will always wonder what became of them...
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Summary: A quirky book about an unusual young man.
Review: In Anne Tyler's "A Patchwork Planet," we meet thirty-year-old Barnaby Gaitlin, a man who has never fit into polite society. He was a juvenile delinquent as a boy. He later married and divorced, and he has a daughter whom he sees now and then. Barnaby has very little money, he dresses shabbily, and he lives in a rundown apartment. Barnaby works for "Rent-a-Back," a company that specializes in doing odd jobs for elderly people who cannot manage by themselves. Since his divorce, Barnaby has never seriously dated anyone. However, one day he meets a genteel and proper woman named Sophia, and it appears that Barnaby may settle down at last. In many ways, Barnaby appears to be a consummate loser, but he connects deeply with his elderly clients and he always goes the extra mile for them. Since he is an outsider himself, Barnaby understands people who no longer feel useful or wanted. In this novel, Anne Tyler shows an appreciation of and a deep compassion for those who live on the fringes of life. With rare eloquence, Tyler expresses the idea that there is a place on our "patchwork planet" for everyone, including those who are a little odd or slightly out of step. How much better our world would be if we opened up our hearts to those people whom society has forgotten. "A Patchwork Planet" is an original and engrossing look at life, love, death and loneliness.
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