A Patchwork Planet

Rating:
Summary: One of Tyler's Best
Review: This was the first book I read by Tyler, and by far it is my favorite. While all of her books are excellent, this one has a quality that really shows her genius. Barnaby Gaitlin is about to embark on his 30th birthday. He takes a look at his life and doesn't like what he sees. From there we follow him through a mid-life crisis as he reevaluates what is important to him. Tyler skillfully portrays a haunted man who cannot get over his past delinquincy. I think my favorite thing about the novel is that in the end nothing has really changed. Barnaby is still the same person. But he has come to find his place in this "patchwork planet," and he has accepted himself for who he is, regardless of what those around him try to make him be.

Rating:
Summary: A coming of age story for grownups
Review: Barnaby Gaitlin has given up on life. And it seems that life has given up on him. His vengeful ex wife hoardes his wife from him, his family detests him, and all he has are his two friends in his little business which consits of moving boxes in peoples homes. Barnaby's unsucess came from when he was a teenager and was busted with his friends for stealing their photo albums and other worthless family treasures. It was there that his family and jsut about everyone else gave up on him. Until meeting a beautiful woman he meets in a train station shows him who he really is and how he can overcome what he really is and rise for the occsasion.

Anne Tylers writng is pure magic, her talent shimmers. She is a truly skilled author and makes any topic beautifully analyzed and loved. "A Patchwork Planet" joins it place on the shelf besides The Accidential Tourist, Breathing Lessons, and Back When We Were Grownups as a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: I am an avid reader, 50 - 60 books a year, roughly half of which are fiction. So I read a lot of books and feel at least qualified to make a statement about a book.

I have not read a book before this that so accurately reflects America today. Tom Wolfe is consistently, and rightly so, recognized for his ability to describe the society he lives in in his books. In my opinion Anne Tyler has done that in "A Patchwork Planet" about as well as anything I have ever read. Her portrayal of Barnaby, Sophia, Margot, Natalie, Opal, Jeff, I mean, even Natalie's Lawyer husband, and more, make for a nice story. But the way these characters interact with each other and represent how people in our society think of and treat each other, how they view, participate and deal with relationships, how they create, dispel and foster stereotypes and how they buy into images of things the way they want to see them is sooooooooo accurate. Perhaps to most who don't see society in these tones, this story will not blow you away. But for me it did.

I think this book is important. As I read it my thoughts were frequently drifting to two of my favorite books, Catcher in the Rye and To Kill A Mockingbird. Ernest Hemingway said that a story should be like an iceberg, 1/3rd above water 2/3rd's below.

Of A Patchwork Planet, Salinger, Lee and Hemingway would be proud.

Rating:
Summary: Patchwork
Review: Appearances are deceiving. Is Barnaby Gaitlin an honest man?
In her latest novel, A Patchwork Planet, Anne Tyler's characters remind us of people in our own lives, both young and old.
Barnaby Gaitlin is employed by a company that does chores for senior citizens such as taking them to appointments and moving furniture. Barnaby's clients trust him and are very fond of him.
With his family, it's a different story . As a teenager, Barnaby stole things, not really knowing why. He would break into houses with his friend and look through their photo albums. His first marriage did not work out and he has a little girl he visits each Saturday. His mother never lets him forget that he has not lived up to her expectations, unlike his brother who has conformed by going into the family business. She never lets him forget for a moment the trouble he caused the family growing up. She would like him to stay indebted to her forever.
Barnaby manages to free himself of this emotional blackmail and also from his girl friend who is behaving in the same way toward him as his mother. Both believe he is not trustworthy although he has proved over and over that he is.
What is a successful human being? Is caring for people whether they are pleasant or not, as opposed to making money , driving an expensive car and living in a good neighborhood what makes a successful human?
With humor, dialog that shows each person's character and an eye for detail, Anne Tyler creates a world that shows us the human condition.
Before she died, one of Barnaby's clients made a colorful quilt with a planet cobbled together of little pieces of cloth. While clearing out her house for resale, Barnaby says of the quilt, "it's beautiful."
With all its flaws, it's a beautiful patchwork planet.

Rating:
Summary: I am a man you can trust
Review: This is the sentence that Tyler uses to begin and end her wonderfully sensitive novel about Barnaby Gatlin, a man who considers himself a "loser". Throughout the course of the novel, we realize that Barnaby is really no such thing. He is a gentle, kind man who is still being punsihed at age 30 by his family and by himself for a series of mistakes he made as a teenager.

Barnaby is a 30-year-old divorcee with a daughter he cannot relate to, no money, and a dead-end job at Rent-a-Back, an errand-running and odd-job service for senior citizens. He is the son of wealthy philanthropists, who never let him forget that the series of break-ins and petty thefts he committed as a teenager cost them $8700 and the respect of the neighborhood. When Barnaby encounters Sofia on a train, he is captivated by her ability not to peek in a mysterious package she is supposed to deliever to a stranger. Believing her to be a guardian angel, he meets her and begins working for her aunt. He later becomes romantically involved with her. What drives this novel's plot is Sofia's aunt's accusation that Barnaby stole money from her, and Sofia's response to the accusations.

What I loved about this story was Tyler's inquiry into why society characterizes some people as losers. True, Barnaby lacks material possessions and has made mistakes in his past. However, Barnaby's gentleness with his Rent-A-Back customers and his grandparents are wonderfully philanthropic. Meanwhile, his mother, the "true" philanthropist, is a petty, unforgiving person who seems truly unhappy. Tyler's exploration into the loneliness and indignities of old age are also compassionate and insightful.

The first and last sentence relate to Barnaby's ability to trust himself, and forgive himself for the transgressions of his youth. Barnaby is an incredibly likable protagonist and Tyler's characterization of Barnaby's mother, girlfriend, and childhood best friend are both hilarious and poignant. One of the best books I have read this year.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, Often Hilarious Look at a Loser's Life
Review: Barnaby Gaitlin, the protagonist of Anne Tyler's "A Patchwork Planet" is the quintessential example of a "loser"; a thirty year old man who has lost himself in a meaningless, often thankless, job. Tyler does a splendid job in portraying Barnaby's ordinary odyssey through life, which becomes extraordinary when he unexpectedly meets Sophia on a Philadelphia-bound Amtrak train. Tyler has an amazing eye for detail and for creating wonderful, fully realized three-dimensional characters. Through her eyes the streets of Baltimore and Philadelphia have become as vivid and as well lived as those I'm familiar with here in New York City, replete with her compassionate, respectful writing about Barnaby and his friends, family and acquaintances. Without a doubt a pleasant read which will leave you laughing by the book's end.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't like it
Review: I really enjoyed Breathing Lessons and The Accidental Tourist so I thought by reading some of the posted reviews that I would enjoy this one as well.

I found this book pointless. I kept waiting for it to go somewhere, make someone endearing, but instead it fell flat and left a rather unpleasant feeling of wasting my time.

What really gets me is at the end of this book Barnaby states in a letter to Sophia that he was a man you can trust. A man she could trust? He lied to her every time he looked into her eyes after sleeping with Martine and never telling her about it. He treated every woman that was closed to him (his daughter, mother, Martine, Sophia, and Wicky if you think about it with that crude grapefruit remark) with a blatant disregard that was very disconcerting.

Rating:
Summary: veryyy nice!
Review: this is the second book i read by anne tyler, and i'm soooo satisfied. the first was the ladder of years, which was only ok, i mean, i recommend it, but it's only ok.. but this one is much better. barnaby is such a likeable character, and it's very realistic. her writing is very smooth, you can read pages and pages and don't realize. maybe i should have given 4 stars, considering there are limited things to discuss, unlike some other books, but i couldn't help myself:) it's a great holiday read. highly recommended!!

Rating:
Summary: "There's No Such Thing As Trivia."
Review: "There's no such thing as trivia." - That is a line that Anne Tyler wrote in A Patchwork Planet, and most of Anne Tyler's work can pretty much be somed up by that idea. Anne Tyler looks at the seemingly smallest apsect of the "ordinary" person's life, finds meaning in it, and lovingly writes a book about it.

This novel is about Barnaby Gaitlin. His family looks at him as basically a thirty-year-old loser, and he has made a lot of mistakes in his life, particularly during his younger years. But now, Barnaby has begun to realize many of his mistakes and is trying to grow up. His main problem is that all of the people around him still view him as he was when younger and will not trust him. In the novel, Barnaby has to confront his old self and the way the people around him view him.

A Patchwork Planet is a good book. As always, the characterizations are apt and insightful. There is the even blend of the drama and humor that makes up life. But although I did like the novel, I didn't enjoy it as much as the other Anne Tyler novels I have read. I think that the difference between this and the others (Breathing Lessons, Accidental Tourist, & Back When We Were Grownups) is that this is written in a first-person point of view. In the other novels, we get to see the characters through the loving narration of Tyler. Seeing the story through Barnaby's eyes doesn't endear his character to the reader. It's juster harder to love him. Nevertheless, that is a fairly small complaint. Overall, I did enjoy the book, and other Anne Tyler fans will too.

Rating:
Summary: Another wonderful book by Anne Tyler
Review: I love Anne Tyler's books. The characters are unusual and yet
real. No one is some jet setting rich person, nor are the plots
predictable "they met, hated each other, then fell in love,
but neither knew the other felt the same, until the very end".

"A Patchwork Planet" shows how people age and become dependent
on others for even the most simple things. Having someone take
out their trash, open jars, get items from high shelf's.

The main character works for a business that fills the needs
of elderly clients. Chores, errands ... and something more.
Because he cares he helps alleviate their loneliness as well.

I read this book when it first came out, this copy I bought
as a gift. Anyone who has taken care of a Grandparent or
loves a Senior should read this ... it's very insightful :]

Oh and there are a few other story lines going on along with
this one ... but this is what touched me most.