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Summary: Tyler writes about Everyman
Review: Anne Tyler's gift for characterization is never more in evidence than in the narrator of this novel. Barnaby Gaitlin is the black sheep of a wealthy Baltimore family, divorced, working a menial job, struggling to maintain a semblance of respectability and good relations with his ex-wife and nine-year-old daughter. A chance encounter on a train to Philadelphia brings him together with Sophia, a calm, competent woman with whom Barnaby finds love and a chance at happiness. But life is never as simple as it seems...As with many of Tyler's books, what seems at first to be a collection of inconsequential and even trivial events gathers a surprising cumulative force, due to the profusion of funny and moving observations about life, death, love and family along the way. The strength and emotional power of Patchwork Planet lies as much in the incidental encounters with Barnaby's clientele (he works for a service called Rent-a-Back, performing odd jobs for elderly and disabled folk) as with those nominally closer to him. By the end the reader is totally wrapped up in Barnaby's emotional odyssey, rooting for him to win through to happiness, which at the last he seems on the verge of attaining, though not in the way one might have expected. A Patchwork Planet will speak to anyone who has felt overwhelmed by the small daily battles of existence, unloved by loved ones, and insecure about his/her place and purpose in life; in other words, just about anyone.
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Summary: One of the best from one of the best
Review: I just re-read this book in co-ordination with reading Tyler's newest novel. I have thought so much about the characters in "A Patchwork Planet", especially Barnaby, since first reading it three years ago. This book can easily be added to a list of good books dealing with the elderly ("Roommates" by Max Apple and "To Dance With the White Dog" by Terry Kay were two of my favorites). Tyler's characterization of the older people is right on the mark. An entire book could be based on some of them! That might be the basis of my one complaint about the book -- I would have liked to have gotten to know some of these characters better. I liked the way the title was explained: One of Barnaby's clients, Mrs. Alford, has spent years making a quilt of "our planet" -- "makeshift and haphazard, clumsily cobbled together, overlapping and crowded and likely to fall to pieces at any moment," a symbol of all our lives. Barnaby was considered a loser in his family, but I thought he was the best of the bunch-- the only one with a heart and compassion as he took loving care of his elderly clients and tried to be a good father to Opal. His mother made me cringe and his oh-so-perfect brother was a jerk. Tyler's subtle humor was apparent throughout. I especially liked the way she described how Barnaby's sister-in-law *planned* and *prepared* Thanksgiving dinner! All in all, a wonderful book.
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Summary: Great Book to Take on a Trip
Review: This book was a good read for me on a recent airplane trip. Anne Tyler works magic with details and Barnaby, his family, his possible angel, and his elderly customers at the Rent-a-Back Company all became very real. I might have been flying at 35,000 feet but as I read I was with Barnaby as he met the challenges of his free form life.
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Summary: Tyler fans will not be disappointed
Review: Thirty-year-old Barnaby Gaitlin struggles to honestly overcome the impulsive misdeeds of his teenage years. The product of an affluent but not entirely happy family, Barnaby is not allowed to forget the shame he caused them, particularly his mother. Working for Rent-A-Back, a company that provides service to the elderly but not high wages to its employees, Barnaby's lean style of living continues to bring discomfort to his status-oriented family. Barnaby's relationships with his ex-wife, daughter, a new lady love and his clients help him to find his own sense of self-worth and respectability.
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Summary: Anne Tyler is a fine writer, but this is a dull book
Review: ...I gave this book 3 stars because I was too overcome by peer pressure to give it the lower score it deserves... I was never convinced that Barnaby is a man. For example, at one point in the story Barnaby went home and "wrapped himself in a blanket." Any man who wraps himself in a blanket is struggling with some unresolved ambiguity - which might well make an interesting story - had the writer created that effect intentionally. The narrative is littered with these sort of jarring expressions that just don't ring true. For further evidence, take a good look at the book cover and try to imagine a 30 year old man living in that house. My larger objection to the book is that it's not very interesting. This Barnaby fellow doesn't have anything going on in his life - which he acknowledges - and he doesn't have anything interesting to say about it. It appears that most people liked the book, but to me, it was drudgery.
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Summary: A Meditation on the Effects of Time
Review: I have long been a fan of Ann Tyler's work, and she continues to amaze me. In "A Patchwork Planet," Ms. Tyler offers another in her long line of unforgettable dysfunctional families. Thematically, she makes time, its effects and illusions, a center of her meditations. As I read through the text, I found myself thinking a lot about the effects that time has on families. In Barnaby Gaitlin, her protagonist in this tale, we find an unpromising man who is stuck in time so far as his family is concerned. His adolescent exploits into juvenile delinquency provided some of the glue that cemented his place in the family as its problem, its focus of problems, its excuse for staying stuck as the years pass by them all. Through the course of the narrative, Barnaby attempts to extricate himself from this stuck position. His efforts to change his life are made concrete through the process of paying back money to his parents. We see yet again that beliefs are almost never challenged by facts, and almost never displaced by another's actions. The wonderful cast of elderly characters that comprise Barnaby's clients for his job with Rent-A-Back display another side of time. Any and all human battles against time are futile. One of the most interesting aspects of this novel is seeing the way that people cope with the inevitable diminished abilities that are a part of aging. If we are lucky enough to have a long life, we will all eventually be included among those "old people." Sophie, Barnaby's girlfriend, serves as his "angel," in line with a Gaitlin family tradition. As such, she shows why it is never a good idea to ask an angel to stay. Sophie refuses to struggle with time and change, preferring to sacrifice her money more than her heart. Through Sophie, we see how we could have lost the truth left in the wake of those who came into our lives briefly and departed quickly. Such people often effect us most deeply; sometimes they completely change our direction in life. Such encounters hold only time enough for possibility and no time at all for the mundane disappointments that mark all our closest relationships. In the end, perhaps we should rejoice that our angels left us as quickly as they did. I have noticed that in each of Ms. Tyler's books there is a short passage or moment that remains with me long after I finish the book. In "The Accidental Tourist" it is a short passage in which one of the cousins asks Macon if his dead son will forgive him for forgetting what he looked like. In this book, there is a short passage in which Martine, Barnaby's Amazonian female partner at Rent-A-Back, describes being surrounded by children who think that she is old. It's a touching description of the surprise that one must feel when one realizes that one is old, more powerful because it is framed by one who eschews both tradition and weakness. "A Patchwork Planet" is highly recommended. It's a keeper, as are all of Ann Tyler's books.
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Summary: Simply Astonishing
Review: I'm impressed with Anne's conscientious writing style. Empathic description of human's feeling and behaviours... It make you feel for the characters especially Barnaby. He is so pathetic but so real. Barnaby is an average low achiever. He has an indifferent prospective of Life. But there's something sparking about him. I think it's a great achievement for a female writer to voice out a man's woe and thoughts so vividly. "A Patchwork Planet" shines in depicting the genuineness of Barnaby. This book is different. I think it's filled with sincerity and sensibility.
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Summary: Beautiful, just beautiful.
Review: I have read almost all of Anne Tyler's books but this, by far, is the best. Beautifully written, engaging characters, and what an incredible main character in Barnaby Gaitlin. I was open-mouthed the whole way through thinking about how Tyler's mind works and where these beautiful words came from. I would recommend this to anyone in a heartbeat. I defy you not to love Barnaby, want to slap Sophia silly, and even feel sorry for his mother who, because of her own deep insecurities about being born into a 'low-station' in life, treats her son lesser than she should. I loved that the opening line was a question, and the final line was Barnaby's realization that, yes indeed, what others thought about him WAS true. Beautiful book.
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Summary: Incredible
Review: I just finished "The Patchwork Planet" and it was the first Anne Tyler book I have read, though I have seen and absolutely adore the film version of "The Accidental Tourtist." I was blown away by her writing. She draws you so deeply in and makes you care about her characters. I was amazed by the way she wrote the male protagonist, Barnaby, because it is a very difficult thing for a woman to write a realistic male voice. Hats off to Anne Tyler- she has become one of my new favorite authors!
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Summary: I read the last paragraph...
Review: sighed, and said "What a great story!", thus waking my husband and drawing his wrath (we were both extremely jet-lagged at the time). It was that good. It's so easy to get jaded about books today - often the books touted on the bestseller lists are, well, less than impressive. Then comes along a book like A Patchwork Planet, reviving my delight in reading. Original characters, situations, problems - yet so relatable. Barnaby touched me with his impetuous kindnesses, his slides into self-pity, and his reluctant wish to believe that his life is worth having an angel enter it. And, oh, the other characters! I wanted to slap his mother and yell at Sophia. My lord, how could they do him like that? When a reader gets so into a book that they're shaking it in anger at a character, you know the author has done their job. I've read Accidental Tourist and Breathing Lessons (both gems); now I'm going to have to read the rest of Ms. Tyler's books.
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