A Patchwork Planet

Rating:
Summary: Tylers's Confused Samaritan
Review: My first Anne tyler novel, read on a relaxing holiday in Cornwall. A clever book using Barnaby the main character as the fulcrum of the problems of growing old in our modern fast paced world. He is a person who sees himself as a bad person when in fact he is the opposite and is the real decent character in the book. He of course has many of our own human failings, but we learn to enjoy them rather than loathe him for them. The story moves at a nice pace, introducing a wide and varied array of characters (mainly of later years) whose interplay with Barnaby which Tyler appears to do very well is the main highlight of the book, with many of the situations evolving into ones that the reader can easily identify with. I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more of her work.

Rating:
Summary: Another Anne Tyler set of characters come alive!
Review: Barnaby Gaitlin works for Rent-A-Back, a private company supplying labor to perform chores for the elderly and infirm people of Baltimore. Barnaby has no interest in his parents' wealth, but he does have an interest in one family tradition--that of finding a personal angel. While enroute to Philadelphia to visit his daughter Opal, he encounters a suspicious situation involving a woman named Sophie and thinks that she just might be his personal angel.

A Patchwork Planet is a story of Baltimore and some of its inhabitants. Frequently mentioning streets and places in and around the city, the author delves into the life of one of its young men. This is a rather mundane fellow whose life is not all that interesting. Yet the author is able to capture the flavors of Barnaby as a person and those people who are part of his life. What's missing from the author's story is the "bite" of an exciting plot. Despite that drawback, she captures the nuances of everyday life--those small tensions that bubble beneath the surface of family relationships and friendships. A story of conversations, modest expectations, and family irritations, the author delivers a low key, down-home sort of tale.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, quick read
Review: This is my fifth Anne Tyler book. While "Saint Maybe" remains my favorite, this one beats out "Celestial Navigation" which was my number two favorite. Barnaby is an interesting character because you read the story through his eyes yet you disagree with the way he views himself. He believes himself to be a bad person when he is anything but. He has made mistakes but is now doing the best he can to overcome them and be a positive influence on others lives. It is a frustrating book to read at times because we (the audience), Sophia, Mrs. Dibble, and all the clients of Rent-A-Back see Barnaby as a decent human but he refuses to see this side of himself until the end. When I finished this novel, I was happy to see that Barnaby had started to realize what a good person he really is. The only disappointment is the end. Do Sophia and Barnaby stay together? While it is a trite concern in the overall theme of the book, it is still an important issue...at least to me! :-)

Rating:
Summary: Another delightful Anne Tyler Story.
Review: I have read and loved every one of Anne Tyler's 14 novels and A Patchwork Planet did not disappoint. Each of Ms. Tyler's books are about a different quirky Baltimore family and the main character is usually a flawed individual who grows through the story and overcomes some of their past problems. I will admit in looking back at the 14 titles, I can't always recall which book is about which quirky character, but they are all quite delightful reads. Barnaby Gaitlin is trying to overcome his past bad behavior, but his parents, brother, former best friend, ex-wife and even his young daughter always expect the worst and can't see that he is changing and becoming a responsible adult. His boss, co-workers and clients from Rent-a-Back seem to be the only ones who see his true potential and goodness. If you have liked Anne Tyler in the past, this is a must read book. If you haven't read her before, this is a worthy starting point.

Rating:
Summary: Good - but start with something else
Review: If you read (and liked) "I know this much is true" by Wally Lamb, then do yourself a favor and read anything by Anne Tyler.

But don't expect a 900 page story with a 3 page happy ending tacked on. Anne Tyler is much more authentic.

That being said, if you're just getting started with Anne Tyler I suggest "Ladder of Years" or "Saint Maybe" before "Patchwork Planet".

Rating:
Summary: Tyler's Talent Shines
Review: I loved the character, Barnaby Gaitlin. This is a character that one does not usually come across in a work of fiction. Only a writer of Anne Tyler's talent could depict such a multi-dimensional man in a basically female-dominated environment. My only regret is that an organization such as Rent-a-Back does not really exist. There has been more than one occasion in my life when I could have used the services of such an organization!

Rating:
Summary: A Sunday-Pot-Roast-Dinner of a Novel
Review: A Tyler novel is like a Sunday pot roast dinner--it may sound conventional, but when the guests push themselves away from the dinner table, no one ever complains. Reading this novel is no different.

From the first page to the last, Tyler writes a circular tale that ties all the bits and pieces together so that long after finishing my reading, it lingers as a pleasant memory.

If you have ever been accused of something and you honestly didn't do it, then you have an idea of what the protagonist is going through in this novel. Our hero works for Rent-A-Back, a small handyman company that services the disadvantaged. But when he is accused of stealing $2,700 out of a flour jar, and when a criminal record as a juvenile surfaces, and when his girlfriend covers up for him as if he actually DID steal it, then he must stretch his convictions and take charge. The ending to this novel is fantastic; right up to the last page, the reader doesn't know what will happen for sure.

Read it for pleasure or read it for a moral lesson. It doesn't matter. As long as you read it, that is.

Rating:
Summary: A Patchwork Planet
Review: What is it about this book? It does not transport me to fascinating corners of the world, plumbing the depths of the jungle darkness, surveying the peaks of ice-capped mountains. Tyler carries me down to earth on a stream of pellucid descriptions of ordinary life. Barnaby Gaitlin, his ex-wife, his daughter, his parents, grandparents, co-workers, and the older folks for whom he works, sit uncomfortably close to our hearth and home. Barnaby comes from a wealthy home, though you'd never guess it by his bare basement home, his ragged jacket and the old car that's always in the garage. Like us, he's still waiting for life to begin, waiting for his regrets to fade from memory, waiting for his parents to turn into, well, another set of parents. He waits, he struggles, he ignores phone calls, he doesn't let his daughter's little rejections defeat him. And in the midst of this gray chaos, Barnaby is looking for his personal angel to appear and make it all better. Tyler touches her characters with the breath of life, replete with all the uncomfortable foibles and habits that we all have.

Rating:
Summary: A Patchwork Planet
Review: A Patchwork Planet is a mervelous novel! Anne Tyler sparkles as one of the strongest American novelists of our day. A Patchwork planet explores people; explores their eccentricities, their stregnths, their weaknesses, their loves, their hopes. The novel not only follows the lives of a charming group of characters of all ages and from all walks of life, it weaves this exploration into a textured quilt of enchanting plots. A Patchwork Planet is a lovely novel that will warm your heart and leave you craving to read more of Anne Tyler's works.

Rating:
Summary: Typical Anne Tyler: Thought-provoking and entertaining
Review: I agree with the previous reviewer that neither Tyler or almost any other novelist today is competing with the likes of Tolstoy or Dickens. But within the limits of Tyler's own ambition, her characterizations are pointed and deadly accurate. I have heard it said that Tyler's characters are "almost" normal or just slightly "off", but I find them to be not off at all and 100% normal. Each of her main characters has quirks, as virtually all of us do. Barnaby, who is the main character in this novel, is astoundingly real. Like all of us, he finds a way to accommodate his own idiosyncracies along with the idiosyncracies of others and with the fundamental and usually-minor unfairnesses of everyday life. For Tyler to construct a such a worthwhile novel out of those mundane materials is no small feat. In most cases, I judge a novel by how effectively it causes me to care about the characters. Tyler succeeded in making me care about Barnaby, as well as his girlfriend and most of the other characters. I was disappointed to come to the end of the novel and realize I wouldn't be living their lives with them any longer.