Rating: 
Summary: What?
Review: Did I miss something? I kept waiting for something to happen. I would have stopped reading it but I kept waiting for something to happen. This woman, Maggie, was everything a mother should not be: too permissive, a push over, dim-witted...the list goes on and on. This book is not worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: life, in all its uplifting mediocrity
Review: After reading the perfectly depressing "Amateur Marriage" I re-opened this novel, which I had read nearly two decades ago. In an instant, I was transported into the sad yet zany and hopeful world of Maggie: she meddles and fumbles, but has a good heart and never really messes anything up seriously. All of these lives are displayed with an arresting charm, through illusions, lost hopes, and the real value that there can be in a marriage that lasts in spite of all its frustrations and even its mediocrity. At least for me, this is very very moving and nakedly realistic, even wise. It is also charming in Tyler's hands and often comic without ever traducing the realism. Indeed, this novel has all of the virtues that "Amateur" lacked and I think it is a far better performance that addresses many of the same realities - just with characters that are more likable, more interesting, more fun.Warmly recommended as a masterpiece of the mundane. Tyler makes Baltimore - of all places! - immortal. I loved it.
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