Rating: 
Summary: A Poignant Tale of Marriage and Family
Review: Like many of the other reviewers, I am a stalwart Ann Tyler fan and, while The Amateur Marriage is not one of her best novels, it is a worthwhile read. Tyler has a unique writing style -- calm and intuitive -- which works well in this tale about the marriage of two disparate individuals and the repurcussions when that relationship gradually collapses. Although some of Tyler's observations -- the rise of 1950's suburbia, the flowering of 1960's Haight-Ashbury counter-culture, and the fall-out wrought by mega-supermarkets -- seem contrived, the complex family relationships are beautifully wrought and compelling. After reading this novel, you cannot help but feel that we are each amateurs in the relationships that populate our lives.
Rating: 
Summary: An unforgettable book about marriage & family!
Review: Don't read any reviews that give away the plot of this book and also ignore the bad reviews, especially if you're over 40 and married. Anne Tyler was born in 1941 so she understands how life choices can be constantly evaluated as people age. The book flows from chapter to chapter and I was completely caught up in the lives of the family. I knew nothing about the plot ahead of time except that the married couple at times both have regrets about marrying the other. There is nothing plodding about this book - it was a page turner for me, but then I'm close to Tyler's age and my family experiences made me know how real this book is.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Tyler Is No Amateur Writer
Review: Pauline and Michael met in 1941 as World War II was upon them, were infatuated with each other, hardly got acquainted before Michael goes off to fight for his country. They marry quickly, live with his mother whom he works for in the family grocery store, have two children quickly, then a third and live lives of quiet desperation. Sound familiar? Tyler maintains that this couple is mismatched and that they were amateurs about marriage. I would argue that there is a little bit of them in almost every married couple I know, that we are all "amateurs" when it comes to choosing a mate. Pauline and Michael could fit atop almost every wedding cake I've seen.Here are more examples of Pauline and Michael as every couple. They often quarrel but are not sure why they are angry with each other. Pauline often describes their children as "my" children rather than "our" children. (I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard one spouse make that statement.) Because of what their oldest child Lindy does-- she runs away from home-- "it meant that Michael never again had a moment of pure joy." About Pauline, Michael says that "she was a good person, really. Well, and so was Michael himself, he believed. It was only that the two of them weren't nice. They weren't always very nice to each other; he couldn't explain just why." George, Pauline and Michael's son, feels that he married his mother. (How often have we heard that statement?) Michael has no hobbies. Pauline has had the same women friends for years, but has "lost the ability to pass judgment on these women. She didn't even know if she liked them, in fact, and perhaps she didn't like them, but by now it hardly mattered because how would she ever start over with somebody new, at this point?" At one point late in the novel when the children are telling stories about their mother, Michael doesn't recognize the woman they are describing. Although Ms. Tyler writes about the everyday dullness of a marriage, this novel is never, never dull. You know dozens of things about these wonderfully developed characters and ultimately care desperately about them. I found a sorrow sometimes just under the surface and other times palpable that I do not recall from reading other Tyler novels. Perhaps it's because the author is older now or we have lived through September 11, 2001-- the novel ends after 9/11/01-- or because we experience Pauline and Michael's lives over such a long period of time. At any rate, even those these two characters often didn't like each other very much, they never stopped loving each other on some level. I could rename them after a dozen couples I know. This most perceptive novel is as good as any Anne Tyler has written.
Rating: 
Summary: Am I missing something?
Review: I am so disappointed in this book. I am a faithful Anne Tyler fan. I've read all her books and loved them. I was so looking forward to The Amateur Marriage. I bought the hardcover as soon as it was available. I'm halfway thru and can't find the motivation to finish it. I don't care about the characters; the story is plodding and uninteresting; and the writing is sophomoric. I find it hard to believe that Anne Tyler actually wrote it. It just doesn't measure up to her previous work.
Rating:
Summary: My Farorite Author
Review: To me, Anne Tyler can do no wrong. Her books are like pizza,or sex---even when bad,they're good! This one is great. Anne's "ordinary" characters become extraordinary.For days after reading one of her books, the world seems a brighter place to me,as each new or old acquaintance I encounter takes on a more quirky, curious persona.When I was twenty, I would camp out to be first in line for Rolling Stone tickets. Now at fifty I do the same at the bookstore to get Tyler's latest release,then try not to gobble it up in one day,knowing I have several years to wait for the next one.Tyler herself remains an inigma. Is she a recluse? A widow? A divorcee?[mention of her husband in her book jacket bio stopped several books ago].Like a good shrink,she reveals nothing of herself,allowing the reader to focus only on her characters,and our own self-evaluation.Still,I'd like to know more about her,like how she manages to spend the tons of money she must make while never leaving Baltimore!
Rating:
Summary: Plain Old Good Writing
Review: Everyone has different tastes and I fully support that. Everyone is entitled to what they like. With that said - in this world of high concept shoot 'em ups, who done its, and juvenile bathroom humor, I for one am certainly glad when I come across a piece of just plain old good writing. You know - interesting plot, interesting characters, periods at the ends of sentences. (You'd think that wouldn't be too much to ask, right?) "The Amateur Marriage" fits the bill. It is a good book. The middle class plot is right on the money - interesting but not overly grandiose. The common man/woman character are equally right on. And, the dialogue is well scripted. Overall "The Amateur Marriage" is a very professional presentation (my little play on words - ha ha) that will find favor with avid readers of well crafted stories (to qualify this statement, I refer to "well crafted stories" to mean more commonly accepted "good books," critic's picks, and book club selections like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", "Secret Life of Bees", "My Fractured Life", and "The Time Traveler's Wife.")
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Summary: How to Categorize?
Review: I'll preface by saying that I'm an Anne Tyler fan who looks forward to each new release with passionate fervor. I began The Amateur Marriage, but did not find myself initially enamored with it. I wondered: has she lost it? She was writing very distantly. I felt close to none of the characters (only a reread might indicate why she chose this path) and then suddenly she launched into the pov of one of the main characters and I was immediately drawn inward. I turned page after page after page and became immersed as I would in any Tyler novel. The ending is marvelous--heart-stopping. With that said, there are gaps in the narrative that left me stranded. For this reason, I could not give the novel a 5-star rating as I normally might do. Some of the characters are dealt with in a superficial manner, which made me feel incomplete. The entire passage concering the long-lost daughter was unfulfilling. The reader is brought into the mind of the youngest daughter after her sister's disappearance, but she immediately becomes alien in the novel, spoken of only in an off-handedness, which seems to me to be a waste. Lastly, and I hate to say so, I thought Tyler took the easy way out near the end in how she dealt with this Amateur Marriage. Yes, the incident embodied a quirkiness foreshadowed earlier, but I felt that it seemed too easy and shocking. I felt that it lacked the courage of so much of Tyler's writing. The last passage, however, may make the entire novel. Her prose is rhythmic. The thoughts nostalgic and unblemished. This is the stuff of an Anne Tyler novel. This is why I read her writing time and time again.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Tyler is a genius
Review: Do not miss this beautifully written story of a marriage. Two mismatched young people meet in the 1940s, and we follow their lives and family into this century. Anne Tyler is an American treasure. No one else writes with the detail and heart that she does. Thanks, Anne, for another wonderful novel. The last two pages had me in tears, and I hated to close the book.
Rating:
Summary: Haul out the Prozac
Review: Other readers must have better endorphins than I do. I have read all of Tyler's novels (Accidental Tourist is my favorite)and though many deal with sad situations, the last 100 or so pages of this one were pretty darn tragic. In the periodical, Book Pages, Tyler is quoted from an email interview : "I had worried it would make me unhappy to write about such an unhappy subject." Evidently she was OK, but I was left feeling terribly sad for all the characters. Must be good character development! Other than making me depressed, the only thing I didn't like was the last 2 pages. I don't think enough of a foundation was built for that ending from a man who said his marriage had been hell for 30 years and then never strayed from that position for the next 22.
Rating:
Summary: sad but good
Review: I always meant to get around to reading the Accidental Tourist (also by Anne Tyler) but I read the Amateur Marriage instead. What is next? The Wonderful Author? That is what I think author Anne Tyler is after reading this book. It is unsettling but that is because of the story that will seem familiar in some way to most people who read it. But the writing is very good. Author Anne Tyler is a wonderful storyteller.
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