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Summary: Tyler's Report on True Life
Review: As an author with my debut novel in its initial release, I was fascinated by Anne Tyler's remarkable story about Rebecca Davitch. Rebecca is a woman in her fifties who wonders how she became who she's become, a person she believes is not her real self. By all standards, Rebecca is successful. She is a respected matriarch of a large family and a successful businesswoman. She is also a widow wondering if she should now pursue a sweetheart from her youth who is living nearby and availably divorced. Most importantly, she is contemplating how a woman who began adulthood wanting to research history has turned into this perfect stranger that she now sees herself as. One supporting character, after a century of life, explains roughly that your true life is the one you end up with. BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS is a fascinating book, one of Anne Tyler's best.
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Summary: A big dissappointment - and - boring
Review: What I thought was going to be a whimsical look at a woman's life, turned out to be nothing but a series of boring statements. The names of the characters were ridiculous and the story seemed to have no plot. I TRIED to get through the first chapter, but I could not even do that. Don't waste your time. There are plenty of other good books this summer.
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Summary: Waste of Time
Review: Can't believe this book was on the bestsellers list. I had to force myself to keep reading, thinking it would get better....on.....and on. Don't waste your time, as I did mine.
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Summary: A Midlife Non-Crisis
Review: This book might appeal to those who think they are in midlife crisis, but really aren't. Anyone in a serious crisis would be disappointed by Anne Tyler's superficial spin on the problem. Rebecca Davitch, 53, suddenly wonders how her life turned out the way it did, and ponders how it might have been different. Her efforts to answer that question at first show promise, but then fall flat. Where there is potential for strong plot development, Tyler draws back arbitrarily, almost contrary to her characters' inclinations. Rebecca's family is so large that none of the characters are developed enough for the reader to really know them. We never feel that Rebeccca is truly in crisis; her life and family, although less than perfect, aren't horrible. When she finally "resolves" her turmoil, I wondered why it took her so long to find the answer. It's a readable book, but it has little wisdom to offer.
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Summary: Disappointed
Review: Ann Tyler is one of my favorite authors,but this is definately not one of her best books. Her characters are ill-defined and rather boring. Everyone in this woman's world is self-centered and uncaring. Then she looks up her old love and takes forever to realize that he is a real jerk. A forgetable quick read.
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Summary: Women as caretakers, again.
Review: I am a big Anne Tyler fan but I have to admit that I almost put this book down. The matronly main character never, ever changes. She realizes that she made a wrong turn somewhere in her past, but she continues on with her same old routine of throwing parties and taking care of an annoying extended family. Why didn't she just get in her car and drive away? Or go back to school, or get a real job? Anything to get her out of her rut. Her clothes are consistently bad, her meals (the endless meals) are pedestrian, and the conversations put you to sleep. Talk about making middle-aged women look cliched and dull. This woman has no sex life and no hope for one without a major external and internal overhaul. I thought this book would document that journey but, instead, she just kept running in place.
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Summary: not worth the time or money
Review: i couldn't wait to read this book after all the great reviews. i was disappointed. the contrived nicknames and characters annoyed me and the shallowness of the main character did as well. A teenager may enjoy this book, but its too imature somehow for a GROWNUP!
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Summary: This book is boring.
Review: This is a story that starts nowhere and goes nowhere. Lots of characters, but no one that really plays any kind of an important role. I kept reading and reading thinking that any time now, things would pick up. Well, there's a short half-gasp, then things go back into the nauseating tedium of the life of Rebecca Davitch. Pretty much a waste of 9 hours.Want to read a really good book? White Oleander by Janet Fitch! Dynamite!
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Summary: Another Tyler Novel to Cherish
Review: Anne Tyler does not disappoint in her latest novel Back When We Were Grownups. Meet Rebecca, a woman in her 50's who finds herself reflecting back on her life and wondering how she's become this person that is not really her. As always, Tyler finds a way of creatively reminding us of the same questions we've all asked ourselves through quirky and eccentric characters and families. In typical Tyler fashion you find yourself feeling like a member of the Davitch family and experiencing each member like you are right there with Rebecca. This novel explores how are lives end up in the way that they do and how we can step outside the box and reach for more-explore the road not taken and reflect upon the road we did choose.
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Summary: Very promising beginning, but then...
Review: I really enjoyed the first 90 pages or so of this novel. Then I thought the situations became contrived, and I felt that Tyler began to make the characters quirky as an alternative to actually developing them. The dialogue between Rebecca and her mother, especially, was excruciating. I also found the plotline involving Rebecca and Will to be simply implausible. Tyler seemd to be altering her characters just to get the story where she wanted it to go. The end result was tedious and relentlessly manipulative. I didn't buy any of it, and there ended up being little or no insight or resolution to Rebecca's dilemma.
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