Rating: 
Summary: disappointed
Review: I always enjoy Tyler's writing but I found this book frustrating--the only family member that seemed to appreciate Rebecca was Poppy---his birthday speech was an homage to the ways she made his life comfortable. I found all the daughters, biological and non, extremely annoying and ungrateful and even cruel (referring to her 'unrelenting jollity') They all received benefits from Rebecca's work for the family but there was no gratitude expressed, to the point of the new step-son-in-law not including her on the video credits for Poppy's compilation of home movies, a fact that was glossed over. And what about Zeb, the brother-in-law? Wasn't Poppy actually related to him? Wasn't he a doctor? Wasn't some financial obligation (at the very least) due? I found Rebecca's lack of ability to speak up for herself maddening (she did fine in her interior monologues but it never got out to where it might bring about some change) but was more sympathetic as the book went on because she truly believed this was the life that she was due. IMHO. . the best Tyler novel is still Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, with A Patchwork Planet coming somewhere after that.
Rating: 
Summary: a gentle read with real wit and wisdom about families...
Review: I just finished reading this book...It was a lovely and easy read filled with gentle humor and knowing observations about individuals and the way they exist in and around (and in relation with) their family. The main character Rebecca discovers some truths about the choices that she has made, the choices that have been made for her, and finally, she learns to take responsibility, a certain degree of acceptance, and even some pleasure in the person that she has become.In the end, in a quiet way, this story snuck up on me emotionally... It is filled with so much humor, wit, detailed observation and subtle wisdom about the constant disappointments, sadness, boredom and joys of family, relationships and life.
Rating: 
Summary: More Tyler, and yet wonderfully unique
Review: I once wrote a short fan note to Anne Tyler: "Thank you for writing such odd and wonderful books. You introduce me to people I would never consider spending time with, and better, you make me fall in love with them." Tyler creates characters who, at first meeting, have messy lives. They are too quirky, too unfocused, spread too thin in their duties and affections. But little by little, page by page, you come to care for them. In this one a middle-aged widow examines how her own life has become so unlike anything she hoped or planned it might be. And in her quest to find out how that happened she learns respect for the choices she made and the ways that she coped with circumstances. You have to love her. This is not the place for a new Tyler reader to begin to get to know her, but it is a superb book. (By the way, Ms. Tyler replied to my note with one line: "Thank you for your kind words, and thank you for being a reader." No, Ms. Tyler, we thank you.
Rating:
Summary: She's Like a Mother to Me
Review: It seems like Anne Tyler puts out a new novel every couple of years just before Mother's Day, which is appropriate for me because when I read her books, I feel like I'm "home." When this woman passes away, I will literally feel as if I've lost a mother, that's how much I adore her writing. "Back When We Were Grownups" is a good novel. There were passages where the main character, Rebecca, describes meeting her old boyfriend again after 40 years that made me laugh out loud, and the parts where Rebecca wonders to herself what ever happened to the young college girl she once are so vivid and accurate it can really get you in the gut. All in all, it's a very good novel, but I did have some problems with it. First, it was way too short and ended rather ubruptly. I could've kept reading at least another 200 pages. The only other criticism is that I was really confused by the names she chose for her step-daughters. It was just too confusing to keep track of, well, see, I can't even remember thier names! But still, if you love Anne Tyler, you will love this book. It's just not the best she's written.
Rating:
Summary: "Once Upon A Time"
Review: "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she turned in the wrong person." The first line of chapter one in this story. The main character is a fifty years old woman who name is Rebecca. She is the heart, soul, and love of her family. Also, she is the matrich of her family and the proprietress of "The Open Arm", a family own business. She discovered that she is not herself in mind or body. She belive that she mind be living some one us life or just her own in a different way. The setting in this story is during the month of June in the year of 1999. On a hot summer Sunday for a picnic. The story is a meaningful, sad, and insiripation story. The author Anne Tyler given all her character a life. Also there own personal view of things. She kept her book on a steady pace so that it may catches the reader eye. She also have Rebecca, Beck (the main character) have flashback of her young days in life while in college before she met her husband Joe Davitch. The problem in this story is that Rebecca is not sure about herself anymore and try to discover herself again. Furthermore, if I were to suggest who was to read this book I will suggest to everyone to read it. Reason why, is because it will insiripate people to live their life to the fulliness. Books like "Pale Phoenix","Within Reach: My Everest Story", and "Armageddon Summer" is based on the lifes of people who go to drama, mystery, danger, and sadiness in their lifes. This book is different from other because, it is the story of a woman life who feel that she no longer within herself of body and soul. The story is meaningful in many ways. Like in other book they all have their own style, tales, and view. Also, a different themes and subjects. Other author to "Death be not Proud" and "David Copperfield" are just as wonderful book because the authors has their own sytle. They are both based on the life of someone but in different lifes. "Death be not proud" is the story of a teenages with cancer and "David Copperfield" is the story of a man life and what he did throughout his life. The thing I like about Anne Tyler is her writing. She have her own personal style in writing. She given her character personal opinion toward each other and names like NoNo, Biddy, Jeep, Barry, Patch, Min Foo, Troy, and other names. She is also put in those "back in the days" flashback for her main character. Furthermore, the reviewer of this story said they like this story very much. Also, they express their feeling toward the story. Some also say they read the story for the book and off the Internet. They expressed their feelings in many ways. This story is the most insiripation I read ever. However, this is my conclusion of my opinion of the story.
Rating:
Summary: A Sentimental Education
Review: Anne Tyler has never been a particularly autobiographical novelist. Her latest book, "Back When We Were Grownups," however, is suffused with the grief she must surely feel from the death of her husband, who passed away shortly before her last novel ("A Patchwork Planet") was published in 1998. The story centers around 53-year-old Rebecca Davitch, who yearns for the college sweetheart and intellectual pursuits that characterized a different path she could have taken in life but didn't; yet finds herself still mourning her husband Joe Davitch, whose party-hosting business she joined when she married him and took over when he died in a car accident six years later. The most moving and skillful passages of the book are the ones that unveil the depths of Rebecca's hidden suffering and her confused attempts to deal with it while maintaining her long-since adopted merry, cheer-bringing composure. Despite these darker tones, however, the novel is one of Tyler's more "frivolous" works, to use a quote from Tyler herself describing her initial intentions for the book. Absent are the ambitiously charted life-long tracks of the main characters in "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" and "Saint Maybe"; gone are the clever surprise endings of "Ladder of Years" and "A Patchwork Planet." The novel instead feels as though it captures but a few months of the dabbling pursuits of Rebecca Davitch (though the novel purportedly spans a year), and the ending is so sentimental it's almost cheesy. Perhaps the death of Tyler's husband has left her in something of a creative rut. However, perhaps this will also mark a turning point in her career and a return to the level of her greatest works. Surely Tyler has enough passion and intelligence to regain the ambition she had back when she was a grownup.
Rating:
Summary: My own personal review
Review: The way the author introduction is excellent. The character Rebecca is telling her story of her life. Which is interesting in the begin of the story. The story is about a fifty years old grandmother who think she turned into the wrong person. The story to me is based on the motives of insirpation, happiness, love and kindiness. But one thing only the story can tell over thing that usually sometimes happen to a family.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Tyler
Review: The wonder of Anne Tyler is her ability to hear and capture the sounds and rhythms of the ordinary. Her characters live and talk like real people and she's got an uncanny ability to make everyday relationships and situations fascinating. She is a truly gifted storyteller whose writing never intrudes upon the story she's telling -- a skill some of our flashier, more precious authors would do well to master. "Back When We Were Grownups" ranks among her best work. The characters are more endearing and memorable than those in "A Patchwork Planet" (with whom it was somewhat difficult to connect). Rebecca Davitch and her world are both comfortingly familiar and pleasantly unexpected. It's what we've come to expect from Ms. Tyler and what sends me to the bookstore every few years to buy her latest release, in hardcover, no questions asked. She is a writer of consistent quality and restraint.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading
Review: While this book isn't as good as some of Tyler's other novels, it is well worth reading. Rebecca, a 53-year-old party planner, is having a mid-life crisis. How she muddles through the crisis is typically Tyler: with a wealth of characters and situations, wonderful dialogue and writing. I agree with the reviewer who noted that the novel isn't as layered as Tyler's previous works. I will, however, look forward to reading her next work.
Rating: 
Summary: At least the first line was good
Review: It kills me to have to write this! This novel opens with what is one of the best first lines I've ever read (mentioned elsewhere); unfortunately it only goes downhill from there. With each previous A.T. book, I thought she had made quantum leaps -- just getting better and better. I can't quite put my finger on what went wrong here or why. You can read the synopsis of the plot in other reviews and there's nothing wrong with the plot. It's an interesting dilemma Rebecca finds herself in: how she came to be who she is and where she's found herself in her 53rd year. It's a question I'm sure we all have faced or will face. But the novel simply never engaged me. Usually Anne Tyler's characters are quirky but likeable. Here, the novel is populated with characters that I simply didn't care about. Rebecca, the protagonist, is likeable (and sympathetic), but she's stuck in the midst of a multitude of mainly annoying family and friends. Perhaps there are simply too many of them to flesh out in so few pages. As always, the sense of place is exactly right. Descriptions burn images into your mind. But without an engrossing story happening within these settings, it makes for a disappointing read. Oh well, she's earned a strike out after all the home runs she's hit in the past.
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