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Summary: A pathetic family
Review: Anne Tyler is the queen when it comes to creating and developing quirky characters. Unfortunately, this family is so pathetic and so miserable, the reader may find it impossible to sympathize or relate to them. I wanted to reach through the pages and strangle everyone, especially her good for nothing stepdaughters.
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Summary: I hate to give Anne Tyler less than five stars!
Review: I am the quintessential Tyler fan! I've read every one of her books. My favorite is still "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant." This one disappointed me. It was predictable. I feel she could have done so much more with the theme. A number of writers are covering the theme of meeting up with, or the desire to meet an old beau from our youth. But she was not at her best with the characters. And there were so many! C'mon Anne, you are still my favorite. Try again!
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Summary: Now What?
Review: Given Anne Tyler's gift for exploring the inner natures of her characters, and the opening line of the novel ("Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person.") you naturally expect this novel to shine with insight and catharsis. All sorts of intriguing questions come to mind. If she is the wrong person, who should she be? What is wrong with the person she is? What happened? And of course, what will she do about it? Unfortunately, most of these questions never really get answered. The main character that has had this major insight (53-year old Rebecca Davitch) never gets beyond the vague realization that her decision to marry Joe Davitch rather than her childhood sweetheart Will Allenby changed the way her life unfolded. No big revelation there. Most readers will have figured this out for themselves long ago. What the book promises, and doesn't deliver, is a paring away of the years of role playing, the sharpening of focus that comes when someone finally chooses him or herself over the needs and expectations of others. Tyler spends hundreds of pages wandering through Rebecca's past, without any real revelations surfacing. In addition, Rebecca is suddenly seized with the desire to find and re-establish a relationship with the childhood sweetheart she dumped. Things become even more muddled when she suddenly decides that the childhood sweetheart, whom she seems to have fallen in love with again and who has graciously forgiven her, really isn't the man for her after all. In a sudden reversal of feeling (in one paragraph she is floating happily about the house and introducing him to her family, and the next can't stand the guy) she announces to him that this relationship really won't work. The poor guy, who has just spent hours at a family dinner, meekly walks away saying, "Oh, okay I guess." There is no mention made or thought given to how this second rejection must have affected the man. He simply walks out of the story and is never heard from again. In a final, puzzling reversal, Rebecca begins to think that marrying her husband had been a smart move after all. What is Tyler saying here? Has Rebecca discovered that she turned into the right person after all? The book closes without any real resolution or change, leaving the reader dissatisfied and annoyed with Rebecca for being vague and indecisive. Several people have defended the book, saying that Rebecca is a "real" character. There are thousands of women struggling to find themselves once their partners pass away and major family obligations subside. I have no doubt that this is true, but we don't read books simply to see our lives reflected in print. We read them to gain understanding and insight, and in the past Tyler could be counted on to deliver both. Things happen physically and psychologically in most Tyler books (though they don't always resolve), but this novel fails to deliver. In fact, I would say it falls flat. All I could think when I reached the last page was, "is that it?! Now what?"
Rating: 
Summary: One of Her Best
Review: From the beginning first line to the end of the book, Anne Tyler brought beautiful little gems of personal insight to her main character. She loves her characters and that shows. There is a kindness to them, even if they are awkward and socially misfit. She sees the good in people and how the little detail mirrors the big truths. I loved this book without qualification. The writing was excellent.
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Summary: Somewhat entertaining but that's about it
Review: This is the first Anne Tyler book I have read. My reasons for avoiding her before are not very good. I hated the film version of her book "The Accidental Tourist" and thereby found her guilty by association. I am disappointed to report that this book did not do much to help my not fully informed opinion. This book really is a non-book. Nothing much happens and it is populated with underdeveloped characters. It is supposed to be about a middle-aged woman's identity crisis. However, it is the book that suffers from the identity crisis. It tries to be a meaningful tale of self-discovery and at the same time a story about a woman whose surrounded by kooky, quirky but lovable family and friends. It succeeds somewhat with the latter. The book did make me laugh at times, and some of the half-developed characters are quite likeable. However, the whole book reeks of a half-hearted attempt. Perhaps Ms. Tyler was under pressure from her publisher to churn out another novel. I believe Ms. Tyler has talent, unfortunately it is not well displayed in this book. Let's just hope they don't make a movie out of this one.
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Summary: back when we were grownups
Review: Excellent first paragraph....promises so much, but never delivers. The development and ending is quite predictable that one feels cheated.
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Summary: We all search for our "True Life"
Review: Rebecca Davitch seeks to find out what is her "true life." As women, we all eventually go there - some younger, some older - but we do try to imagine what would have happened if we had only... As you can imagine, sometimes our "thing that might have been" isn't always the pot at the end of the rainbow, either. Tyler again takes us through a time in the life of her main character, both through their head and in dialogue and interaction with others. If you've read her books before, you'll find the similar story-telling and familiar feelings it surfaces. I recommend this book, at any time in your life. You may say "been there, done that," or take it as a look into the future when you yourself will question the path you've chosen.
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Summary: Interesting
Review: This is the first book by Anne Tyler I've read, and although I understand it does not meet the standards of some of her others, I found it to be an interesting read about a woman questioning who she has become, who she was, and exploring what brought her to the place she is.
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Summary: True life as a fairytale
Review: The story centers around Rebecca Davitch, the accidental matriarch of a complicated, fractious, and altogether typical family. Her husband's death early in their marriage has forced her to man the helm of the family business, a special event facility in Baltimore, and a hodge-podge family of assorted step-daughters, in-laws and various other "adopted strays". Faced with her uncle-in-law Poppy's 100th birthday, and her own middle-years, she questions the direction her life has taken, one she feels isn't her "true life". How did she come to be a person she doesn't even recognize, with a life that seems mundane and false? Back When We Were Grown-Ups begins with a fairytale opening, "Once upon a time there was a woman.." On the surface Rebecca's life is no fairytale, at least not in the traditional way. It's only at the end of this soft, sentimenal story that we see what Rebecca herself has been blind to for so long, that she has indeed lead a wonderous, fairytale life. She was rescued by her prince and brought to a castle to live happily, messily ever after. Anne Tyler is a master at exploring ordinary life in a way that makes it seem extraordinary and noble and worthy of writing about.
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Summary: Thank You, Anne Tyler, for writing books
Review: Anne Tyler makes it seem simple. Ordinary people, ordinary events, extraordinary results. This novel is another example of one of the country's best writers taking seemingly dull events and everyday trials and tribulations, and creating something meanigful out of it. So, again, thanks Anne, for blessing us with a new book every couple years.
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