Rating: 
Summary: Not recommended
Review: If the manuscript of "Back When We Were Grownups" was sent under an unknown author's pen name, it would not have been published. This was my first Tyler book and will be my last. The book was trite, tiresome, boring and unrealistic. The book appears to be written about the 50's rather than present day. The characters are shallow and not fully developed. I would not waste my time reading another Tyler novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Or, what do I want to be when I grow up?
Review: I thought Tyler's quirky writing and characters had lost their charm for me, but this one has me hooked all over again. Rebecca's confusion over how she turned out to be who she is makes for an interesting journey with her through a year or so of her life. I think Rebecca, along with most of us, comes to the realization that most of have not lived out a carefully chosen plan. It's interesting, especially, to follow her retracing steps back to her old fiance. OK, so the names do get on one's nerves after a while--c'mon--No-No??? But, the overall interactions within the family, how they rub up against one another, are quirky but real all the same. And, there are some good laughs along the way. I can still smile every time I think of Rebecca having a conversation with the old fiance while the conversation of the workers outside provides a, to me, hilarious counterpoint.
Rating: 
Summary: an easy read
Review: Unlike some of the other reviewers I felt this is Tyler at her best. There are many characters but I did not find it hard to follow (and this is coming from a woman who was reading this book while breastfeeding a newborn. So if it was hard to follow, believe me, I would have been the first to put it down). Instead, I felt drawn into this book and actually finished it in a weekend. There were times when I was tempted to flip ahead to see what was going to happen next. We have all asked ourselves "what if?" at some point in our lives and this is what Tyler plays on. Beck, the main character is searching for her real self, wondering if she has lost herself in "this life" along the way. I feel the subtlties and undertones in this book were well done, not superficial as some have suggested. This book made me think, held my interest, and allowed for a good escape.
Rating: 
Summary: Ghastly family
Review: If I hadn't had to read this book for a bookclub I would have stopped at page 6. It is one of the worst books I've ever read and I read constantly.And over many years. The ridiculous names, the endless family get togethers of people who disliked each other and appeared to have no other friends/life, the tedious details. The best line for me was when Rebecca says "I'm superficial" but meant to say superfluous! She was pathetic. All the characters were one dimensional and why did she persevere with the hopeless Will who had no will at all. All that hypocritical chirpiness. I wanted to shake her. And the ungrateful, whinging, whining adults and their offspring. Uggg!
Rating:
Summary: the old reliable anne tyler
Review: "Back When We Were Grownups" is a return for Anne Tyler to a locale, and a style, that will be familiar to many of her fans. What is notable about Tyler's best novels is that you remember the characters years after you first meet them. This remarkable characterization (in "Searching for Caleb," "Morgan's Passing," and "The Accidental Tourist," among others) is alive again in the quirky, three-dimensional characters who crowd into "Back When We Were Grownups." These are characters with idiosyncrasies, with warts--and who act, in both their best and their worst moments, just like us. Probably older readers will enjoy this latest Anne Tyler the most, because we are the folks who think back on our early years so frequently, and wonder what it would be like to have second chances. "Back When We Were Grownups" reveals the forked roads that intersect many lives, shows Rebecca Davitch choosing one fork again, and allows us to think about making the choice ourselves. It is a satisfying journey.
Rating:
Summary: Comfort food for the middle-aged mind
Review: The problem with Anne Tyler's books is they end. Just when her characters feel as comfortable as old shoes, we reach the last page. No more will they greet you at the end of the day for a little friendly tete-a-tete, at least not until the next book appears. And what mother cannot relate to Rebecca, the emotional center of her squabbling adopted family? What parent has not pretended an enthusiasm she did not feel? And who has not turned around at the near half-century mark to wonder, What happened to the person I used to be? As predictable as an old friend, the plot still holds us because we care about Beck and hope to learn from her own life lessons.
Rating: 
Summary: A fairy tale...
Review: ... about a 50-something woman who is essentially allowed to go back home again and ponder where her life may have gone had she chosen a different path. Unfortunately, the characters are weak and unlikable; the plot is virtually non-existent; and the subject matter is less than intriguing in its application. I got the impression that Tyler didn't care for her characters either.
Rating:
Summary: "Your true life is the one you end up with, "
Review: ..."whatever it may be," says Poppy. That, I believe is the moral of the story, and a worthy moral it is indeed. I'm a devoted reader, willing to take great leaps of faith because I've found that they occasionally pay off. With Anne Tyler, that is not usually even a gamble, but a sure bet. This time, though, I didn't get the payoff. It's a shame, I think. There was so much potential here. The characters were ripe for development but fell flat. Why, for instance is Patch so consistently contentious? I sort of "got" Min Foo's desertion thing but what about Biddy? For all the insight into Biddy and her contribution to the story, she could have as easily been absent. I understood Beck's guilt about Will, but whence all the longing for the vastly unsympathetic one? I know the family interaction is the thing, so why not more on the interaction between Beck and Zeb? Now there was a line worthy of development! I'm exactly Beck's age and have had my own crises, mid-life and otherwise, full of questions, regrets, and longing for different choices that should have been made years ago. Haven't most of us been there? But Poppy says it best: "There is no true life. Your true life is the one you end up with, whatever it may be." If it no longer fits, you've got more choices to make. A sacrilege, these comments. Yes, indeedy, but I keep wishing I'd re-read Accidental Tourist or Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.
Rating:
Summary: A pivitol point in one's life.
Review: I am at the point in life where I am making life-decisions at an alarming rate. I'm getting married next year, and I met my future husband just earlier this year. I never doubted our relationship for one bit, even though some less-supportive friends have questioned the validity of our relationship. Then I came across Anne Tyler's book, and I was intrigued. Her story really made me think and evaluate my own life.
This is the first time in a long time where a book has actually made me think about my own life. What if I never left my college-sweetheart? What if I had decided to go to culinary school instead of teacher college? I mean, really, a book can make me think about my life in one sitting, where years of conversation and journal writing could not? Seriously, it had.
"Back When We Were Grown-Ups" is a very intelligent book. I have no idea if this story-line was ever used before - but to me, this was new, and the ideas in it are very new, rather like a choose-your-own-adventure. I almost feel sorry for the main character, Rebecca. I'm torn between what she is living/experiencing, and the life that I "think" she wants to lead.
What happened was that I got extremely consumed with this book. It not only made me question Rebecca's life, but my own life as well. This novel did was help me reaffirm that I am capable at making good decisions, and made me think about how my decisions know will affect my life in the near and distant future. What this book did was get me to imagine what-if?, and then shrug my shoulders to confirm that yes, I live in the present, and I have made good choices along the way.
I highly recommend this novel for many reasons. If anything, it will get to you think about your life - past, present, and the future.
Rating:
Summary: vintage Tyler
Review: As a long-time fan of Tyler's work, I liked this one more than any since Breathing Lessons. Those who think the book is simple aren't looking at the circular structure of the book-- (spoilers ahead) Beck is taken off the path of her orderly life by a whirlwind courtship from her husband, and decades after losing him, she decides to get back to that road not taken. What she discovers is that she wasn't yanked from her destiny but instead chose another one-- she accepts her responsibility in that decision. That's what being a grown-up is. In many ways this novel is almost eastern in tone-- there are layers and layers of darkness under the breezy style. Those who dismiss it as light might just as well dismiss the impressionist painters as mere colorists.
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