Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A View of Family Life!!! (4.5)
Review: I truly enjoyed reading this book. While not all families
can be role models, this book showed us a touch of reality.

Beck and Pearl Tull, along with their children;
Cody, Jenny, and Ezra seemed to be a happy family until Beck
deserts them. Anger comes from the family members in different ways. This is the story of the family's survival.

This reminded me of my own family at times. I give
this book 4.5 stars:)


Rating:
Summary: Wonderful novel about relationships between men and women
Review: A richly emotional book about family, love, realtionships between men and women, sisters and brothers, the search for love and meaning in life. A Classic and Must-Read!

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: A thought provoking book on how a dying woman refelcts on how she bought up her three children after her husband left her. The characters in this book all succeeded in life professionally but their lives were full of emotional turmoil and seemed to be stunted. The family always fought and could never finish a meal together at the Homesick Restaraunt, owned by one of the sons...

Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: A travelling salesman announces to his wife that he is not coming home. Ever. She then proceeds to raise their three children with ferocious energy, suppressing her own fading dreams in the hope that the family she creates will be the central joy in her life. Clever and unfailingly stubborn by nature, she is a fascinating character - one moment lovable and caring, the next a formidable tyrant. This book is a small epic tracing the devlopment through two generations of a troubled small town American family. Tyler's characters are alive and portrayed with remarkable sensitivity. Very moving.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written Disappointment
Review: A very well written disappointment. I read to the last page, eager to see the storylines resolved, only to be abandoned by our writer, our tour guide; who seemed to jump ship on us. I was interested in the characters, so the author succeeded in that. But that's only half the journey. I can only guess that the characters are symbolic of extremes within ourselves, from oblivious, to bitter to codependent. The lesson might be that each extreme brings its own brand of sorrow, with a study of these extremes in character form. Or maybe not. But it takes the disappointment out of reaching the last page without resolution. I love Tyler's work and admire her skill. But if I'm going to read half a story, I'd like to pay half the price.

Rating:
Summary: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant- A Critical Review
Review: Anne Tyler captures her audience through the use of diverse, contrasting characters in order to achieve her purpose of creating a family life to which everyone can relate. Of Pearl Tulls three children, her oldest, Cody Tull, represents not only the corruption in a family, but also the American Dream. Through simile, Tyler compares Cody to a rock. He repeatedly puts on an act of toughness and is constantly bullying his younger innocent brother, Ezra. Jealousy overcomes Cody when he feels paranoid that Ezra is Pearls favorite. He thrives to "frame" Ezra through candid pictures and cruel conspiracies. Not completely outgrowing his jealousy, Cody later comes to symbolize the American Dream in his adulthood. He is one of the many "rags to riches" stories in literature. He transforms from a poor, fatherless little boy into a successful grown man. Yet, as a grown man, Cody steals Ezra's one true love, Ruth, away from him. From little boy to grown man, Cody has carried a streak of jealousy. Pearls next oldest child, Jenny Tull, comes to represent the American Dream as well as a family's source of determination and high-spirits. Abused as a child, Jenny is able to carry on a somewhat enjoyable adult life, besides the fact that she is unable to stay married. Tyler often associates understatement with Jenny, specifically dealing with her weight. "She had gained three pounds in the last six weeks and was perfectly obese (Tyler 134)" Tyler states, sarcastically comparing her to a whale. Despite her mother's criticism, Jenny ironically found home as a place of hatred, as well as longing. Like Cody, Jenny illustrates the American Dream because of her migration from a poor child to a wealthy, dedicated pediatrician. So dedicated to her work, Jenny once forgot about her lunch appointment with scarcely seen Ezra. Not only does the youngest child, Ezra Tull, symbolize depression, but also, in contrast, will power. Ezra's body structure, very tall and very skinny, make him appear eternally wary, moping around aimlessly with a mop of golden hair on his head. As a child, Ezra wore a worn, white tank and as an adult he wore a flimsy button-down flannel. Despite his looks, Ezra accomplishes his "goal". As an adult, he comes to "inherit" one of his friends, Mrs. Scarlatti, restaurants. He ironically names it the "Homesick Restaurant". Ezra is deeply homesick for his family, even though he still lives at home with his mother. He longs for his brother, sister and mother to have at least one full dinner together; however, they never "could eat a meal from start to finish (Tyler 110)". Despite the luck of the family dinner, Ezra kept trying. He arranged and re-arranged family gatherings, hoping that eventually one would turn out right. No matter what it took, Ezra was always there for his family, and he wished his siblings the same. However, accompanied by domineering Pearl, Ezra was not the only one caught up in family matters. Pearl's early separation with her husband, Beck, left her strict and completely wrapped up in her children's lives. She "was the center of (their) worlds (Tyler 141)", or so she made herself out to be. She allowed her children to have no "outside" friends. She believed that family was all they needed, thus introducing the "family" motif. Ironically Pearl states that she has "never been one of those mothers who try to keep their sons for themselves", because she utterly has, keeping Ezra, her "favorite", at home by her side. Pearl not only exploits irony in her words, but also themes within her actions. Tyler uses Pearl as an example of one of her themes: clutter in ones life is inescapable. When cleaning once, pearl wore a broad-brimmed straw hat that "will keep the dust from her hair - from all but one faded, blondish frizz bordering each temple (Tyler 188)". This exemplifies Pearls attempt to escape the clutter in her life that is fatefully unavoidable. Pearls hopeless attempt to create a "perfect family" only results in a multitude of failures. Through Pearl Tull and her three diverse children, Tyler successfully captures one family's life in which the readers of today can relate. Tyler strongly communicates, in her novel, that disaster is what happens when you (break) off all ties with your family (Tyler 175)". Reading the book with a critical eye, one can see that its theme is summed up within Tyler's dialogue. "Life is a continual showing up against one thing or another just eroding and crumbling away (Tyler 99)".

Rating:
Summary: A Real Family
Review: Anne Tyler does it again with her extraordinary ability to create offbeat characters that the reader comes to care deeply about. In this book, there are individual characters and there is the character of the Tull Family - an icon each of the family members sees in a different way. Tyler writes of the sometimes tragic life circumstances of each of the three Tull children with her usual eye for both the dramatic and humorous. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves home-cooking and their own lovable, dysfunctional family.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Family
Review: Anne Tyler does it again with her extraordinary ability to create offbeat characters that the reader comes to care deeply about. In this book, there are individual characters and there is the character of the Tull Family - an icon each of the family members sees in a different way. Tyler writes of the sometimes tragic life circumstances of each of the three Tull children with her usual eye for both the dramatic and humorous. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves home-cooking and their own lovable, dysfunctional family.

Rating:
Summary: Ordinary family life...poignantly observed
Review: Anne Tyler has written a beautifully lighthanded, poignantly observed novel of family life that rings so true it hurts. The story of the Tulls is for the most part unexceptional. But it is from this ordinariness that the novel derives its strength. Real life is for most people about coping. All the Tulls are dysfunctional in their own ways. Beck, the father, deserts his family and it is tempting to believe he is the cause of all their troubles. By the end of the story, you're not so sure. Pearl, the mother, is run ragged bringing up the children on her own but she is no saint. She resorts to abuse which scars the children (albeit to different degrees). Cody, the eldest, develops such severe hangups over his father's desertion and his mother's display of favouritism he becomes emotionally estranged from the family. His resentment of his younger brother borders on cruelty and is painful to read. Sister Jenny, also a victim of abuse by her mother, grows up scatty and remote. Ezra, the gentlest of the three children and owner of the "Homesick Restaurant" is the most sympathetically drawn character but even then, there is a feeling of defeat and being thwarted about his whole life. There are no saints, heroes or villains in the novel,only ordinary men and women who are different shades of grey. There are two scenes in the novel which are specially poignant. One is where Pearl in her old age relives one captured moment of happiness from an old diary. Another is where Beck returns momentarily for a family reunion at Ezra's "Homesick Restaurant" on the occasion of Pearl's funeral. The reunion is, like all of Ezra's earlier attempts, a failure. But Tyler seems to be saying perhaps it doesn't matter after all . Not ultimately, since failure is an integral part of family life. Like Pearl's memory of her youthful past, it's living that makes us human. Reading this novel won't change your life. But it will add to it.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read--how will this family end up?
Review: Anne Tyler is fearless in writing about imperfect women and this mother is the most difficult to understand yet. It was challenging to determine who in this family the book was about until the end, and that's a great device. There are scenes so uncomfortable YOU'LL feel like looking away, but you'll keep reading to find out where these people end up. I can't recommend this book enough.