Noah's Compass [Paperback]

Have spent my weekend reading this, Anne Tyler's 18th novel and can say without doubt that it is one of the most beautiful, gentle novels I have ever read. A long time fan of Tyler's work, my expectations were high and were definitely met. The main character, Liam, is a gentle, bewildered man who invites great sympathy from the reader. At the beginning of the story, he is going through a time of great uncertainty in his life, having lost his job and downsized to a rather seedy apartment. His circumstances worsen when he is attacked by an intruder the very first night he spends in his new home. I won't take time retelling the story, but in short, he is more traumatised by the fact that he cannot recall the incident than by the physical attack, and sets about finding a rather novel solution to his memory problems... In the course of his search he meets Eunice, a delightfully eccentric woman, whom he is immediately drawn to. What follows is a lovely, meandering tale, which is both entertaining and also touching. Liam is constantly brow beaten by his (mainly dreadful) female relatives - his daughters, ex wife and sister and is generally treated with contempt by all except his teenaged daughter who stays with him during a difficult time. The conclusion to the novel is, although, not entirely satisfying, quite fitting. I was so sorry to reach the end, and Liam will stay with me for quite some time. Another magical tale from Anne Tyler, master storyteller and observer of human nature.

Like most of Anne Tyler's books, Noah's Compass was gently written and uncomplicated. No postmodern literary gimmicks for her, thank goodness. Just a straightforward story with a few surprises, and with eccentric characters who probably live down the street.

I love the way Tyler takes everyday happenings and makes the reader realize that nothing is really insignificant, that everything has meaning or value.While reading the book, you hardly realize the layers of character development that she has woven into the story. Her observations of the human condition are always so on-target, but she never makes judgments about what she sees.

The story is a year in the life of Liam Pennywell, sixty years old, who has just lost his teaching job. Liam has been widowed and divorced and has three daughters, so he lives in a world of women, most of whom he cannot comprehend! He is a drifter in the sense that he just lets life happen to him without doing much about anything. Not that he is incompetent, but he just prefers to "go along". Until his first night in his new and smaller apartment when something happens to upset his equilibrium. Tyler works her magic and Liam, while not transformed, at least broadens his approach to life.

While this will not rank up there with A Patchwork Planet, my very very favorite of Tyler's, it certainly was well worth reading and provides lots of food for thought. I am always astounded that her sweet and gentle books keep me thinking about them for so long afterwards.

I am in the U.S. and I have no sense of deferred gratification when it comes to this author's books, so I bought it last month from the UK.

Being familiar with the area of Baltimore where Tyler's books are all set makes her books even more enjoyable. A pivotal scene in this book took place in Eddie's, an upscale grocery store that I often visit on N. Charles Street....in fact, Charles Street is often mentioned.

Here are three quotes I wrote down while reading...just so well-said by Tyler, with such economy. Other writers would/could have taken pages to say essentially the same thing:

<<<Damian had the posture of a consumptive - a narrow curved back and buckling knees. He resembled a walking comma.>>>

<<<She collected and polished resentments as if it were some sort of hobby.>>>

<<<All along, it seemed, he had experienced only the most glancing relationship with his own life. He had dodged the tough issues, avoided the conflicts, and gracefully skirted adventure. "I just don't seem to have the hang of things, somehow. It's as if I've never been entirely present in my own life.">>>

I totally agree with all those who gave this book a negative review. Anne Tyler is my favourite author and I have read every one of her novels, but this one left me very disappointed and flattened. It is, as another reviewer said, worrying to think that maybe she has now reached the stage of churning out novels to satisfy her publisher. I would rather wait ten years for a novel of the standard of her early greats, than read something as thin as this. I couldn't relate to any of the characters, and the plot was neither convincing nor absorbing. If you want to enjoy Anne Tyler start with her early novels and by the time you have worked through them she may have come up with another masterpiece.