Customer Reviews (4)

Love Battles with Reality in Humorous Ways
Most people love a lover. Also, most of us would like more love in our lives. If you read nonfiction books on the subject, they tell you to be more loving to others to receive more love in return. But most of us feel frustrated in that quest. What would it be like to pursue love in a more unrestricted way? That's the subject of Breathing Lessons.

Now, this could be a pretty heavy subject so Ms. Tyler wisely chooses to leaven her lessons with humor. Her protagonist, Maggie Morgan, will remind many of other fictional characters beginning with the lovable red head, Lucy Ricardo, in I Love Lucy. Those who have Dreamed the Impossible Dream while watching Man of La Mancha (or while reading Don Quixote) will recognize elements of Don Quixote in her character. The humor plays the same role that the fools play in Shakespeare's tragedies, to lighten the atmosphere from profoundly sad situations.

Maggie is a klutz who doesn't let her klutziness stop her. She's a one-woman pile driver intent on her purposes of spreading love and connection among all she meets. Her husband, Ira, plays the foil (the Desi Ricardo/Sancho Panza role) to help us know what the real situation is. Ira is almost all reason while Maggie is almost all love. You will find Ira to be interesting for examples of how reason needs to accommodate love.

Breathing Lessons shows a typical day for Maggie and Ira in an atypical environment . . . while on an out-of-town trip on a Saturday for a memorial service for the husband of Maggie's old friend. That environment turns the day into a quest (like Don Quixote) and they meet many interesting characters on whom Maggie has an unforgettable impact.

Many will look for a heroic ending featuring accomplishment. But did Don Quixote have such an ending? Ms. Tyler redefines heroism in terms of continuing to love and hope for the best . . . even when everything crumbles into dust. I think anyone will be inspired by the example of Maggie to do the right thing.

As you probably know, this book won a Pulitzer Prize which it certainly deserved. Seldom has a book created such a new an ennobling expression of human potential in the context of our all-too-human tendency to err.

Many will find Maggie's klutziness to be overdone . . . and possibly annoying. I, too, found it a little overdone, but enjoyed the book nevertheless. Ms. Tyler doesn't want us to miss the point that we should make the most of our talents . . . however modest or great they are.

Nice job, Ms. Tyler!

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
I loved this book.it was insightful and moving and deserves more attention.each character had his or her own quirks.the book is a view into the struggles a single parent faces in raising three children.it wasone of those books you don't want to put down

Very interesting
Good visual on divorc can end u

Accidental Tourist - An excellant book!
I read this book for a high school project. It was very well written because it kept me on the edge of my seat. I always wanted to find out what would happen next. I would recomend this book to anyone who likes AnneTyler. ... Read more

Product Description
This study of Anne Tyler's sixteen novels debates whether her literary reputation is a lasting one and whether her view of contemporary American society is ultimately a conservative or liberal one. This work suggests that her novels will continue to be read not just because they are so well written, but because they offer readers an alternative view of American life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Critical Reviews of Anne Tyler
a great book but a bit aged and worn -- but the retail one is way overpriced (so I put my review of this up to 5 stars ... Read more

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A biography of the Virginian who became tenth president of the United States upon the death of William Henry Harrison. ... Read more

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18 acclaimed authors have contributed to this unique reader. ... Read more

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The author of the best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning The Accidental Tourist pens another delightful tale of an ordinary couple. Maggie and Ira Moran have been married for twenty-eight yearsand it shows in their quarrels, in their routines, and in their ability to tolerate with affection each other's eccentricities. As Maggie and Ira navigate the riotous twists and turns of their relationship, they intersect with an assorted cast of eccentrics, rediscover the magic of the road called life, and the joy of having somebody next to you to share the ride, bumps and all.

Description in Spanish:Las alegrías, las penas y los sueños de una familia de clase media.En un momento de su relación, el matrimonio formado por Ira y Maggie Morgan se da cuenta de que ha recibido lecciones sobre muchas cosas inútiles. Pero ahora ambos comprenden que nadie les ha enseñado lo más importante: cómo convivir a diario con tu pareja, o cómo afrontar la paternidad... ... Read more

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Barnaby Gaitlin is a loser - just short of thirty, he's the black sheep of a philanthropic Baltimore family. Once upon a time, he had a home, a loving wife, a little family of his own; now he has an ex-wife, a 9-year old daughter with attitude, a Corvette Sting Ray that's a collector's item but unreliable, and he works as hired muscle for Rent-a-Back, doing heavy chores for old folks. He has an almost pathological curiosity about other people's lives, which has got him into serious trouble in the past, and a hopeless charm which attracts the kind of angelic woman who wants to save him from himself. Tyler's observation is more acute, more delicious than ever; her humour slyer and more irresistible; her characters so vividly realised that you feel you've known this quirky collection for ever. With perfect pitch and poise, humour and humanity, Anne Tyler chronicles, better than any writer today, the sublime and the ridiculous of everyday living, the foibles and frailties of the ordinary human heart. ... Read more