How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Not applicable
Advantages:
Easy - to - read . Pleasantly satisfying . Well - drawn characters .
Disadvantages:
Made me buy five more of Anne Tyler's books - expensive ! ! !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
A Patchwork Planet is a novel by American authoress, Anne Tyler, published in 1998. It is Anne Tyler’s fourteenth novel but only the first of her works that I have had the pleasure to read.
The book was bought for me by my daughter who decided that it was time that I discovered a new and different writer.
The book was indeed a pleasure to read. A Patchwork Planet is set in Baltimore, USA (where apparently all of Anne Tyler’s books are set) but it could actually have been set anywhere. The characters and places are familiar to most readers of book no matter what their background.
The book’s protagonist and narrator is a 29-year-old man, Barnaby Gaitlan, who hailing from a privilaged background strayed off the rails as adolescent and into a life of minor crimes. The crimes were not really what you would expect. Barnaby liked to route through people’s belongings, read their letters, look through their treasures – but he had to break into their homes to do so!! Now Barnaby is employed and trying to get back his reputation and life.
Barnaby’s job is that of an odd job man working for a company called Rent-a-Back who do a variety of little jobs for the eldery that they cannot get done elsewhere including sorting through their belongings, reading them their letters and often discovering little treasures along the way. One of which is a wooden dress-form (a type of tailor’s dummy) invented by his great grandfather which brings us onto the theme that runs through the book and introduces us to the other characters.
The Gaitlan family have a tradition of being guided by a gaudian angel. Barnaby has not met his yet and is always on the lookout for her (the Gaitlan angels are invariably female). Enter Sophia, a pretty blonde, who co-incidently appears repeatedly in Barnaby’s day-to-day routines – but is she his angel? . . .
Well she does succeed in bringing hime closer to his daughter, Opal, from his broken marriage to his sophisicated, respectable and family-approved ex-wife. And she gives him a greater understanding of his his social-climbing mother, his hen-pecked father and his sanctimonious brother and his family. But is Barnaby really that transformed and is Sophia really his long-awaited Gaitlin angel? Well you will have to read to find out . . .
But we all know real life is not so neatly and convieniently organised and this Anne Tyler’s forte. She reflects life with all its little contstant ups and down taking time to describe the small details that help the reader to understand the characters such as the contents of one of Barnaby’s eldery client’s attic together with their’s and Barnaby’s reactions as he clears the contents –touching, sad and funny!!!
All the characters are amusingly brought to life by Anne Tyler gentle ironic style of writing. She gives some astute observations of the people in this novel - none of them are perfect; some are an absolate mess, some put on an obviously false front and some just keep on trying and trying. Barnaby, himself, is painful to read about in places and can be downright creepy but he has a heart of gold with a genuine compassion for his clients and a commitment to his work.
The best characters of all are the elderly customers of Rent-a-Back! They are all oh-so-real – I recognise them all.
I have talked about Barnaby’s and Sophia’s relationship quite a bit but this is not a romantic novel. It is not a love story. Yes there is some romance and love but Tyler focuses more on the gradual development, maintenance and pitfalls of a relationship. Barnaby captures it well with his observation in the novel, "At Rent-A-Back, I knew couples who'd been married almost forever. Finally, you're just with who you're with. You've signed on with her, put in half a century with her, grown to know her as well as you know yourself or even better, and she's become the right person."
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is pleasant easy-reading – there is no major disasters, no gratuitous violence – just a day-to-day description of a year in Barnaby’s life with all the quirks, co-incidences, hassles, pleasures and fun of the ordinary sort that anyone could experience. Barnaby is the ideal narrator of this book with his fascination of people and their complexities.
A Patchwork Planet does not thrill. It doesn’t evoke any strong emotions but it does give a gentle satisfation. I felt more relaxed and felt I understood a little more of the human complexities that exist after reading..
My copy cost £7.99 from Borders but as the book has been in publication since 1998 there are many copies available for a variety of prices.
has yet to graduate from college, is already divorced and is used to defeat. His mother thrives on reminding him of his adolescent delinquency and debt to his fam...
Vintage - Anne Tyler
Barnaby Gaitlin is one of Anne Tyler's most promising unpromising characters. At 30, he
... more
has yet to graduate from college, is already divorced and is used to defeat. His mother thrives on reminding him of his adolescent delinquency and debt to his fam...
