A Patchwork Planet

by Anne Tyler

Barnaby Gaitlin has less in life than he once had. His ex-wife Natalie left him and their native Baltimore several years ago, taking their baby daughter Opal with her. He acquired an unalterably fixed position as the black sheep of the family. And this family isn't one where black sheep are tolerated. The Gaitlins are rich and worthy, supposedly guided by their own special angel to do the right thing...

OVER A MILLION ANNE TYLER BOOKS SOLD

‘She’s changed my perception on life’ Anna Chancellor

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‘Anne Tyler has no peer’ Anita Shreve

‘My favourite writer, and the best line-and-length novelist in the world’ Nick Hornby

‘A masterly author’ Sebastian Faulks

‘Tyler is not merely good, she is wickedly good’ John Updike

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‘Her fiction has strength of vision, originality, freshness, unconquerable humour’ Eudora Welty

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Book Club, Novels, Adult Fiction, American

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 1998

About the author

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went on to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. She has published 20 novels, her debut novel being If Morning Ever Comes in (1964). Her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons , was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Gerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe I've admitted to reading all of Anne Tyler's books, several of them more than once. I just reread A Patchwork Planet, and I'm dumbstruck again. Like no other author I know, Tyler is a master of the emotional sandbag. She blindsides you, saps you in the skull when you don't see it coming (even if you've already read the book!), and you need to take a brief time-out to recover from being a blubbering fool. In this paperback edition, if you don't experience an epiphany by page sixty-one, you must be reading so fast you're missing what's in the white space.

Now, delivering a show-stopping apotheosis not even a quarter-way through a story might seem a bit odd, structurally speaking. Your veteran movie scribe will save that kind of moment for well into the third act. Or, if you follow William Goldman's advice, you should give the audience a half-dozen of these choke-up take-aways, but not more. It's the devastating zinger, the tune you'll be humming, the two cigarettes on a match -- the usual suspects -- you know what I mean.

Here's a parallel for opera lovers, of which I am also one. Anne Tyler writes like Puccini. She gives you a score that's artful and interesting, but at some point -- and it's unpredictable where it will occur -- she delivers a show-stopping aria that brings the tears and makes you rediscover once more why you love opera in the first place. In Puccini's case, perhaps the most remarkable example is the one-act Gianni Schicchi. The score is masterful enough but it's not all that engaging. He's experimenting with musical themes, some of them atonal and not all that glorious in my opinion (I'm not accusing Tyler of the same -- this is not a perfect analogy). But then the soprano belts out "O mio babbino caro," which is like pure sunlight flooding into a damp room.

I'm a student of literary style and of structure, and frankly I can't tell you how she does it. If you have an explanation, please post!

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been too long since I’ve read an Anne Tyler book. As usual it’s set primarily in Baltimore and involves a low key dysfunctional family. Totally recognizable. Relatable because doesn’t everyone feel third place among three kids, mom’s embarrassment, dad’s kid that isn’t a banker or property developer, or the person with an early failed marriage who can’t pick out a proper birthday present for a little girl. Maybe just sometimes or at least one of the above. Poor Barnaby, the 30 year old narrator here, hits on all points.

It all hinges on an adolescent period when he broke into respectable neighbor houses. His friends looked for the valuable, Barnaby opened letters, looked in photo albums and snooped in diaries. Could the guy have been looking into how “normal” families worked? He can’t let go of his failures and has a job that is a point of contention with the family. He has mixed feelings. It usually suits him to work for Rent-a-Back, a small business that goes to the homes of the house bound or elderly to do the things they no longer feel up to doing.

This Anne Tyler is full of gentle humor and not-so-gentle humor. His clients, his girlfriend and even his annoying family are showcases for Tyler’s wit. The Thanksgiving family affair tops all. A turkeyless crescendo of terms for Barnaby begin to fly, along with breaking glass and hurled trays in the kitchen. “Ne’er-do-well”, “ruffian”, “knave”, “wastrel”, “scoundrel “, “layabout”, “rapscalion”, “scofflaw “, “scum-of-the-earth”, —your typical pointed family chat. If you’ve never tried Anne Tyler before, you need to understand how hilarious this all is. I loved it. Terrific dialog and more laughter than usual in this one.

[Mark Porton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler is an interesting little character study of a man called Barnaby Gaitlin.

Not all the cards have fallen Barnaby’s way, he hasn’t met his rich parents’ expectations, he’s divorced, he works in a dead-end job, he doesn’t conform to some of the norms of society regarding dress and appearance, he has a history of petty crime, lives in a tatty one room apartment and even his daughter isn’t that keen on seeing him sometimes. His life just seems a bit crappy.

His family have a belief each member of the family is sent an angel at some time in their life to provide guidance and inspiration for them to move onto bigger and better things. So far, Barnaby’s angel hasn’t found him. He meets Sophia by chance on a train to visit his daughter one day, and things change for him. Is Sophia the angel, is she a single woman to strike up a relationship with?

Anne Tyler builds up her characters so well in this story, one really gets to understand them. She also describes the relationships between the characters so you can get a real feeling of the dynamics between them, which goes some way to explaining why they may react irrationally from time to time. Just like in normal families. Out of this cast of characters I certainly warmed to a couple Barnaby and Sophia – I just wanted the best for them

This is a story about people, relationships, love, forgiveness and understanding. My favourite parts involved Barnaby’s relationship with Sophia and his time working as a manual labourer helping older people move things around, get their shopping, perform odd jobs in their homes. However, this story didn’t really achieve any great heights and as such I probably won’t remember it in a few months’ time. I also found the ending a little disappointing. A real “Is that it??” type conclusion.

I’ll make sure to read another Tyler book as she is recommended by a reliable friend – maybe this one isn’t one of her best.

3 Stars

[Jülie ☼♄  · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, a lot, which surprised me because I have to confess to only having read one other book by Anne Tyler which was A Spool of Blue Thread and, sadly, I was not very taken by it.

So when I came upon this well worn copy on a table outside my favorite local Cafe come Bookshop and read a few pages while waiting for my order...I wanted to read more...and so I did, and after my coffee I took it home with me.
I finished it in two days...despite my nearby glaring tbr pile! Sometimes a girl has to follow her inclinations lol!
So glad I did because I became so engrossed in the unfolding story that I was a bit sad when it came to the end.
I feel that I have redeemed myself for the average review I gave to the previous book I reviewed by this author.

I think I have a new understanding of Anne Tyler's writing style now and can see the similarities between the two books...though I stand by my other critique, I can appreciate the style and really enjoyed it with this book.

It is a delightful, sometimes mysterious story about a quirky like-able man who feels somewhat of a misfit within his family and his life in general.

I was reminded of A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman or Mr Wigg byInga Simpson.

I loved it, and would easily recommend it for a nice read to sink into.

5⭐️'s

Many thanks to Anna's Shop Around the Corner for championing great books!

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. I think I say the same thing in every Anne Tyler book review, but I love her attention to detail and how she can craft unique, quirky characters that are not unrealistic. They have their distinct personality traits and flaws but they are still very human. Barnaby was a sometimes unlikeable but still enjoyable character to read about.

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was entirely different read to anything I’ve experienced before. Written in the late 90’s though I really was fascinated with the tone of the era, the speech was unusual. I felt it was set even earlier, the fashion, the general vibe and way of speaking.

Barnaby was a funny bloke, he was the black sheep of the family, he undertook some petty theft as a teen, his mother very pretentious and an odd duck. She was very unlikeable. Barnaby’s parents repaid neighbour’s money after these thefts were carried out. Barnaby pays off this almost $4000 off almost twenty years later as he feels indebted. He wants this shackle off his back.

He had an interesting way of speaking, it is hard to put my finger on it, but he tended to talk in short sentences. Almost like he expected not to be taken seriously. He works hard in his job (a funny concept where clients phone a landline – of course – and requests tasks to be done, big or small) where he does tasks like bring in garbage, rearrange furniture, grocery shop, visit clients in hospital, transport a lawyer with a broken leg and things of this nature. He is good at what he does but his mother thinks this is all very beneath him.

His brother is rich, more successful, as is his childhood friend who was his partner in crime in those adolescent robberies. His mother loves this friend. But this unlikable friend never owned up to his part in it, and Barnaby never brings it up either. He seems to be ok with his lot in life. A failed marriage, a relationship with his young daughter carried out on monthly visitation trips. He was always patient, when his daughter wasn’t agreeable and didn’t complete a visitation where his ex-wife turned up out of the blue, he just accepted his lot. He mentioned in his very off handed manner that he may have had tendencies of Tourette’s syndrome. Some of his epiphanies were very quirky. There was also an incidence of starting a fire, things would continually crop up that showed he was quite unusual.

This is a slow burn, where not an awful lot happens in any exciting ways. Barnaby is a keen observer; lots of people watching and observation of life. He has interesting ideas about the aging process and what it would be like at the end of life.

He had a romance, and I really built a disliking for this woman! It was not until the end that I realised quite how much. This woman had an aunt that accused Barnaby of theft, and she had a very odd reaction to this which showed her distrust, which saddened me (for him). He was likable and flawed at the same time; self-deprecating.

This book would not be for everyone, but I found it interesting as a glance into the human condition, faults, and all.

I have a problem, sometimes, after I come away from a place. I’ll start out feeling fine, but just a few minutes later I’ll get to reconsidering. I’ll regret that I’ve said something rude, that I’ve disappointed people or hurt their feelings. I’ll see that I have messed up yet again, and I’ll call myself all manner of names. Freak of the week! Nerd of the herd! And I’ll wish I could rearrange my life so I’d never have to deal anymore with another human being.

…her purse clamped in a paranoid way between her arm and her rib cage. All the women around us looked just like her, tailored and crisp, with shoes that you just knew, somehow, had cost a whole lot of money. All the men were homeless. They sat huddled under ragged blankets on top of the grates in the sidewalk, and I couldn’t help thinking that I had more in common with them than with my mother.

“The way I see it, everyone has a choice: living rich and working hard to pay for it, or living a plain, uncomplicated life and taking it easy.”

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The critics say that Anne Tyler writes novels with quirky characters. I say that we are all quirky characters. Certainly, I grew up with and am a member of a family of quirky characters. I find the characters in Anne Tyler's novels real, they are people one meets everyday.

As I began to read this novel, I thought about days when I lived in the pages of Anne Tyler's novels. My trips to the library always took me to the same section, where I fingered the titles looking for favorite or unread novels. I wonder now why I neglected this section for so long!

A Patchwork Planet is the story of a kind man, who does not seek the American Dream as a search for wealth or status. Instead, he seeks comfort, and those who share his priorities. As with all of Anne Tyler's work, the reader can remain at the surface level and enjoy a unique, but quite worthwhile young man finding his way. On the other hand, as always, one can ponder the comments on our society and the way we live. Indeed, most poignant to me is the "caught versus uncaught" in adolescent escapades. Why must the "uncaught" punish those "caught" long after they have paid their dues? Do we as a society punish the "caught" and feed the egos of the "uncaught", who forget very easily that they, too, participated in whatever offense the caught receives punishment? Do we instead realize that the "caught" have an opportunity to learn deeper values and to truly appreciate life's priorities more than the "uncaught" will ever appreciate?

Also, essential questions are pondered regarding parent/child relationships and mutual respect. Again, do we punish those most like us for fear that they will be like us? Are we concerned when our child's perspective accepts with love, a view of ourselves that we would rather replace someone who they cannot give the same acceptance? Why can't we value ourselves for who we are, and appreciate our children similarly?

Whether read as a surface level or pondering deeper questions, this novel, like all of Anne Tyler's work is worth adoring and reading again and again. It is easy to do so, as a page turner and a quick but highly impressionable, as well as enjoyable, read!

[Layna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I feel like apologizing for liking Anne Tyler but this book in particular is truly wonderful - I'm not terribly great at reviews but it has the hallmarks of things I generally value in a book - wonderful characters who stay with you, and the amazing ability to tightrope-walk between funny and sad without ever becoming maudlin or flippant.

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

not quite 3 stars

This book started out just fine. I started reading and found interesting characters, a pleasant writing style, and some very engaging dialogue. All good, right? Well, somewhere it took a turn, because I had to keep pushing myself to finish reading the darn thing.

Here’s the problem. I like what happens in a book to be meaningful in some way. I don’t want to read a bunch of random incidents that in no way help to impel the story forward. Anne Tyler has a habit of throwing a lot of stuff at you, much of which is disconnected to the story, and does not ever become relevant in any way. I frequently found myself asking “where is she going with this?” She starts several interesting storylines that go absolutely nowhere.

Len and the car
I thought there would be a lot more tension between Barnaby and Len over the purchase of that car. The storyline gets dropped.

The theft of Sophia’s porcelain slipper
Barnaby just puts it back… that’s IT ???

The episode where Barnaby sets the house on fire
I would have thought that would have been a pretty significant event. But no, it gets mentioned that this is when his grandfather gave him the car and that’s it. We never find out if there are any repercussions, good or bad. Because I think that they would have been HUGE!!!! Does getting this car turn his whole life around? The fact that someone trusts him? I guess we’ll never know.

Margot’s hissy fit in the kitchen on Thanksgiving
We hear her in Winky’s kitchen, throwing around pots and pans and generally breaking up the joint, then… nothing… moving right along to other things.

Opal is upset that Barnaby and Sophia are dating
Why? And what did that add to the story? Opal was at Thanksgiving dinner with both Barnaby and Sophia and was just fine. No mention was made of any negative feelings she had toward Sophia. All forgotten about?

I didn’t much care for the ending either. Sophia’s refusal to accept the money, and the way Barnaby ended it with her were both lame. So Barnaby professes himself to be a man Sophia can trust… even though he cheated on her with Martine, and swiped her porcelain slipper at one time?

And can someone please tell me where the title of the book comes from? Are the elderly people the patches that hold his life together? Or is the description of Mrs. Alford’s quilt significant? Planet Earth, in Mrs. Alford’s version, was makeshift and haphazard, clumsily cobbled together, overlapping and crowded and likely to fall into pieces at any moment. Is that a metaphor for Barnaby’s life? Oh damn, I don’t want to search for the deeper meaning of it all.

I’ve decided that I just don’t “get” Anne Tyler. I pretty much had all the same problems with Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant



Read with SBC November 2013

[lucky little cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel is probably a good starting place for readers new to Anne Tyler's books. Think of it as Tyler Lite,


Barnaby to the rescue again

with many of the author's favorite themes on show. A good-hearted underachiever, this time a black-leather-clad 30-something named Barnaby, has a complicated network of friends and earns his living as a cheerful man-of-all work, chiefly for little old people. He is loyal and reliable to a fault.

He's criticized and underrated by his materialistic parents, and his choices are questioned by his peers. Will he listen to them, or persist in following his own earnest philosophy?

And who's he really in love with? It's hard to tell.

The novel unwinds in one of Tyler's beloved gently-declining vintage Baltimore neighborhoods.

Even though this one was published in 1998, (the year Sinatra died & my daughter was born) it holds up well, and has the added poignancy of being dedicated to the author's late husband.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the main character's quirky job, his "different drummer" approach to life, and the assorted fascinating eccentrics he encountered in his family and profession...but, it was the ending that soured the book for me. While I believe it was meant to be a poignant statement of Barnaby's growth and redemptive self-discovery, I was left dubious. Didn't anyone else find it the least bit odd or paradoxical that Barnaby pronounced himself a 'trustworthy' man -- even though he had cheated on Sophia and kept that fact from her??? Because of this, the ending only left me feeling startled and perplexed and upset...

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

'A Patchwork Planet" opens and closes with this protest: "I am a man you can trust." Barnaby Gaitlin understands the full value of trust, and between the covers of Anne Tyler's latest novel, he tells a story of hard won redemption in the face of withering doubts.

Everything about Barnaby's upbringing in a gracious Baltimore neighborhood promised a successful life. His family even keeps a book of narratives about their encounters with guardian angels, strangers who have passed on wise advice about careers and investments.

They live off the fortune Great-Granddad made by accepting a mysterious woman's recommendation to produce painted mannequins. Over the years, Barnaby's proper family members have become the perfect wooden models of refined suburban life.

Barnaby, however, is the black sheep of the family. Rebelling against stultifying standards he could not meet, he drifted into a life of recreational crime, a series of thrill rides and neighborhood burglaries that humiliated his colorless family and cost them thousand of dollars to cover up.

The novel, Tyler's 14th, opens when Barnaby is living in a rented basement room, too hopeless even to make New Year's resolutions. While his companion hooligans have ascended to financial prosperity, Barnaby has worked at "Rent-a-Back" for 11 years, doing household chores for elderly and disabled clients.

He receives little encouragement from his passive-aggressive father or his anxious mother, a social climber who holds old sins and legal debts over Barnaby's head as a way of maintaining her dispiriting control.

While his father and brother enjoy the prestigious offices of the Gaitlin Charitable Foundation, Barnaby receives only criticism for doing the ordinary charitable acts that make these old people's lives livable.

Tyler has a perfect ear for the bland cruelty people sometimes deliver to those they love. "He has deliberately chosen employment that has no lasting point to it," his mother says at his birthday party, "no reputation, no future, in preference to work that's of permanent significance. And he's doing it purely for spite."

In fact, Barnaby's work stems from something very different from spite. Much of his life in this subtle novel involves his odd jobs for people who couldn't otherwise maintain their homes. He shops, cleans gutters, rearranges furniture, puts up Christmas decorations, and in many cases provides the only compassionate, reliable presence in these people's lives.

On the train to visit a daughter he barely knows, Barnaby befriends a tidy bank clerk who he suspects might be his guardian angel. After so many years of solitary labor, Barnaby certainly deserves the affection this woman offers, but when she reveals her own doubts about his honesty, Barnaby must finally decide whether to give up the moral struggle or persevere for his own sake.

Readers unfamiliar with this Pulitzer Prize-winner's work might not think this is a very promising world to enter, but Tyler is our national specialist at portraying and healing the pain of middle-class misfits. She's a master at bitter-sweet comedy, and Barnaby's shaky efforts to maintain his self-respect provide the quiet uplift her best work always delivers.

Redemption, Tyler suggests, isn't won through a triumphant act of goodness or sacrifice, but through a lifetime of decency and compassion.

Barnaby's favorite old client laughs about the patchwork design of the earth she's been adding to a quilt. "One little measly blue planet," she says, "and it's taking me forever!" Tyler understands this modest world, both its frustrations and its rewards. With each funny, painful novel, she adds another square to her tapestry of redemption.

This is a book you can trust.

http://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0430/04...

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second Anne Tyler was just wonderful. The main character Barnaby isn't always someone I liked, but he was so real from the first page on. It's a character-driven story, with a lot of snappy dialogue and quite a quick pace. It was almost like watching a comfortable and entertaining TV show, in fact it reminded of Gilmore Girls at times, except it was about a 30 something man and no daughter-mother trio, so take from that what you will. In short: I really liked it.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite grouping fare of Tyler here. Ok story about our bumbling air minded male. Another eccentric. This one has gotten to middle age little wiser and just as side lined as status quo. Happy enough following his own attentions for in the minute distraction. Every one else is interfering to his personal time static.

Good phrasing and yet I like Tyler's women centered stuff more. Far more.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one can create quirky, beguiling, harmless misfits as well as Anne Tyler, and in A Patchwork Planet, Barnaby Gaitland steps onto the page. He's the black sheep of an affluent family, living in a rented basement studio, divorced, wanting to be a better father to his daughter, working for Rent-a-Back, a service company that does household jobs its elderly clients who can no longer manage. Along comes an angel, and his life seems to take a major turn for the better. But in the background of this too-perfect arrangement are hints of Barnaby's dissatisfaction - and he can't quite put his finger on what's wrong with the relationship till he's accused of theft. Then his REAL angel is revealed.
Wonderful plot structure, characters, and conclusion.

[Stevie Holcomb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Goodreads. You can click on "I'm finished" which does not necessarily mean you have completed the book to the final page.

I CANNOT stand it when, 187 pages into a book, the main character takes a turn that you absolutely can't see them taking. You think you know a guy...

I had my doubts reading this, really. Its horribly written. Time passed too fast and scenes were over in a few pages, nothing was drawn out and no agreeing with a character over their choices. In fact, choices weren't really made, they just kind of happened. Flaw #1. No plot. Nothing exciting happens. Nothing happens, really. Also, there is no desire or want expressed anywhere, things just kind of happened. No sympathy for the characters and too many of those. Yikes. I could go on and on but then all of the sudden the character quits his job, becomes a clown, blows up, goes skydiving, eats a fish sandwich, writes a book of knitting patterns, and learns fluent Greek. OK, this isn't what happens actually, but that sentence made you go, "WHAT?" right? Yes, that's how I felt when reading this. It's as if she decided to start the book over because she didn't like what was happening, so she changes it in the middle instead of starting over, and it doesn't fit. At all. I do not see Barnaby just doing this complete turnaround.

I'm finished. Halfway through.

[Chrystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just might be my favorite Anne Tyler novel, and I have read them all, so I should know! It cracks me up but it also breaks my heart. It's pretty much perfect. Everything connects, every thread ties up, everything comes back together. It's absolutely beautiful.

What is it about? It's about second chances, about accepting who you are and not trying to be what other people want you to be, about finding love right in front of you instead of looking for it in some other place, and about growing old. The growing old part is heartbreaking.

This is one of my desert island books for sure.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read two books previously by Anne Tyler that sadly wasn't winners and been weary of reading more by her, but I'm glad I gave this one a chance. Very readable story with compelling characters and plot. Eager to reach for more by her and maybe even reread some of her books to refresh !y thoughts on them

[notgettingenough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to be Anne Tyler when I grow up.

Less ambitiously, if ever somebody was going to write me, write my life, my family, my friends, my fuck-ups, my fuck-downs - which I hope are the very opposite of ups - this is the only person I would want to do it. She'd make it all okay.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

REREAD 2024:
Going back to Anne Tyler because I've given up trying out new works because they end up letting me down. This was a cozy read, as always.

REVIEW 2023:
I am slowly making my way through Anne Tyler's collection. I could see a glimpse of future Tyler's writing shining within specific passages and lines written here.



* SPOILERY BOOK COMMENTARY: A PATCHWORK PLANET*

“Also, it exceeded what I would consider the normal quota for misfortunes.”

This made me stop and realize what a bubble people live in where they don't even know the misfortunes that can befall a person.

“And just then I noticed, on the windowsill behind her, our old china cookie jar. I hadn’t thought of that cookie jar in years.”

Reminded me of seeing again online The Three Graces plates that I had in my childhood home.

“Isn’t it possible, maybe, that good people are just luckier people? Couldn’t that be the explanation?”

Yes! Their misfortunes aren't weighing them down.

“(Overnight a light snow had fallen—that considerate kind of snow that sticks to lawns but melts on streets and sidewalks)”

Felt good to know and be able to picture what she was describing in this passage. Meaning, the snow is pretty but not yet posing a danger.

“Intuition? Hmm,” I said, paying close attention now.
“You can be led to get on a train, not even knowing why,” she said.
“Is that a fact.”
“And once you arrive at your ex-wife’s, you’re going to be led to say exactly the words that will change her mind.”

Sometimes you can’t overthink because in the situation you’ll hopefully know what to do.

Also, loved the detail of Barn thinking Sophia was his angel and digging for deeper meaning in her words, “What was the deeper significance of that?”

About the girl that doesn’t leave her home: “She didn’t have a crush on any of us. It’s just that service people were the only human beings she saw anymore.”

Also, this book got me thinking about family relationships where they are so busy being correct and polite that they don't actually feel comfortable being themselves around each other.

“It was a lot more obvious now that she was just a Polish girl from Canton, scared to death Jeffrey Gaitlin might find her common.”

This kind of reminded me of Gansey's family in The Raven Cycle.

“Barnaby. You’re wearing a pajama top.”
“Oh,” I said. “You noticed?
I had thought it didn’t look much different from a regular plaid flannel shirt.”

This made me laugh.

“What I sometimes told myself: I’ll be that way too, as soon as my real life begins.
But I can’t explain exactly what I meant by “real life.”

I felt that bc I felt that so long waiting to return to the good because I refused to settle down in the bad and create a life around it.

“I recalled the physical sensation of something happening that couldn't be reversed: that feeling, all the way down, of longing to take back my one single, simple misstep. But it was already too late, and I knew that, absolutely, even before I hit the pyracantha bush.”

"I knew you were left-handed because you put Sophia on your right when you sat down," Mrs. Glynn told me. "My husband was left-handed. He liked to have me on his right at all times- sitting, walking, even sleeping. He said it freed his sword arm to defend me."

Now that I wrote down Gansey’s name I can see him liking these characters.

But these glimpses Anne Tyler offers into older ages tend to elicit great sadness.

'As long as I can walk out in my garden first thing every morning take that gardener's early-morning walk, to check what's sprouted overnight and what's about to bloom,' she says, ‘—why, I feel I have something worth staying alive for.’ ”

Me walking today in the forest and thinking, hmm, do happy people need this too or do they just get along in life without needing to seclude themselves?

“Everything seemed to have changed in a flash, when I got to looking back on it.”

Love language: “Nothing’s wrong,” I told her. “I just came to drive you home.”

"Personal time works the opposite way from historical time. Historical time starts with a swoop
-dinosaurs, cavemen, lickety-split!- and then slows and takes on more detail as it gets more recent: all those niggling little four-year presidential terms. But with personal time, you begin at a crawl every leaf and bud, every cross-eyed look your mother ever gave you and you gather speed as you go. To me, it's a blurry streak by now."

“Feels like I’m living someone else’s life. This is not the real me, I want to say.”

“Learned to read so young, he used to check in the child development books to see how he ought to be acting.”

This made me laugh.

“Each object we hauled down, she’d make us stand there holding while she told us the story that went with it. And it seemed the more she remembered of the past, the more she forgot of the present.”

“Know what happened the other day? I was playing catch with my nephews in their backyard. And they were having this discussion—about my brother, I thought it was. 'He says this, he says that.’ So I ask, 'What time's he due home tonight?' and they get quiet and sort of embarrassed and they look at each other and I'm thinking, What? What'd I say?
And one of them tells me, 'Uh. . .? And the other says, 'Uh, actually, we were talking about our baseball coach.' I said, 'Oh. Sorry. I thought you meant your dad.' But it gave me this sudden picture of what it must feel like to be old. I mean, so old that people imagine you've gone dotty. I wanted to say, "Wait! I just heard you wrong, is all. It was a natural, normal mistake to make, okay?’
Then she hung her head out the window again, and we went back to our separate lines of thought.”

This made me be more patient with my own mother.

Another love language, it gave off sweet nothing: “There was so much I needed to know about her. No piece of information was too small: her favourite color, favourite crab house, favourite television show . . . I guess really I was asking, What does it feel like, being you?”

“I worried she was storing up criticism to pass on to her mother.” Lol

“she kept one finger hooked through a belt loop in my jeans.” the essence of girlhood.

“After I'd walked Sophia to her car and turned off all the lights, I caught the sky doing its color-change trick, which is possible at night but exceedingly rare. And I hadn't even been trying! Maybe that was the secret, I thought. Let things com eto you when they will, of their own accord.”

Exactly, sometimes putting up a fight creates overexhaustion.

“When I was a teenager, I would be eating dinner and all at once I'd imagine grabbing hold of the soup tureen and turning it upside down over my parents' heads. Noodles would snake down Dad' temples, and carrot disks would stud Mom's French twist. The image always set me to laughing, and then I couldn't stop. I'd be laughing so hard I was choking, spewing bits of chewed food, while the two of them sat staring at me grimly.”

This is the quote I was talking earlier about on feeling like he wants to wake those around him from their stupor.

“My personal angel at last, I had fancied, but now that seemed an outdated concept. It was like when you're introduced to someone who reminds you of, say, an old class-mate, but then later, when you know him well, you forget about the classmate altogether. Sophia was just Sophia, by this time so familiar to me, so much a part of my life, that I couldn't imagine how she appeared to the people sitting around this table.”

Also funny is reading how people view Barn as kind and helpful and we’re so deep in his head where he sees himself as a failure we’re like hmm that doesn’t sound right, but from the outside, I get how it does. Another excellent writing trick on Anne Tyler’s part that I just now realized.

"Oh, I know all about that," Sophia said. "But look at how he turned out!"
Everybody looked. I gave them a little wave that was something like a windshield wiper stopping in mid-arc.

Her writing is so specific sometimes I have to act out the act myself to realize if it’s how I imagine in my head.

“If you make me stay home for so long, just watch: I'll stay at home forever," she said.
"If you think I'm such a villain, just watch: I'll act worse than you ever dreamed of," I said. I said it during my teens. I said it toward the end of my marriage. And I said it that whole nasty Monday, which seemed, now that I looked back, to have lasted about a month."

"The key to the Corvette. I left it on the ring. I turned over my whole key ring, with that Chevy emblem my Pop-Pop gave me when he put the car in my name."
"So what? You'll be driving a Ford now. What do you want with a Chevrolet key ring?"
She was right. I couldn't argue with her logic. But that emblem had been with me a very long time. The plastic surface was so yellowed and dulled, you could barely make out the two crossed flags encased beneath it. At tense moments I would run my thumb across it, the way I used to stroke the satin binding of my crib blanket. I thought of Len doing that, and it killed me.
I must be more of a car man than I'd realized.

This reminded me of The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and the pain of what you didn’t think to take..

“but it was more that I just figured things always evened out, sooner or later.
Look at it this way: I might have done time in jail if I hadn't had rich parents. And even rich parents couldn't have helped if anyone had discovered I stole a Buick convertible the night of my sixteenth birthday. So when Mrs. Glynn said I did something I didn't, there was a certain justice to it.
Even losing my Corvette: a certain balance, you might say.”

I thought about this for days after about him looking at the justice of things and it is about balance.
But that’s where you start internalizing hate toward yourself when bad things happen, like even on my worst day did I deserve babe...

Also love Anne Tyler capturing how you marry for one thing and then that thing starts to annoy you in the marriage
Like Barn marrying Natalie for her good nature but then her precise way got to him:

“I have to say, it was Natalie who weighed more heavily on my mind.
"Could I interest you in some lemonade?" she had asked on that first afternoon, and her face had been so peaceful. Her back had been so straight; her gaze so steady. But after we'd been married awhile, she turned irritable and brisk. Any little thing I did wrong, flounce-flounce around the apartment. And I did tend to do things wrong. This weird kind of sibling rivalry set in; I can't explain it. I just had to defeat her, had to prove my own brash, irresponsible, rough-and-tumble way of life was better. And yet I'd married her because her way was better. Just as some people marry for money, I had married for goodness. Ironic, if you stopped to consider.”

Also loved him saying how it was weird to see her in her red coat bc just now he’d been thinking of her like she was in the past
Also, the funny detail that Natalie has dimples.

Great way to describe the school system “All I’ve learned is trivia.”

"Don't you look youthful!" a physical therapist said once to Mrs. Alford, and she said, "Me? Useful?" and the thing that killed me was not her mishearing but the pleasure and astonishment that came over her face.

this exactly is why anne tyler showing the elderly is melancholy.

"Do you honestly believe money will make up for what I went through? Visiting all our high-class neighbors, throwing myself on their mercy, pleading with them not to press charges?"

Summed up why I don’t like the neighbors in my old neighborhood bc they have no mercy. I view them as pretentious and unforgiving.

“Did she think I didn't know how these family messes operated? The most unforgivable things got . .. oh, not forgiven. Never forgiven. But swept beneath the rug, at least; brushed temporarily to one side; buried in a shallow grave. I knew all about it.”

This is the privilege of living close together and getting to mend things over.

"And her predictability: her Sunday-night shampoos and panty-hose washing, her total lack of adventurousness. (Wasn't it a flaw, rather than a virtue, that she'd been so incurious when the passport man gave her that envelope?)."

rose-colored glasses are taken off and their virtues at the start are now not

"Well," she said. "All right."
This was so untypical of her I mean, the resigned and listless tone she used--that I caught myself feeling sorry for her. I remembered what she had said at Thanksgiving: how I was more her son than Dad's, more related to her. It seemed that now I was taking that in for the very first time. Poor Mom! It hadn't been much fun loving someone as thorny as me, I bet.

Finally a son with some self-awareness to himself

“Even so the anger hung on a moment, like the white spot that stays in your vision after you have looked at a too bright light.”

"Jeepers! They're the ones you should thank. Getting on the phone like they did and volleying around."
Rallying around was what she meant, but I didn't correct her. I had this vision of a crowd of old folks on a volleyball court, keeping me up, up, up and not letting me fall, stepping forward one after the other to boost me over the net. When one of them had to leave, another would take that one's place. Even if the faces changed, the sea of upraised hands stayed
constant.
So, no, I didn't correct her."

I liked that vision

@bookspoils

[Galen Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows thirty year-old divorced father, never graduated college, manual laborer Barnaby Gaitlin through a year of growing up. Barnaby works for a company that aids the elderly and others with heavy lifting and big chores, leading to many interesting minor characters in the novel. Barnaby realizes that he is not living up to his potential both in his parents' eyes and in his own, although for different reasons. He meets a slightly older woman, Sophia, on the train and begins a friendship and romance with her that in large and small ways guides him towards the person he would like to become.

This book captures well the (ahem) around-turning-thirty feeilng of re-evaluating your life and feeling slightly amazed that you are considered a full adult, and sensitively handles the subject of how one's own vision of a successful life may not fit with the vision of parents, society, etc. The characters are all well-described, as one might expect with Tyler, and Barnaby's relationships ring true and their descriptions are insightful. I enjoyed this book, although I don't think I ultimately gained much from it other than entertainment and enjoyment of the writing itself--it didn't, in plot or characters, strike me as incredibly unique, but it was well-executed. I hovered between giving it three and four stars, simply because while I enjoyed it I don't believe it is offers up much beyond enjoyable characters and good writing. It falls short of being life-changing or riveting, but it is a worthwhile read. I ended up giving it four stars because it captures relationships so well--even though that is never my favorite thing about books, Tyler did it better than most.

[Rachael Lutz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kept reading and reading, waiting for this book to get good. But it always felt like nothing was happening. The romances felt forced, the family dynamic was uninteresting and I never really understood Barnaby, the main character. Why did he steal things? Why did he sleep with his co-worker when he had no attraction to her? Why did do the things that I felt that he had no reason to do? I kept reading mostly because I didn't absolutely hate it, but I can't say I really enjoyed the experience either. Don't waste your time.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story with rather unusual and interesting developments. The main character seems to have been a minor criminal in his youth, or at least he was suffering from some mental problems. This, together with his irrational and erratic behavior makes it easy to strongly dislike him. And yet, as the story develops, the character, and the reader’s opinion, evolves. Leading to a satisfactory happy ending.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I loved the first half of this one, but my enjoyment fell off toward the end. I’m really enjoying rediscovering Anne Tyler, as I started reading her probably over thirty years ago. Her books are all set in Baltimore, which I really enjoy, but the best thing about her writing, for me, is that she makes ordinary people, having somewhat mundane lives, pretty extraordinary and interesting.

Something happened about 3/4 of the way through this book that just put me off. It was treated lightly and not really mentioned much afterward but it felt wrong to me and made the ending feel even more off.

So, a 3.5 it gets, even though it was five plus stars for me for the first half. I’m definitely going to be reading more of her work. The audio version of this was really well done and it felt to me like the narrator really captured the essence of the young male protagonist.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Ann Tyler's works. Looking into the lives of ordinary people and finding extraordinary stories.
The main character in the novel,Barnaby Gaitlin, is the the anti-hero in this story. He is definitely no prince. A quasi-reformed juvenile delinquent, he is a disheveled handyman,helper with a heart and "a man you can trust". His work takes him into the homes and lives of people who have no reason not to trust him and build relationships with him. He likes the work because it puts him into their lives. And he likes these people, with their flaws and quirks, because they appreciate him, even with his flaws, something most of his family is unable to do.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne Tyler has created a moving story of family dynamics and old age. I felt like part of their group, eating at their dining room table amid the chaos.

Barnaby is described as “Freak of the Week” and “Nerd of the Herd”, but ya’ gotta love him! Some of the other characters represent some form of getting old. I may be 80, but fortunately none of the “little old ladies” described me!!

[Sarah Pavlina-Whelehan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tyler's concept of the dialogue a 3o year old man would use, even in the mid-nineties, is laughable.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

"Barnaby Gaitlin is one of Anne Tyler's most promising unpromising characters. At 30, he 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 family, and even his daughter is fed up with his fecklessness. Still, attuned as he is to "the normal quota for misfortune," Barney is one of the star employees of Baltimore's Rent-a-Back, Inc., which pays him an hourly wage to help old people (and one young agoraphobe) run errands and sort out their basements and attics. Anne Tyler makes you admire most of these mothball eccentrics (though they're far from idealized) and hope that they can stave off nursing homes and death. There is, for example, "the unstoppable little black grandma whose children phoned us on an emergency basis whenever she threatened to overdo." And then there's Barnaby's new girlfriend's aunt, who will eventually accuse him of theft--"Over her forearm she carried a Yorkshire terrier, neatly folded like a waiter's napkin. 'This is my doorbell,' she said, thrusting him toward me. 'I'd never have known you were out here if not for Tatters.'" These people are wonderful creations, but their lives are more brittle than cuddly, Barnaby knows better than to think of them as friends, because they'll only die on him. Yet his job offers at least glimpses of roots and affection. Helping an old lady set up her Christmas tree (on New Year's Eve!) gives him the chance to hang a singular ornament--a snowflake "pancake-sized, slightly crumpled, snipped from gift wrap so old that the Santas were smoking cigarettes." And Barnaby himself is sharp and impatient at painful--and painfully funny--family dinners, apparently unable to keep his finger off the auto-self-destruct button every time his life improves. As much as his superb creator, he is a poet of disappointment, resignation, and minute transformation." (From Amazon)

So far so good with Tyler - she writes perfectly. A story about a young man who is the "black sheep" of the family but still hold out hope as he views the people around him.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for an absolutely delightful book to end your summer reading, Anne Tyler's "A Patchwork
Planet" would certainly do the trick.

Our narrator, Barnaby Gaitlin, is a 30 year old "lovable loser," (to quote the book jacket.) As a teen, Barnaby ran afoul of the law by robbing neighborhood homes. Oh, he didn't want the cash; no, he just wanted the chance to read their mail, look at their photographs, and maybe grab a few souvenirs while he was at it. Now, to the despair of his social climbing family, he works for a company called Rent-a-back doing chores for elderly people. The Gaitlins credit their successes to advice they receive from a series of guardian angels. While traveling on a train to see his young daughter, he meets Sophia who is going to visit her ailing mother and he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he has found his angel at last. Thus begins this charming tale.

I'm not sure exactly why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I was completely captivated by Barnaby and I simply could not put it down. There were many laugh out loud moments, but I also came to care a great deal about Barnaby and to relish his adventures. John Polk's narration was simply stellar and added a great deal to my reading experience.

I only wish there were a sequel to this incredibly fun little novel.

[Carolyn Agosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the last page, sighed, and said "What a great story!", thus waking my husband and drawing his wrath (we were both extremely jet-lagged at the time). It was that good.

It's so easy to get jaded about books today - often the books touted on the bestseller lists are, well, less than impressive. Then comes along a book like A Patchwork Planet, reviving my delight in reading. Original characters, situations, problems - yet so relatable. Barnaby touched me with his impetuous kindnesses, his slides into self-pity, and his reluctant wish to believe that his life is worth having an angel enter it.

And, oh, the other characters! I wanted to slap his mother and yell at Sophia. My lord, how could they do him like that? When a reader gets so into a book that they're shaking it in anger at a character, you know the author has done their job.

I've read Accidental Tourist and Breathing Lessons (both gems); now I'm going to have to read the rest of Ms. Tyler's books.