Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: A Novel

A family consisting of a traveling salesman father who leaves for another woman, a mother who is dominating, a son who is a reasonably successful businessman, a daughter who becomes a doctor but has a confused and not very successful life and an odd brother who has always wanted to own a restaurant.
It is sad . amusing and well written. They try lots of things as a family and fail. Strange as the forgoing description, you will enjoy it.

The story of five decades in a dysfunctional family. (Is there any other kind?) A mother with a chip on her shoulder and a bit of a martyr complex single-handedly raises three children after her traveling salesman husband leaves her...but never quite goes completely away. The children are so unlike each other than they seem to be caricatures: the outwardly charming competitor with a big competitive mean streak, the middle child who refuses to acknowledge anything is ever wrong, the aimless but nurturing youngest son who is unaware of his own potential.

Tyler has a lot of fans, but I guess her style just isn't something I am drawn to. I like a good complicated character, but I also like plot. This book was entirely character-driven, dysfunction for the sake of dysfunction. I found the ending disappointing. You'd think with that many angry dysfunctional people, someone would have had some backbone.

I didn't hate it, but I'll probably forget about it quickly. I probably wouldn't have read it except that it was chosen by our book club.

Another gem from Anne Tyler. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel just like I've enjoyed other novels by her. All her books - ones I've read - always seem to have a black sheep in the family and a vanishing relative who reappears at the end. Her characters LIVE. Can't wait to read another one of her novels soon!

This book was recommended to me, however, it did not live up to my expectations from the recommendation that I received. I found the prose ponderous, most of the characters unsympathetic and the plot sometimes got bogged down in the mundane minutia of everyday. It did not move quickly and the characters were not those that I found attractive in a readable way. Anne Tyler is a fine author but this book was not, in my opinion, one of her better stories.

What an unusual story. I hated Pearl in the beginning. Hated their sad life with no friends. Then hated Beck. But this story becomes something so riveting. I became so involved in Cody, Ezra and Jenny's story. Disliking Cody, carrying intensely for Ezra and wanted to know more about Jenny. Very different story that may help you appreciate your family more!

A lover of Mary Tyler, this study portrays the inner workings of what could be any family. Tyler works her magic in building wholly believable characters who muddle their ways through life doing the best only they know how and wreaking small amounts of havoc along the way but also learning.

Tyler is the mistress of characterization and innovative description. I would read anything written by her and am going to work my way through her inventory. A Patchwork Planet another good one.

This is Anne Tyler's favorite, of her novels, & that's good enough for me. I haven't finished the book yet. The mother is one of the great sympathetic harridans, like Henny in Christine Stead's _The Man Who Loved Children_. I suppose I should have finished the book before reviewing it, but Anne Tyler is one of my favorite writers, & it cannot be bad.

I chose this book because most of the ratings and reviews made it sound like a really good book. I read half of it before giving up- something I don't usually do. The characters are sad as is the plot. Not for me.

Anne Tyler seldom writes light hearted books but this one was unusually grim. The plot is sad, the characters are sad and the setting is gray and dismal. I really found little to redeem any of the characters. Ms. Tyler is a beautiful writer; several passages and descriptions are almost lyrical. I just didn't like the story.

Nobody writes about functional families..too boring I suppose. Ms Tyler creates well defined 3D characters but I never really like them not only with this book but all of the other ones I have read. Ezra was probably the most likable character but at the end his life seemed so pointless that I ended preferring Cody, the older, "black sheep " brother .

Detailed description of family feelings for each other, because of each other, and about each other. You feel their pain and recognize its intensity. Only in the very end, did the the family round into a unit. The mother gone and the circle was unbroken.

A book about family relationships, jealouy, heartache, and reconciliation. It follows the Tull family, opening with the mother's dying, and then goes back to gradually reveal the lives of her 3 children, and their interactions with each other and their mother, and the effect of their father deserting them when they were so young. Very satisfying and thought provoking.

This book is definitely in the lower tier of Tyler's works. It is sentimental and the characters are stereotypical. The plot line is so predictable that it took great effort and stamina to complete this one.