Helpful Score: 7
Anything by Anne Tyler is irresistible reading. One gets caught up in her elegant phrasing, so unusual with today's faster-paced style. Her heroes live on the edge of main stream America, caught up in daily struggles familiar to us all--often chaotic and character revealing. This novel is about 30-year-old misfit Barnaby Gaitlin, "a renegade who is actually a kind-hearted man struggling to find his place in the world."
Helpful Score: 3
There are times you may say to yourself "WHY am I reading this book?", but stick with it, it's excellent. Just getting to know this extraordinary, yet ordinary guy...from a rich, yet poor family, doing something so sweet he doesn't even realize it... but it all works out and then some.
Helpful Score: 2
The story of a lovable loser who's trying to get his life in order. I don't identify enough with lovable losers - especially men - and especially those who used to break into houses - to really feel pulled into this story. But I love Anne Tyler's writing and if anyone could make me care about a guy with a history like that, it would be her. And so I enjoyed it, and pulled for the guy to make it to a better place...
Helpful Score: 2
Barnaby Gaitlin is just trying to get his life in order. But he has a habit of breaking into other people's houses so he can read their mail and gather one or two momentos. Anne Tyler has a knack for creating memorable,loveable, yet flawed characters and this book is no exception. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Helpful Score: 2
Anne Tyler's 14th novel: Barnaby Gaitlin breaks into other people's houses. He likes to read their mail, pore over their photo albums, etc. Now he works for Rent-a-Back. This is a great book to read.
