Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler is a Pulitzer Prize winning author after all. I love reading Pulitzer Prize winners. I find them interesting, fascinating, deep and exciting. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant was not a winner of the prestigious award but a finalist. I am still in awe of anyone that can achieve that with their writing. As a writer I strive for the same.
I had read that this novel would be a great study in character development. The author herself calls this her favorite novel. I started reading with great anticipation. After only a few chapters I started to wonder what I'd gotten myself into.
It's not that the writing isn't superb. It is. Pearl Tull has depth and detail as a troubled woman, wife and mother. Her husband simply walks out the door one day and she tells the children he's away on a business trip. Cody, the eldest child takes out his frustrations on Ezra, the middle and most loved child. With her mother as her only role model, Jenny, the only girl, focuses strictly on not following in her mother's footsteps.
My issue with this story is that there is nothing about any of these characters that is likeable. Nothing. They are angry, mean, and spiteful toward each other. I didn't see any of them grow and change over the course of the story in any way. Cody remained jealous throughout. Ezra always believed in the family as a unit even though they were never able to finish an entire meal together at his restaurant. Jenny went through the motions, going through several marriages and never really appearing as having found any happiness. And Pearl. Pearl softened some as she aged. But even in death she never released her hold on lives of her children. The appearance of her husband, Beck, at her funeral did little to resolve years of pain.
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is wonderfully crafted and written. The story and it's characters have great depth, and display a colorful palette of emotions. As reader I just couldn't like them. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant didn't turn out to be an enjoyable experience for me. It may be for you.
Anne Tyler is a Pulitzer Prize winning author after all. I love reading Pulitzer Prize winners. I find them interesting, fascinating, deep and exciting. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant was not a winner of the prestigious award but a finalist. I am still in awe of anyone that can achieve that with their writing. As a writer I strive for the same.
I had read that this novel would be a great study in character development. The author herself calls this her favorite novel. I started reading with great anticipation. After only a few chapters I started to wonder what I'd gotten myself into.
It's not that the writing isn't superb. It is. Pearl Tull has depth and detail as a troubled woman, wife and mother. Her husband simply walks out the door one day and she tells the children he's away on a business trip. Cody, the eldest child takes out his frustrations on Ezra, the middle and most loved child. With her mother as her only role model, Jenny, the only girl, focuses strictly on not following in her mother's footsteps.
My issue with this story is that there is nothing about any of these characters that is likeable. Nothing. They are angry, mean, and spiteful toward each other. I didn't see any of them grow and change over the course of the story in any way. Cody remained jealous throughout. Ezra always believed in the family as a unit even though they were never able to finish an entire meal together at his restaurant. Jenny went through the motions, going through several marriages and never really appearing as having found any happiness. And Pearl. Pearl softened some as she aged. But even in death she never released her hold on lives of her children. The appearance of her husband, Beck, at her funeral did little to resolve years of pain.
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is wonderfully crafted and written. The story and it's characters have great depth, and display a colorful palette of emotions. As reader I just couldn't like them. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant didn't turn out to be an enjoyable experience for me. It may be for you.
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