Anne Tyler is the greatest living American contemporary writer . She knows the hearts and minds of any American community she is a part of. Her words spill off the page magically. Her humanity is fulfilled. And the "man who would be king" who now invades our most precious American Home is the composite of word dung who would benefit just by knowing her...and reading her voraciously.

This is one of my favorite Anne Tyler novels. Ian is such a lovely boy and taking on those three orphaned kids of his dead brother may have seemed like a life being ruined, but in the hands of our beloved Ms. Tyler, no! I read this book about once a year simply because I love the story, and each time I read it something strikes me fresh and I am again astonished at the downright enchantment that Tyler weaves into her tales. Thank you, Anne Tyler!

I was not ready for this story to end! It read like you were watching a movie. My favorite character was of course Ian.

A book that walks through a journey of forgiving oneself and the power of love and devotion. What you do when life doesn’t go as you planned the journey of one family over time. Clever and funny in parts, serious and sad in others.

. . . For my money, AT gives short shrift to the second part of the above proposition. We have Lucy as a cautionary tale, but no real exploration of the full range of families, including the harm, as well as the good, they do. Still, this is a tender, affecting story showing the emotional struggles of ordinary people. I always appreciate the simplicity of Ms. Tyler’s writing, and I think she’s way underrated. The first half is touching and poignant, But the story does drag a bit in the second half.

Miss Annie Tyler wrote an amazing book. The movie I loved 😍 the children each on their own history of shyness and their afraid The movie had a little bit of history of Ian and Rita The book chapter 9 and 10 was mostly about how Ian met Rita, more explanation how their relationship became friends and grew. Ian told the kids that he had to finally take a Chance on Love cuz he was getting older. I just fell in love with them more and more because of the last two chapters and let me tell you it wasn't disappointment. This book gave you more insight about the three children about Lucy Danny, Bee and Doug. Bee had her own chapter concerning loss of Danny and his marriage to Lucy Doug chapter talked about retirement and the foreign visitors from other states that will stay next door he would go and help or watch them build things since they were there as visitors going to college. Each chapter Miss Annie Tyler wrote each of these characters a lively personality more description what they had to go through when they lost Danny and there was a chapter where it was about Lucy and the children and the struggles and what kind of personality she was. It had the chapter on Ian where I finally realized that he probably did have a crush on Lucy because Lucy's character was a kind person who could draw anyone towards her good or bad and explain a lot when I watched the movie. In this book there is some things about Ian that really surprised me especially while he was dating Cecilia his first girlfriend. You wouldn't want to put this book down you just want to keep on reading to see what happens to all of them

When reading Anne Tyler's books, I often think they are all about dysfunctional families, but perhaps they are normal families. After all, no family is perfect. This book is no exception. It focuses on the issues of guilt and forgiveness. Ian Bedloe feels guilty, as he believes his butting into other's personal lives caused two suicides. He then becomes involved in a small, nontraditional church in an attempt to atone for the sin that he feels he committed. Ms. Tyler portrayed the characters well and I felt as if I knew most of them. However, I thought the book was slow in parts and could have been shortened. Although the book was well written, I didn't enjoy it as much as the other books of hers that I have read. Maybe that's because Ian always seemed depressed or guilty and unable to forgive himself. Anyway, that is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

I first read this book when it was first published in the early 1990s and have read it many times since then. I had read, "The Accidental Tourist" and loved it, but was not really in love with Tyler as an author-yet. I am also not a religious person, so I was not sure why I decided to read this book. I think what grabbed me so much was the heartbreaking reality that the protagonist, Ian, was such an ordinary person. He was in high school at the beginning of the story, and a freshman in college when he tosses thoughtless words out of anger that have a domino effect on the rest of his life. He seeks easy forgiveness from a store-front church and learns that forgiveness requires repair. So, Ian goes about raising his nieces and nephew for the next twenty years, in which we get to peek into their windows and see little moments. Ian is not perfect, nor does he do his penance without resistance at times, but we see a family that functions. It is only later we learn the whole truth to it, and the entire ramifications that could have happened if Ian had made different choices by not staying. Ian also learns that forgiveness is more complicated than even repair, and he has to learn to forgive himself. It's a story of a family, of faith, and of a man trying desperately to do the right thing, even when the right thing is the hardest thing in the world. Anne Tyler has a beautiful way with words, of making mundane moments in life fascinating, and of bringing out emotions in the everyday. It is one of my favorite books, and I recommend it to everyone I meet, whether or not they are people of faith. It ultimately isn't about religion. It's about a family.