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Apr 22, 2011

Barbara rated it:

As I read this book, I was often reminded of the television show, Seinfeld , which was purportedly about nothing, but beneath the surface there was usually more. I have read and enjoyed many of Anne Tyler's novels. They all seem to share the trend of family disharmony and often are similar in style, if not content.

Noah's Compass is a low-key, meandering story. While sleeping, Liam Pennywell sustained a head injury as a result of an attack by an assailant who broke into his room. More...

12 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2010

Dave rated it:

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0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2011

Joy H. rated it:

April 2010 - I have finished reading Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler, a story about a widower named Liam who is trying to adjust to retirement. It was a good read and I would recommend it.

The title is a reference to Noah in the Bible.* Liam tells his grandson about Noah. As he talks, the reader sees parallels between Noah's circumstance and Liam's life. On p. 219, Liam says: "There was nowhere to go. He was just trying to stay afloat. ... So he didn't need a compass, or a rudder, o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2010

Miss Emrey rated it:

My first Kindle book (tried on the school's iTouch) - I really enjoyed this convenient option for reading.

Anne Tyler is one of my all time favorite authors, but I haven't thought that her recent books are even close to the quality and enjoyment of her earlier works (Saint Maybe, Breathing Lessons, Dinner at the Homesick Rest., and The Accidental Tourist). I'd probably give this a 3 and a half stars, there was an interesting twist of plot and the usual assortment of quirkly, three-dim More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Stuart added it

I liked this book a lot. It is very simply written, about a man who is very ordinary. I liked that. It’s nice to sometimes read about someone who is not a superhuman being, who knows how to parachute out a plane with just an umbrella or some such. The main character, Liam, at age 61, has just lost his job, not that he liked it much anyway, and has moved to a small apartment, and seemingly has no-one in his life and little to do. But suddenly and then in growing numbers, people begin to populate More...

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Jun 30, 2011

Carol rated it:

Liam Pennywell is 61 years old and has lost his job teaching 5th grade history in a private boy's school. The terms of his job loss were clearly unfair, but he is, in his, as we discover, passive way, "accepting" this with a stiff upper lip and moving on. Except he moved to a neighborhood where he got smashed in the head the first night of his arrival by an intruder. The subsequent amnesia obsesses him throughout of the novel.

For the most part, Anne Tyler usually makes m More...

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Jun 12, 2011

Susan rated it:

Liam is an unremarkable 61 year old man who has been fired from his teaching job and forced to retire, although he rationalizes that it doesn't really matter because he wasn't particularly good at teaching fifth graders, and his real passion is philosophy. He is a man who is aware that he didn't make much of himself; he is lonely, and passively defeated. On the first night of his moving into a small apartment, he is attacked by a burglar, and the next day he finds himself in a hospital with br More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2011

Karen rated it:

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Oct 16, 2010

Judy rated it:

Anne Tyler is one of my favorite authors. Her quirky, off-center characters are appealing in their individuality, strengths, and weaknesses. And since I went to college in the Baltimore area, my familiarity with the setting adds to the enjoyment. In this book, Liam Pennywell has been downsized from his job as a 5th grade teacher in a private school. It certainly wasn't that he enjoyed the job--he didn't. It's just that he seems to be continuing to drift along in life--he drifted into privat More...

2 comments like

Oct 10, 2010

Booker rated it:

I think I've read all of Anne Tyler's books and this is probably the weakest. In other books her characters tend to live on the fringes of society, outwardly losers, but through Tyler's eyes we get to like them and understand their often odd behaviour. Liam Pennywell, the main protagonist of Noah's Compass, provokes none of this sympathy. With his grumpy disconnection from the modern world, deliberate obtuseness in conversation and total lack of concern for his family he is a weak, unlikeable an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 09, 2010

Kathy rated it:

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Oct 07, 2010

Camzcam rated it:

I love that Tyler has such a clear and personal voice in literature. I could have turned to any page of this book with no idea who it was by and figured it out after reading just one paragraph.

Anne Tyler has mastered the art of the lovable loser. In this latest book it is personified in Liam Pennywell. Twice married, (once widowed, once divorced) father of three grown daughters, recently laid off from the latest in a string of teaching positions, Liam wakes up one day in a hospit More...

1 comment like

Aug 08, 2010

Fran rated it:

I guess I am missing something here. I don't know the relevance of the book title considering the story. Liam is in his 60s, losses his job, was married twice, once divorced and once widowed. He has three daughters but never really was a part of thier lives....in short he is a sad sack! Whe he loses his job he considers retirement and scales back on living expenses, not that he had much to scal back on. During his first night he is assualted in his new place and has no memory of the inciden More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2010

Sandy rated it:

Liam is forcibly retired from teaching and begins a process of simplifying his life. He moves to a smaller apartment and contemplates his next step. The move has left Liam tired and as he falls asleep the first night in his new place, he enjoys the scent of the pines outside his bedroom window. But, when he wakes, he finds himself in a hospital wearing a "helmet" of bandages, unable to remember what happened and unable to make peace with this new faulty memory. As the title suggest More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2010

Jane rated it:

It had been a long time since I'd read an Anne Tyler novel and I'd almost forgotten how much I like them. I'm always able to identify with her quietly quirky characters (say that ten times fast), but maybe that says more about me than them!

This time it's Liam Pennywell, a sixty-one year old who has just lost his job as a fifth grade teacher. Educated as a philosopher, he never cared all that much for teaching anyway and is coming to terms with his forced retirement. He moves into More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2010

Jane rated it:

I Have read every one of the Anne Tyler books. I love her ordinary characters living ordinary lives, and the quirky ways in which they do. This book was particularly "ordinary," although odd and quirky and strange as ordinary life always is. It made me very, very sad, but it felt right. I don't know that I'll recommend it to many people. You'd have to be in a good place to find it charming or bearable or whatever adjective I'm searching for. Yet I read it in three sittings. I am go More...

3 comments like

May 10, 2010

Chuck rated it:

Anne Tyler is another American writer with a long bibliography and sensitivity to the malaise of modern life. Noah’s Compass (Doubleday $32.95) is the story of Liam Pennywell who has at 60 has just been down-sized from his teaching job at a private boy’s school. His first wife suicided and his second wife left him. He is moving into a smaller apartment, hoping for quiet days to read his philosophy books. This would make for a pretty dull story except he is mugged the first night in his new digs More...

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May 03, 2010

Nancy rated it:

The latest book by Anne Tyler was a quick, pleasant read. Having read her books over the years, this one seemed briefer and covered a shorter passage of time than most others but, in a way, I enjoyed that as, even though Tyler has the knack of making passive people sympathetic, I still have the desire to give some of the characters a good smack at times.

In this case, instead of the entire meandering life of the character, we join him for the end of his passive journey and his re-e More...

0 comments like

Apr 19, 2010

Kathleen rated it:

I became so immersed in this book and its characters that I had trouble taking a break from it to eat and sleep. Yes, we may have seen the male character in previous novels. He is flawed, living a claustrophobic life, perhaps depressed. Tyler's writing, however, her ear for dialogue between family and friends, brings insights that change Liam Pennywell's life. The novel is full of irony, unexpected moments of humor,kindness and forgiveness, perhaps as everyone's is, rescuing all of us from we More...

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Mar 27, 2010

T. rated it:

Noah's Compass finds Liam, a 60-year-old recently retired (sort-of) teacher shifting into a new apartment, who awakens to find himself in hospital after a blow to the head.

From this point we follow Liam, as he struggles to regain his memory, initiates a romance with a younger (married) woman, juggles the advice giving attentions of his daughters and deals with an awkward relationship with his ex-wife.

The prose of Noah's Compass is plain-speak and easy to read, however the More...

0 comments like

Mar 02, 2010

Margaret rated it:

Anne Tyler's novels all take place in Baltimore, and to a former Baltimorean ("Baltimoron"...) who has a real fondness for the city, reading one of her books is the next best thing to being there, Hon. I've read most of her books and think her real strength is in her writing - it just goes down so easily and effortlessly. A weak plot makes no difference - they're still fun and so authentically Baltimore, or rather a certain Baltimore locale, happily where I lived so it's all very fam More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2010

Sue rated it:

I really enjoyed this book. Anne Tyler does a great job with character development and the dialog in this book was phenomenal. I laughed at several spots and even shared some of the scenes with my family.

The story is about Liam, a 60 year old man, who has recently been 'down-sized' from his teaching position. His whole life has been kind of a mediocre life where his whole theory has been about not rocking the boat and just a kind of 'oh well' attitude.

The first n More...

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Jun 04, 2010

Marsha rated it:

It's always exciting when Anne Tyler publishes a new novel. I couldn't wait to get started. Again, we can laugh and cry for Liam, the main character, who can't laugh or cry for himself. Hardly a smile until he "takes up with" an unlikely, much younger woman. bit by bit, he begins to connect with his family and his own life. People are never quite what they seem to be on the surface and I'm off into another exploration of how people help each other get on with life, just by being themse

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 14, 2010

Gail rated it:

STUNNING NARRATIVE BY ARTHUR MOREY
Reader Rating See Detailed Ratings

Posted 2/14/2010: Premier voice performer Arthur Morey beautifully assumes the persona of protagonist Liam Pennywell in this wise, affecting story. Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler is a kind, generous author; Morey is a kind, generous reader presenting Liam as an ordinary fellow with regrets, hopes and aspirations common to many. A teacher of performance and writing at several universites Morey brings both know More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2010

Gail rated it:

Following a Pulitzer Prize for BREATHING LESSONS and accolades from every newspaper, journal, and reviewer imaginable for other works what further praise could be heaped upon the unparalleled Anne Tyler? She has captured readers once again with a story of ordinary people, their hopes, joys, regrets, and fears. Ordinary people, yes, but intriguing to us because Tyler presents them with such discernment, kindness, wisdom and humor.

At 61 years of age Liam Pennywell lost his job. F More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2010

Amy rated it:

Anne Tyler, a keen observer and chronicler of human nature, explores the last phase of life in her latest, Noah’s Compass. Liam Pennywell, sixty-one and recently downsized from his teaching job, finds himself the victim of a botched burglary. Liam awakens in the hospital with no recollection of how he got there, and is most disturbed to find that he is missing the memory of an event that so impacted his life. This sets Liam on a course of reflection and an examination of his life. As Liam ex More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2010

Melinda rated it:

(Melinda) The most compelling concept to me was actually the title. The story of the biblical Noah refers to a man chosen by God to survive the coming flood because "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Consequently, Noah survived and actually was led on to high and dry ground... And all of this without "steering" the ark! No compass, no map. Liam's grandson actually brings up the idea. Somehow,this theme is threaded into the fabric of this story making me wonder if Lia More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2010

Lori rated it:

Some may find Anne Tyler too formulaic.... "quirky character muddles through life and suddenly has epiphany"...however I personally find reading her books as comforting as a warm blanket on a cold night or a nice chat with a good friend. Noah's Compass doesn't disappoint as the main character, Liam, is a retiree who has stripped down his life to the bare bones, moving into a small, gloomy condo with a few books, a couple chairs, and some canned soup. He has almost no friends and is d More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2010

Rick rated it:

I just came back from walking to my local bookstore, in penance for reading Noah's Compass on my Kindle. It was so cold it burned my lungs, but my blood was pooling and the sun wasn't about to stay out the whole day. I paid for paper virtue.

Anne Tyler messes with an American reader's expectations, and she messes with mine. There is never a nice ending, if by nice you want to mean some resolution of life's fallings short. But there is somehow a getting at what it means to be alive and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 25, 2010

Dad rated it:

I'm a huge Anne Tyler fan. I've read all of her 17 books - usually as they were written. The argument can be made that there's a similarity to her stories - they generally include a character who goes through life befuddled by it's complexities and who has trouble being decisive about what should be done. And yet, Tyler has a great knack of describing real people with all their little quirks. The families and situations she describes have a authenticity about them that is extremely hard More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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