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 and really quite boring character. The women surrounding him, an ex-wife, sister and two daughters, are all competent, bossy and basically interchangeable. Pennywell's impulsive pursuit of the local tycoon and his memory coach seems out of character and we get no plausible explananation of why he embarks on this route.

Having said this, of course Tyler is incapable of writing badly. The young daughter Kitty provides a brillianly observed portrayal of teenage behaviour and the book is worth reading for her character alone. Overall a disappointment though.