Questions About Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

by Anne Tyler (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (2)

If Pearl was sending those LL Bean gifts to Josiah from a guilty conscience, why didn't she make it up to others she was mean to?

Jeff Cramer I agree with kareninfolsom. Jenny denied association with him twice in front of Pearl. I feel that the LL Bean gifts were Jenny's atonement.…moreI agree with kareninfolsom. Jenny denied association with him twice in front of Pearl. I feel that the LL Bean gifts were Jenny's atonement.(less)

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...the distant plane humming like a bee... Huh?

Allison Anne Tyler's answer during an interview with Diane Rehm:

Q: One scene that has always intrigued me is the airplane at the end of “Dinner at the Homesic…moreAnne Tyler's answer during an interview with Diane Rehm:

Q: One scene that has always intrigued me is the airplane at the end of “Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.” What were you imagining for the characters when you wrote that as the last scene?

AT: That book, unbeknownst to anyone but me, has some military thing or reference to war or fighting in every single chapter, and that’s just because I felt the family was at war so often. So that little brown plane is a military plane that’s just overhead. And it also refers to something that I thought once when I was thinking about a family quarrel or something in my own family. I I was picturing is that right afterward – it all worked out – my father was out with my brothers and me and we were tossing a ball back and forth, and I just pictured that ball rising in the sky and falling back down, this little white ball. And it seemed like such a carefree, happy image after thinking about a family fight, so in a way that was reflected too in the little airplane.(less)

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Unanswered Questions (2)

Hi I am about 20% through with this book, and wondering if it gets better? It's so depressing, about how mean the mom is, how bad the kids have it, etc. I'm ready to abandon it, but wondered if folks think it gets better....

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