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Noah's Compass |  | Author: Anne Tyler
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy Used: $3.67
as of 7/29/2010 17:42 CDT details
You Save: $22.28 (86%)
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Seller: motor_city_books
Rating:  103 reviews
Sales Rank: 8296
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0307272400
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780307272409
ASIN: 0307272400
Publication Date: January 5, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life.
Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn’t bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new, spare, and efficient condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged.
His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is—well, something quite different.
We all know a Liam. In fact, there may be a little of Liam in each of us. Which is why Anne Tyler’s lovely novel resonates so deeply.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 103
 Tyler's writing makes the ordinary into something extraordinary July 26, 2010
Wallaby (Flint Hills)
Liam is a 61 year old single man forced into retirement. This does not sound like much of a plot does it? In fact there is not much plot to this book except for the unexpected twist to Liam's lukewarm love life, but that is not what makes this book so very good. This story answers the seminal question: "Is an unexamined life worth living?"
The cathartic turn in Liam's life is when he quotes a comedic line from an old Dean Martin skit. All of the sudden, Liam has removed the blinders that he has worn for 50+ years.
If you do not appreciate a subtle story about what constitutes the real meaning of life, you will probably not enjoy this phenomenal novel. Remember when Seinfeld said that his show was "about nothing?" Well, on the surface this book is about nothing as well, but it is really about everything: family, life, love, friends, purpose and fulfillment.
Great read July 22, 2010
barbara
I love Ann Tyler's books and was so happy when she came out with a new one. I would definitely recommend reading Noah's Compass.
 Anne Tyler, I want my time back! July 19, 2010
sfrost (GA USA)
I rented this on audio book to help to pass the time on a recent roadtrip and to help keep the driver awake. Au contraire! Each chapter drug on forever, droning, droning, droning until the driver begged me to stop playing the CD's. Pointless chatter, moronic dribble, he said-she said; like listening to a 6 year old describe their thoughts! Just on principle alone,I forced myself to complete the story once I got home. Surely, his family is reunited, surely he finds new love, surely he does something, anything! But no, sadly the book just ends, it's as if Ms Tyler was suddenly distracted by a passing butterfly or the phone rang. Thank goodness,it ended. I've been robbed-forget the price of the book rental, give me back my life!
 Don't read Anne Tyler for an adventure novel... June 11, 2010
P. Johnson (North Carolina)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
...read her for her exquisite subtlety. Read her for her extremely human characters. Those who don't like this novel are right- it's slow, it doesn't have the textbook happy ending, and the main character is far from perfect. But that's WHY I read Anne Tyler's novels. I love her attention to detail. Just like me, her characters, though trying to do their best, are flawed.
I must admit, Liam reminded me a bit of the main character in The Accidental Tourist, my all time favorite Anne Tyler novel. Again, we find a man who is ineffectual, depressed, and finds comfort in removing things and people from his life-- and then a brash woman crashes in.
Look at the title- Noah's Compass. Liam's world is shrinking. He's just floating around trying to find land. The part in the novel where he explains the Noah story is also my favorite part of the book. I must admit, I loved Eunice and wanted a happy ending there, but that would not have been true to Liam's personality. So again, if you want a fast paced novel where the protagonist is perfect and there is a fairytale ending, then stay away. But for true Anne Tyler fans, this book will not disappoint.
In the mainstream of Tyler's work May 28, 2010
algo41 (cinnaminson, nj United States)
I am a big Tyler fan, "Digging to America" being the exception. This novel is in the mainstream of her work. I believe she could have found a more entertaining, and perhaps more concise introduction, i.e. the part of the story before the first conversation with Eunice. As in some other Tyler novels, the ending is not predictable, but satisfying. I particularly appreciated the sense in which Eunice did become Liam's "rememberer", by stimulating his own capacities. I think it realistic, and not uncommon, that in Xanthe's mind Liam terribly wronged her, while he thought he was acting in her best interest, and had no idea she thought otherwise (incidentally, I couldn't find any particular reason Tyler chose Xanthe as a name, other than it being Greek). I am not sure Tyler did as much with Liam's sister as she might have.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 103
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