Currently Reading

Reading: My Two Polish Grandfathers, by Witold Rybczynski.
Listening to: Blasphemy, by Douglas Preston.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Review: Noah's Compass


Noah's Compass, by Anne Tyler. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)

Noah didn't need a compass, Anne Tyler tells us, or sails or other navigational tools, because he wasn't going anywhere. In fact, there was nowhere to go.

Liam Pennywell has been drifting throughout most of his adult life, marrying, having children, taking jobs, but not holding on to anything very well. He has a philosophical attitude about life events, like divorce and job loss, that would be upsetting to others.

When he loses his most recent job, as a fifth grade teacher in a second-rate private school in Baltimore, he thinks about retiring. He's 60 years old, and he believes he can get by if he moves to a smaller apartment and economizes. He pictures spending the last part of his life reading all day in a comfortable chair.

On his first day in his new apartment, he is assaulted by a would-be burglar. He wakes up the next morning in the hospital with a head injury and no memory of the incident. His ex-wife and somewhat distant daughters move back into his life as he begins his recovery, and he comes to realize that he has casually lost hold of memories all his life -- memories of his marriages, of his children, of his ambition.

Liam, like so many of Anne Tyler's characters, tries to maintain his sense of self, even as incidents and individuals outside his control push him to react in uncharacteristic or uncomfortable ways. As she opens up Liam's life to the reader, Tyler shows how we can learn about hope, relationships, and happiness, even from someone like her seemingly rudderless protagonist who is trying only to stay afloat, like Noah.

Recommended.

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