Reviews
"Tyler's characteristic warmth and affection for her characters are engaging as ever. . . [They are] all vibrantly portrayed with her usual low-key gusto and bracingly dark humor . . . Power dynamics are never simple in Tyler's portraits of marriage." -- Kirkus Reviews, "A stellar addition to Tyler's prodigious catalogue . . . A bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another . . . The cast of sharply drawn characters dominates in ways both reflective and raucous across a series of emotional events." -- Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed) "Tyler, a master of honey enchantment and sly social evisceration whose storytelling finesse has propelled more than 20 novels, now delivers an especially lithe and enlivening tale . . . Tyler's bedazzling yet fathoms-deep feel-good novel is wrought with nimble humor, intricate understanding of emotions and family, place and community--and bounteous pleasure in quirkiness, discovery, and renewal . . . Ensnaring . . . Quintessential Tyler . . . Brilliant, charming, and book-club-ready." -- Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred) "Tyler's characteristic warmth and affection for her characters are engaging as ever. . . [They are] all vibrantly portrayed with her usual low-key gusto and bracingly dark humor . . . Power dynamics are never simple in Tyler's portraits of marriage." -- Kirkus Reviews, "Anne Tyler is one of this country''s great artists . . . She has lost none of the inspired grace of her prose, nor her sad, frank humor, nor her limitless sympathy for women who ask for little and get less . . . Beautiful, understated, humane." -- USA Today "Tyler''s stirring story celebrates the joys of self-discovery and the essential truth that family is ours to define." -- People "Anne Tyler is the most dependably rewarding novelist now at work in our country." -- Wall Street Journal "Delightfully zany . . . Charming . . . Tender." -- Washington Post "Feels as comforting as coming home." -- Minneapolis Star-Tribune "A joy to read . . . These characters come to life off the page." -- Baltimore Magazine "Anne Tyler''s Baltimore has become a sort of urban Yoknapatawpha." --Charles McGrath, New York Times "If Anne Tyler isn''t the best writer in the world, who is?" --Jane Garvey, Woman''s Hour, BBC Radio 4 " Clock Dance pulls you right in and keeps on ticking . . . Tyler''s novels reassure us that the possibilities for meaningful connection--which so often seem lost in our hectic world--are still out there." -- Newsday "Anne Tyler is one of America''s very best living novelists and one of the world''s most loved . . . Her stories about family life--beautifully written, forensically insightful, sometimes laugh out loud funny--are cherished by all ages . . . She sheds light on the secret bits of yourself, the parts no one knows about, and her skill is writing compassionately about our so-called ordinary lives with an apparent effortlessness that conceals great art." -- The Times Magazine (UK) " Clock Dance, rife with the hurts and joys of living, is far more than merely very good . . . For readers Anne Tyler is a life force; for writers she is simply the best." -- Irish Times "A smart, touching exploration of altruism and the nature of a meaningful life." -- Daily Mail (UK) "Stellar . . . A bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another." -- Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed) "Brilliant, charming, and book-club-ready . . . Tyler''s bedazzling yet fathoms-deep feel-good novel is wrought with nimble humor, intricate understanding of emotions and family, place and community--and bounteous pleasure in quirkiness, discovery, and renewal." -- Booklist (starred) " Clock Dance brims with the qualities that have brought Tyler legions of fans and high critical acclaim. Characters pulse with lifelikeness. The tone flickers between humorous relish and sardonic shrewdness. Dialogue crackles with authenticity . . . Warmly appealing." -- The Sunday Times (UK) "Tyler does not disappoint. Her characters are distinctly drawn and their stories layered . . . The result is a compelling look at the need for relevance, being offered a second chance, and deciding whether to take it. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal, (starred) "Written with brilliantly deceptive ease . . . So absorbing . . . Tyler''s Baltimore is universal, like Trollope''s Barchester, or Flaubert''s Normandy . . . Even though she performs narrative cartwheels that would lead other novelists to be praised as experimental, she does it with such ease that it seems closer to life than to art." -- The Mail on Sunday (UK) "Tyler''s characteristic warmth and affection for her characters are engaging as ever." -- Kirkus Reviews, " Clock Dance pulls you right in and keeps on ticking . . . Filled with Tyler's wry perspective on appealingly quirky, so-called ordinary people . . . Once again, she throws light on the human condition . . . Her novels reassure us that the possibilities for meaningful connection--which so often seem lost in our hectic world--are still out there." --Heller McAlpin, Newsday "A delightfully zany premise . . . Most charming of all is Cheryl, the hilariously precocious 9-year-old who wears majorette boots . . . A tender novel." --Ron Charles, Washington Post "Anne Tyler has been reliably turning out books of such consistently high quality that it's easy to take her a little for granted . . . Her Baltimore has become a sort of urban Yoknapatawpha." --Charles McGrath, New York Times "Stellar . . . A bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another." -- Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed) "Brilliant, charming, and book-club-ready . . . Tyler's bedazzling yet fathoms-deep feel-good novel is wrought with nimble humor, intricate understanding of emotions and family, place and community--and bounteous pleasure in quirkiness, discovery, and renewal . . . Tyler [is] a master of honey enchantment and sly social evisceration." -- Booklist (starred) " Clock Dance brims with the qualities that have brought Tyler legions of fans and high critical acclaim. Characters pulse with lifelikeness. The tone flickers between humorous relish and sardonic shrewdness. Dialogue crackles with authenticity . . . Warmly appealing." -- The Sunday Times (UK) "Tyler does not disappoint. Her characters are distinctly drawn and their stories layered . . . The result is a compelling look at the need for relevance, being offered a second chance, and deciding whether to take it. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal, (starred) "Written with brilliantly deceptive ease . . . So absorbing . . . Tyler's Baltimore is universal, like Trollope's Barchester, or Flaubert's Normandy . . . Even though she performs narrative cartwheels that would lead other novelists to be praised as experimental, she does it with such ease that it seems closer to life than to art." -- The Mail on Sunday (UK) "Tyler's characteristic warmth and affection for her characters are engaging as ever." -- Kirkus Reviews
