"Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

Author: Anne Tyler
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Random House Publishing, 1996
Pages: 336
My Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Pearl Tull is nearing the end of her life but not her memory. It was a Sunday night in 1944 when her husband left the little row house on Baltimore's Calvert Street, abandoning Pearl to raise their three children alone: Jenny, high-spirited and determined, nurturing to strangers but distant to those she loves; the oldest son, Cody, a wild and incorrigible youth possessed by the lure of power and money; and sweet and clumsy Ezra, Pearl's favorite, who never stops yearning for the "perfect" family that could never be his own." Now grown, they have gathered together again - with anger, with hope, and with a beautiful, harsh, and dazzling story to tell.

Review: This book grabbed me from the first page. Excellent read. I thought it was genius beginning a book from the perspective of someone on their death bed and then reading her children's experiences and take on things as they flashback through the years. It's a good look at family relationships (sibling/sibling, parent/child etc).

I'm not sure why but I always like to see from where a title of a book comes. The Homesick Restaurant is the name of the restaurant Ezra "owns" and while he always tried to mark special occasions etc by inviting them all to his restaurant they never completed a meal as a family. Something would happen and one would always leave so therefore, they never enjoyed a complete dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - ironic too since he served foods that would be comfort food for people and remind them of home. I have to read more Anne Tyler novels.