Anne Tyler Books

I am a big fan of this book. So if you are looking for a negative review, you can stop reading now. "The Amateur Marriage" is artistic and creative, one of the best books I have read in recent years. So if you enjoy well written, easily absorbed fiction like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," "About a Boy," "Wicked," "The Curious Incident of Dog in Night-Time," "The Time Traveler's Wife," and "My Fractured Life," then you will love this book.

At the beginning of World War II, Michael is a good boy in a Polish neighborhood working at his family's grocery store. One day in comes a banged and bruised Pauline. He jumps into hero mode and patches her up, saves the day, becomes her husband and so begins the Hell of a marriage neither one has any business being in. But like so things, this little Amateur Marriage survives...for a while. Like The War of the Roses, what makes the couple work is the love-hate, tug of war. They live off bitterness.

But don't get the references to bitterness deter you. It is an excellent book and one that uses the bitterness as a source of entertainment. It is a fine book that I truly can't say enough about. Probably more in common with "My Fractured Life" and "About a Boy" then "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and "The Time Traveler's Wife" in terms of tone, but in terms of enjoyment and writing quality it is on par with all of them. This is just a great book. I loved it.