Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Noah's Compass

Noah's Compass
Noah's Compass
Author: Anne Tyler, Anne Tyler
ISBN-13: 9780385667777
ISBN-10: 0385667779
Publication Date: 9/1/2009
Pages: 288
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

12 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Tunerlady avatar reviewed Noah's Compass on + 581 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A very sensitive witty story; a little offbeat with some humor, but very clever and thoughtful. This author is wonderful.
reviewed Noah's Compass on + 120 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Have you ever read a book where you wanted to slap the protangonist? If not, read this one. Liam Pennywell (name, ugh!!)is completely ineffectual. Life sort of happens to him. In addition, he is 61, has decided that his life is winding down, so the likelihood of his finally grabbing the reins is slim. To Ms. Tyler's credit, the character of Liam is completely genuine - there is not a false note in his behavior through out the book. And there is a completely unexpected twist about 2/3rds through the book which almost makes it worthwhile because that moment is a stunner.
reviewed Noah's Compass on
Helpful Score: 1
I was very excited to see Anne Tyler had a new book but I was so dissappointed:( i finished the book but I wasn't moved in the least:( I love all her other books:)!
reviewed Noah's Compass on + 51 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book resonates in your mind long after the story ends. It is very personal as it peeks into the mind of a man who thought he had an ever-diminishing role in society, only to find that around many corners there are high points and low points never expected.
myanniecat avatar reviewed Noah's Compass on + 218 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Beautifully written, as are all of Anne Tyler's books. I love the way she gets into a characters mind and you can feel and picture just exactly what they're feeling. I've read all of her books and enjoyed them all. I liked this book, but I didn't love it. Even though I'm still thinking about the MC, I thought the ending could have been better. I felt like it just stopped. I wanted to know more....
maralty avatar reviewed Noah's Compass on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I normally really enjoy this authors books, but this one left me feeling a little uneasy. there wasn't an easy feeling over the relationships in Liams life. I felt there was something missing. just dropped off, with no real ending unless, I just "missed" it. other than that aspect of it, I did enjoy it.
reviewed Noah's Compass on
I liked a lot. A laid back easy read that is thoroughly enjoyable.
reviewed Noah's Compass on
Like all of Anne Tyler's books I found Noah's Compass to be touching, witty, and a tad melancholy. To me this is a textbook-perfect ending. I loved this story about an older man and a not young woman, a not glamorous story with a moral bent and a serious twist. Tyler's gift is in making the mundane and everyday people and situations shine.
reviewed Noah's Compass on + 227 more book reviews
Anne Tyler does it again. This was delightful.
reviewed Noah's Compass on + 17 more book reviews
This book is about Liam, who is a somewhat sad figure who is laid off from his job, moves into a much smaller apartment, and wakes up in the hospital the next morning with no memory of what happened. He struggles to try to remember what happened and meets a woman in the process. The story is pretty sad about a sad man, several sad women, and unhappy relationships. But Anne Tyler keeps you turning pages and at the end I felt satisfied that Liam was fixing relationships and building new ones and moving on with his life.
bup avatar reviewed Noah's Compass on + 166 more book reviews
For reasons I am unable to articulate well, I really like Anne Tyler. Her books are very quiet. They focus on the stasis of lives, not the tumult. Plot comes as a sort of negative-image fitting around the stasis.

So it is with Noah's Compass. Good book.
reviewed Noah's Compass on + 8 more book reviews
Not my favorite Tyler novel.