In French Braid, Anne Tyler captures the complicated relationships between siblings, parents, and spouses and gives readers much emotional fodder to devour. I always feel better when I read one of her novels and realize I’m not the only married woman who feels like… I have read and will read everything she writes.

Once again, Anne Tyler delights us with an exquisitely crafted tale of four generations of one midwestern family in her inimitable, quirky style. Her character’s relationships revealed through humorous dialog and heartfelt actions ring true. “French Braid” is perhaps her best yet.

A well written book about three generations of a family. Interesting, but not super exciting. Just kind of flows along. Kind of sad at times. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Are you an Anne Tyler fan? Then you will definitely want this book. French Braid is everything I love about Anne Tyler. Quirky characters that are infinitely relatable, raw human emotion that is universal, and a plot that's really just life. This is the story of a family, a marriage, and the lives of daughters/sons/parents. I can't really give a plot summary other than to say that Tyler follows these characters through their lives and I couldn't stop reading - I wanted to find out how their lives turned out. Near the end, Tyler explains the title and it's a wonderful description of this book --

"When she undid them (French braids), her hair would still be in ripples, little leftover squiggles, for hours and hours. That's how families work. You think you're free of them, but you're never really free; the ripples are crimped forever."

This is the story of a family, the ups and downs and how each of them influences the others. This is NOT a high action novel, but that's just fine. I was just fine living with Robin and Mercy and the rest of the family for a while.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read this amazing book. Tyler continues to amaze. French Braid is an exploration of the Garrett family from the 1950's through 2020. The first chapter is a prequel that will resonate if re-read. The central character throughout much of the book is the matriarch, Mercy, who quietly leaves her husband to live in her studio where she paints impressions of houses, with one item in hyper-detail. The Garrett family dysfunction and function are keenly observed. They ring true in their love but often dislike of each other. There are multiple generations, all of which are beautifully characterized. This is a book to be treasured. The themes of connection and family are universal and deftly and profoundly explored in this masterful yet eminently readable novel.

Another great Anne Tyler book about intricate relationships in a family and how childhood events color those future relationships. The first chapter of the book introduces the characters in an off hand way, but the meat of the novel happens after that. Wait for it.
Once you are introduced to the Garrett family, this becomes a book you don’t want to put down and you definitely don’t want it to end. You don’t learn about David and the reason he stays away from the family until near the end, but by then you have surmised that the Garrett’s are just a typical family with typical dysfunction. What stands out, though, like all Ann Tyler books, is that you truly get to know and understand the characters. I will not be forgetting these characters, even if I do forget the plot.
I didn’t think the title fit the book and wonder if readers will skip this book based on the title, thinking it is about young girls on a playground (which is what I conjure up when I think of French braids). It is explained near the end but not in a profound way. Ignore the title and read the book as you will not be disappointed. Thank you, Netgalley for an ARC.

Anne Tyler has concocted a beautiful metaphor about just what a family is: The French Braid. The explanation comes late in the book, but it is so on target. This is a funny and a poignant novel, just what is expected in a Tyler work.

Readers meet the Garretts, and their story starts unfolding in the summer of 1959. No surprises that they live in Baltimore, but as the children grow up, they branch out to other parts of the Northeast.

The parents Robin and Mercy have similar but diverging goals in life. Robin wants a home; Mercy wants a second life after raising her family. Daughters Alice and Lily are complete opposites in personalities. Son David wants to distance himself from family for reasons the parents and sisters do not understand.

As life goes on through the decades, the shape of the Garrett family changes, grows, backs up, starts anew. Parents grow old, marriages come and go, children are added to the family, and they grow up as well.
The novel has it all: humor, heartache, success, failure…an imitation of life for sure. It has been called “classic Anne Tyler,” while I would call it Anne Tyler at her very best.

Anne Tyler won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 with the novel Breathing Lesson. Her books, always witty and engaging, never disappoint.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting December 22, 2021.

I would like to thank Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Anne Tyler books are always a joy to read. She has a gift of family stories that feel real and beautiful and poignant. French Braid is that way too, and will be a welcome respite for her fans, new and old.

I love Anne Tyler's writing. It always amazes that she can make a seemingly regular family going through the norms of life be so interesting. The slight dysfunctionality of it all is completely realistic and engaging. Truly enjoyed the glimpse into the lives of the Garrett family.

Perhaps I am no longer an Anne Tyler fan and the supposed innocence of the 50s is lost on me. Having lived in Baltimore I appreciate the city references however it is to a genteel city that never really existed to a subset of the population. I will give this book three stars only because I appreciate Tyler’s previous works.

Ann Tyler's latest book captures you from the very beginning and never lets you go. The story set in Baltimore takes you through 60 years with the Garrett family and captures life and emotion throughout the book. There are many mini story lines that intertwine to make this book a definite winner.

Anne Tyler is a skilled writer and has fully created the Garrett family in this novel. The relationships, the conversations and the different characters are so realistic and Tyler provides a clear and uncensored view into the family. I loved the nuanced relationships that are full of love and yet uncertain and fragile - just as many of our own family relationships can be. The intersection of personalities, perspectives and behaviors create the family dynamics that Tyler deftly displays and explores through different scenes throughout their lives. I greatly enjoyed this one.

Anne Tyler's latest novel, French Braid, takes readers over 60 or more years of the lives of the Garrett family living in Tyler's most familiar setting, Baltimore. The story shows how the lives of the extended family weave across and throughout the decades. Essential is the plot is the strong female character, Mercy, who decides that she needs a place of her own, in this case a rented art studio, where she can escape from her role of mother and wife. A great book discussion read to examine women's personalities.

I think this is Anne Tyler's finest work since she wrote the Accidental Tourist. Her character development is sublime, and her balance of bitter and sweet really shines. I suspect this will be a massively popular book club choice for 2022.

I’ve read all of her books except two (she’s written so many). If you’re a fan already you know how incredibly consistent she is. I’ve never been let down by one of her books.

In this one we follow a family from the 1940s through to the present. It jumps ahead a few years every so often but we get the kids, grandkids etc as they grow. We follow them along and, well, it’s like you’re part of the family. And Anne Tyler does family so well (family drama/dynamics). I love the way she’s able profide amazingly accurate details without getting lost in the details and I love the way reading one of her stories feels so effortless. Before you know it, you’re at the halfway mark. You blink again and it’s over. But you’re smiling. She does an amazing job with setting and atmosphere. It’s the little things that really make you feel like you’re in the time/era.

If you like Anne Tyler, you’re going to enjoy this one. If you’ve never read her before, this is a good place to start.

Thanks @knopf and @netgalley for the gifted copy.

I am a huge fan of Anne Tyler. This novel reminds me of my.favorite Tyler novel, LADDER OF YEARS. Reading this brought me into the Garrett family, and made me fall in love with each of them. Generally, I don’t like too many people in a novel, but rather than a crowded book, I felt engaged and enveloped by the various characters.

I understood Mercy, just like Delia in Ladder of Years, launching Act II in her life., but with such a deft and gentle touch that the family doesn’t fall apart, just respectfully restructures to accommodate her needs. I loved the way the author followed the family, and painted a portrait so deftly, though briefly, that I knew the characters. This is a perfectly constructed novel.

Simply, this is another magical Tyler novel, not to be missed. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the pleasure of reading this very lovely book.

My favorite Anne Tyler novels often read as interconnected short stories--her latest is in that category. I've already begun to recommend French Braid to friends and will certainly purchase it both for the library and my own personal collection.

Nobody writes families like Anne Tyler. In her 24th novel, the forthcoming French Braid due out in March 2022, Tyler once again explores the inner lives of various members of the Garrett family. Tracing their lives through the latter half of the 20th century and into our 'pandemic present' as the jacket copy explains, Anne Tyler delivers quite possibly her best novel to date: a powerful meditation on the small things that make up a life and the impactful moments that shape the trajectory of our futures.

In the summer of 1959, the Garretts take their first (and last) family vacation. They stay at a lakeside cabin where each member of the family occupies themselves with their own entertainment. Whether its painting for the mother, Mercy, or obsessing over the neighbor boy for middle child Lily, the family weaves in and out of each others lives—not only across these few days but through the next 60 years.

There's nothing extraordinary about this family or their vacation. But as with any Anne Tyler novel, the consequences of small choices, or even the interpretation of one family members actions, has profound and lasting consequences. These feelings reverberate through time and space, showing their effects from various points-of-view through the following chapters.

What I loved so much about this novel echoed a lot of what I loved about Tyler's 2015 novel A Spool of Blue Thread. We start in a near-present day chapter, the jump back to the earliest days of the family's history, slowly moving from character to character and through decades in subsequent chapters. Events are reexamined through new eyes, and the reader gets to fill in the gaps themselves. It makes for a page turning and engaging read from Tyler who tends to focus on the humdrum existence of Baltimoreans.

Of course you can expect empathy and pathos from Tyler's prose. She exquisitely crafts characters that feel SO human and so real, they nearly jump off the page. As frustrating and messy their lives are at times, the Garretts come to life and inspire laughter and tears, outrage and sympathy. I mean, who else but Anne Tyler can make something like a salmon loaf take on such meaning?! Once you read it, you'll see what I mean.

All in all, of the 20 Anne Tyler novels I have read, this has to be my favorite; at the very least, one of the most memorable and enjoyable reading experiences since I first picked up her work with A Spool of Blue Thread back in 2015. So eager for everyone to get their hands on this one next year! For readers new to Tyler's work, this will be a great introduction; and for those who are long-time fans like myself, you surely won't be disappointed.