Wow. Simple. Sad. Beautiful.

What really bonds people together? How does a family fall apart?

I read "The Accidental Tourist" a while back, didn't care for it. But this was fantastic! A simple story about a family that isn't close. Siblings at odds with each other which leads to years of slowly drifting apart. A mother who should never have been a mother, a father who could never ask for what he wanted.

Each little scene builds upon each other and there are heartbreaking moments that brought me to tears. Nothing momentous happens. There are no big moments of drama. Everything is just under the surface, brewing colder and colder.

Story: 4 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars

French Braid is not the first Anne Tyler novel that I have read, but it is the first Tyler novel I did not find at all interesting. French Braid focuses on 3 generations of the Garrett family, a very ordinary American family, living a very ordinary life. There is nothing remarkable about this family, but there is a great deal hidden and never discussed, which I suppose is Tyler's purpose in writing this novel. 70 years of hiding oneself is incredibly sad.

The problem is that even after delving under the layers and learned about this family's foibles, there was little to hold my attention. In general, I enjoy character-driven novels, but in this case French Braid has too little character depth to recommend it. I suspect that Tyler's purpose is to examine an ordinary and quite unremarkable American family, which is perhaps why I found French Braid less compelling. The Garrets are like far too many ordinary everyday families living lives hidden from one another. The usual escape from life that readers desire is not present in this novel. French Braid is the life we all want to escape.

I do appreciate the author and publisher making this ARC available for me to read in exchange for my honest review. And I always appreciate how NetGalley provides such a large number of books from which to choose. Sadly, Amazon is rejecting any review that mentions that the book was an ARC or that it arrived via NetGalley. I am now deleting that detail when posting my reviews.

Anne Tyler’s new novel follows the lives of The Garretts, a relatively unremarkable Baltimore family, through three generations. While I enjoyed the simplicity of Tyler’s writing, and I was excited to read, I cannot say that I enjoyed it or found it very profound. I did appreciate that the story was mostly trauma-free! As this is the first Anne Tyler book I’ve read, I’m a bit disappointed.

Thanks to Net Galley and Knopf for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A deep character-driven story of family. I had hoped for some more in the end, but the entire story leading up was wonderful.

I was disappointed with this Novel. When I finished it I had to start it over to better understand the characters and their relationships.
There were some wonderful Ann Tyler sentences but on the whole I find it hard to recommend it

Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. I really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to readers. Anne Tyler's story of a family over generations is an great book. It has such well developed characters throughout the boo. Classic Tyler novel - a family rooted in Baltimore with a great plot.

This was an enjoyable read about a somewhat dysfunctional family that somehow manages to function just fine. It begins with a chance encounter of two cousins who barely know each other and then we flash back to the 1950s and a family vacation of the central characters. Throughout the book there are reveals of things each family member keeps secret, yet isn't actually a secret. My only issue was keeping all the family members through the multi-generations straight. Subtle humor and touching moments throughout.

I haven't read an Anne Tyler book in a really long time, but I have read many over the years. I always enjoy her descriptive style that allows events to unfold as they are, with no "decoration" or commentary. This novel is much the same. No driving plot here, but many final detailed and nuanced characters that we get to watch as they evolve over a number of decades. No judgements, just perfectly flawed characters---just like humans. This isn't my favorite Anne Tyler, but it is very satisfying (and a bit sad.---much like life). Recommended if you appreciate an author's ability to create characters you can imagine knowing and easily connect with at a leisurely pace. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a igital ARC for review.

Anne Tyler never disappoints! I really enjoyed this story and felt connected to the characters. The Garrett’s were each their own person and interesting. I enjoyed the way Tyler moved through the years and was glad to finally confirm my suspicions about David.

Anne Tyler has another novel of ordinary family relationships. Actually a diverse group of charaters that extend multi generationally. The story covers the turning points in the characters lives over decades right up to the Covid outbreak.
You will want to know what happens in the lives of the siblings, Alice and Lily, and David.
Read and enjoy these people--their parents, children, and grandchildren.

In her latest book, Anne Tyler again tells a story of family—the good, the bad and the ugly. Tyler consistently delivers well written books. In this one, she examines the hurts that family members inflict upon each other and the long-term effects of those hurts, whether real or imagined.
I never felt an affinity for any of the characters in this book. I know that many adore Tyler’s books, but this one was just OK to me.
My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for an advanced copy of this book.

I adored Tyler's latest book. I've read only one other of hers, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, which I found incredibly absorbing despite some of the outdated content. French Braid is another that covers a family's saga over time. Each chapter is told from a third person perspective following a different character, revealing their thoughts and intentions throughout the course of the chapter. I found this storytelling style lent itself well to the story, and kept me engaged in the storyline. The overarching plot continued to move forward in a linear style, although each of the characters spent time looking back on events that had previously been covered and provided their own insight into how things happened. What a beautiful and robust way of reminding readers of how differently people view situations based on their own unique experiences and traumas.

Anne Tyler knows families: the ebb and flow of relationships across decades, the strengths and foibles of individual members, and the ties connecting them even if they don’t particularly like each other. The chance meeting of two cousins in the Philadelphia train station in 2010 invigorates this smoothly paced, emotionally piercing saga of a Baltimore family over three generations. “Even when the Garretts did get together, it never seemed to take, so to speak,” reflects one granddaughter early on, wondering “what makes a family not work.”

The year 1959 marks the first group vacation for parents Robin and Mercy Garrett and their three children, who spend a week together at a cabin on Deep Creek Lake. Reliable Alice, just seventeen, isn’t thrilled about the trip. Lily, two years younger, has a summer romance with a college guy, which her parents are surprisingly blasé about; and David is a sharp-eyed seven-year-old. Mercy’s attitude toward her children and husband is one of distant fondness. After her children grow up and pursue their own lives, she relocates full-time into her art studio, acknowledging only to herself (not to her adoring husband) that the move isn’t temporary.

The Garretts’ actions range from quirkily amusing (Alice’s talent for cooking meals out of random odds and ends) to scandalous to sad and upsetting. Mercy is ironically named, since readers—animal lovers especially—may feel that she deserves very little of it, given her self-centeredness. It’s also fair to recognize that she fulfills the era’s expectations of marriage and motherhood despite being cut out for neither role. In her wryly observant way, Tyler grants Greta, the older, foreign-born divorcee David marries, to his family’s befuddlement, the wisdom to see her in-laws’ hopes and fears more clearly than anyone. This story shines with grace and compassion as it reflects oft-unspoken truths about human nature.

I was introduced to Anne Tyler with A Spool of Blue Thread, which I loved. French Braid is another story of a family, and it was very sweet. A little too sweet, for my taste. I loved some of the characters, but to me it kind of just drifted on and then ended and didn’t quite land anywhere. But… sweet. And thanks to Net Galley for the ARC.

This was just okay. Honestly, it felt kind of anticlimactic, left me hanging, and felt like the reading of a diary. I could see readers of Sally Rooneys “Beautiful World Where Are You” enjoying this. I didn’t love it, but it was okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review

Thank you so much to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. This review is of my own free will. I love a lot of Anne Tyler's books, but this one I just could not get into. I got to 40% and had to DNF. I kept going thinking it may get better but it just didn't. When I would put it down I just didn't want to pick it back up. I thought the characters were 2 dimensional and wooden, especially Robin & Mercy, the parents. I am sure there is an audience out there for this book, but it was a miss for me. I am giving this 1 star because she is a great writer, her use of language is good and at least worth one star. Again thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.

The Garrett Family as told through a few generations, beginning in 1959 through 2020.

In the summer of 1959, Mercy and Robin Garrett take their 3 children, Alice, Lily, and David, on their one and only vacation. It is here, where we see our first glimpse of their dysfunctional family dynamics. Mercy paints all day and ignores her children. Robin, whose belief in the school of hard knocks has an everlasting impact on his son David. As they grow up, we see how some of their relationships with each other stay the same, and how some of their relationships with others evolve.

Anne Tyler is a masterful storyteller and is brilliant at delving into familial fiction, here, however, I was left wanting a bit simply because the Garrett Family didn't draw me in. While this wasn't my favorite of Anne Tyler's novels, I remain a fan and look forward to her next novel.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing Group for the arc via NetGalley.

This is the first Anne Tyler book I’ve read and I had no idea she was so prolific! This was absolutely my kind of book. I love family dramas and especially those that span generations. This was told through a series of vignettes from family members from 3 (or maybe even 4) generations. A short, quiet story taking place over a long span of years. All in all, it’s a family who loves one another despite some dysfunction and stressed relationships. I definitely saw parts of my own extended family reflected here and I am sure most families will see something they relate to. I felt like I wanted just a **little** more from the ending but once I sat with it a bit I am satisfied with it.

Tyler has the ability to dissect relationships among members of a family and make them intimately real. She uses her insightful vision to throw light on the complexities between parents, children and siblings. In this case, it’s the Garrett family who are under scrutiny. They squabble, have their own aspirations and are driven by their personal needs. It’s a family showing its rifts, disagreements and friction; all of which lends the story authenticity. But through the years as they drift apart, they are still tethered to one another. Tyler presents an unvarnished look at a fractured family as they navigate adulthood and changes in their own parents’ lives. Lovers of Tyler’s books and of interpersonal stories will be delighted with this latest offering.

I usually like Ann Tyler book because she portrays real people in ordinary circumstances and really delves into their psyches over a 70 odd year time span. I was disappointed in this book for several reasons.
This was a typical family and the author certainly developed the family dynamics, but it was so sad and it lacked drama. She described the dissolution of the family over time although there was a serious lack of communication throughout the novel never changed.
Each family member had different desires and dreams (as is typical of families) but no one spoke of them. I was especially disappointed in the way that Mercy moved out of her home and isolated herself in her studio. She seemed self-centered to me and uncaring, and she never communicated her unhappiness to Robin or her family.
We have a little glimpse into the lives and dreams of the children, but they too, fail to relate to one another or their parents. The book seems more like a series of vignettes over the years that describe events in the family's lives that influence their course in life (but very little on the impact of the other family members).
Ann Tyler brings in the occasional family gathering but they are not joyous events with people who respect each other, but consist of stilted conversations and actions - a little sadness.
The ending was too treacly for my taste-no resolution, no judgement, just an ending.