Noah’s Compass is Anne Tyler’s 18th novel.
The Story: Noah’s Compass is the story of 60-year-old Liam Pennywell, a fifth grade teacher at a third-rate private school who once aspired to be a philosopher. Widowed from his first wife and divorced from his second, Liam has little contact with his three grown children. After he is fired from his job, which he hated anyway, Liam downsizes to a depressing little apartment and is burgled on his first night. When he wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the attack, Liam begins to reevaluate his past and present, and gains startling insight into his disappointing life.
Knopf. 288 pages. $25.95. ISBN: 9780307272409
Christian Science Monitor
"Fans of the Pulitzer Prize winner will instantly recognize Liam as another of Tyler’s deeply repressed, inarticulate characters, and will want to embrace this ‘puddle of a man.’ Others will just want to wallop him upside the head." Yvonne Zipp
Philadelphia Inquirer
"It is extremely difficult to make a passive character come across as interesting, but once again Tyler pulls it off by giving the reader access to Pennywell’s complex inner life. … In fact, the disjunction between his inner thoughts and his outer complacency drives much of the book’s humor." Helen W. Mallon
Washington Post
"That violent act is the trigger for this sensitive, witty story about a man who’s forced to realize he’s not dead yet—he’s not even out to pasture." Ron Charles
USA Today
"It’s risky terrain to build an entire novel on a passive sad sack who feels ‘as if I’ve never been entirely present in my own life.’ … Read this book patiently, more for style than plot." Bob Minzesheimer
San Francisco Chronicle
"Characters are plausibly drawn but also (in Tyler’s trademark style) as bland as the canned soup and Cheerios they eat. … [S]o generic did Tyler’s characters feel that it created (for me) a kind of claustrophobia." Joan Frank
New York Times
"[T]his one devolves into a predictable and highly contrived tale of one man’s late midlife crisis. … [T]he complete implausibility of that story line makes for a flimsy and unsatisfying novel, a novel quite unworthy of this gifted author’s talents." Michiko Kakutani
Critical Summary
Tyler delves into familiar territory with Liam Pennywell, whose passive demeanor and thwarted ambitions will be instantly recognizable to loyal fans. Most critics described Noah’s Compass as intimate, elegant, and unexpectedly humorous. On the other hand, several critics felt that Liam was too understated, and that both the protagonist and the storyline could have used a generous shot of testosterone. Overall, however, most agreed with the Christian Science Monitor critic, who stated, "The action in Noah’s Compass is as muted as its hero, but its drab, meandering exterior hides something profound."
About the Author
Anne Tyler, who rules cheerfully over the ordinary and familiar, writes stories all readers can relate to. For a tale about family tensions and battles, start with Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Tyler’s first best-selling novel and her own favorite. If you’ve ever gotten in a rut and wanted to break your routine, The Accidental Tourist, her best-known book, will show you the way—sort of. And Breathing Lessons depicts a 28-year-long marriage, with all its ups and downs.