Anne Tyler

Ben Joe Hawkes comes from a fairly large, blindly cheerful family that never seems to know when to get upset. Raised by women- a proud mother, an incorrigible grandmother, and a flock of busy sisters-Ben Joe has always been an outsider of sorts, and a chronic worrier.

If Morning Ever Comes

Robert S.

Not one of Anne Tyler's best novels. Deep and rich with her style of writing and sense of scenario, but a little too caught up in southern society mannerisms and rules, rather than dealing with interesting scenarios or conflict. I never quite got a sense of the purpose or motivations of the main character, Ben Joe. Is he driven by anything. Is he damaged by the experience of living in a house with 9 other women, and the abandonment of the family by his father. Is he strongly affected by the town life and society, or is he trying to escape it? The only sense is that he is simply navigating these waters, sometimes going along with it and other times rebelling against it, but never effectively.

But Anne Tyler's use of language and interesting characters still lay around you like a warm blanket. An enjoyable but troubling read. I would have rated it 3 1/2 stars if Good Reads allowed it. 

It is interesting purely to see where Anne Tyler started from.

If Morning Ever Comes

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