Funny, rude and original

A terrific high-energy tale

Noah's Compass is immensely readable. It displays many of Tyler's finest qualities: her sharp observation of humanity, her wry comedy; the luminous accuracy of her descriptions... a novel by Anne Tyler is cause for celebration

Anne Tyler is a novelist who has elevated pitch-perfect observation of everyday detail into an art form... a beautifully subtle book, an elegant contemplation of what it means to be happy and the consequences of a defensive withdrawal from other people

One of my favourite authors, one of the very few I rush out to buy in hardback.

A brilliant writer... Funny, wise, tragic.

Tyler brings a scorching wisdom, an understanding of what breaks the human spirit, and the ways in which people try to paper the cracks...Limpidly, singingly written, with dialogue to break a scriptwriter's heart

Prose is as bright and pretty as in her best work. The dialogue crackles and there are insightful observations about the way families create stories to explain themselves

Her novels have a grace and an emotional depth that few romances can match

Compassionate and funny dissection of the workings of the human heart

Sharply funny, and tenderly wise

A prize of a novel, readable yet with a mood of autumnal sadness liable to sit on the reader's chest for some time after the book is finished...Tyler has her own internal compass and knows just where to steer her narrative arc

Tyler's deft hand at human comedy keeps you entertained the whole time

Wonderfully imagined exploration of memory, loss, and relationships, and how we look at our pasts

Her sterling talent for composing an enthralling story, skilfully paced and enlivened by more than one startling, but eminently satisfying, plot twist, is on display here'

Sensitively drawn characters

As always with Tyler, the prose flows sweetly from page to page, conjuring up characters so believable you want to thump them

Written with such heart and humour you'll ration the pages in the hope that it will never end

Another heartfelt, evocative novel from Tyler

Anne Tyler is always good value, and this novel, replete with subtle ironies, is characteristic of her lucid style.

Has the surer touch than almost all of the twice as famous among the American novelists of her generation

Tyler has composed a four-act drama in the form of a novel. There is nothing extraneous and nothing overly dramatic here, and in that lies her very considerable strength as a writer

Reading Tyler's novels often feels like slipping into favourite pyjamas: her 18th is just as comfortable and comforting. Combining a light-hearted David Lodge-like meditation on old age with the domestic dysfunction of a soap set in Middle American, her simple, nuanced prose reveals some lovely twists.

Tyler brilliantly anatomises everyday life... Her novels have emotional depth and engaging with her characters is a pleasure

A hugely entertaining and surprisingly moving book.

The novel is as much comic as tragic…Hilarious…The gimlet-eyed descriptions of celebrity life are impossible to read without smirking…[Niven] can provoke tears of sorrow as well as laughter. . . The complexity and inexplicability of love is a serious subject but, thanks to Niven’s talent, the manopause (sic) has never been such fun.

An incredible book about hedonism

I loved that book.

[O]ne of my favourite reads of the year … Funny, irreverent, touching and well-written, this is definitely recommended.