Anne Tyler does some serious work in this book, by telling generations of stories in a relatively short book!

I did find myself having to force myself through some parts of the book, but I think that the stories told were worth the push!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a review!

Tyler’s novel is a quiet one about a family throughout several years. Members of the family don’t really care for each other; self-absorbed thoughts and actions. While reading, I would wonder, what happens next……

I liked the paragraph that explains the reason for the title French Braid. When the braid is undone, there are ripples which stay for hours afterwards. “That’s how families work, too. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever.”

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for permitting me to read Anne Tyler’s latest book.

I kept waiting to be drawn in to this family. The characters never made me feel anything. The story just plowed along. I never did get invested in this book. The writing is fine but story telling lacks. Thanks all for the chance to read this book.

French Braid focuses on a family that just doesn't like each other. There is no explosion. They drift apart over time out of apathy and lack of common interests. This is a short novel that packs a lot in it. I can recognize the excellent writing, but I didn't connect with any of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley & Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I couldn't wait for this latest title of Anne Tyler's. I've read and enjoyed almost all of her books, and this one was just as wonderful as the others. As usual, it's about a family - starting in 1959 when the Garretts take a family vacation and continuing to the present. Parents, children, grandchildren. There are many characters, but I didn't have trouble keeping track of them as the names and personalities were distinct and memorable. Once more, Tyler writes expertly of family relationships - children and their parents, and those children grow up to become parents themselves and then grandparents. For instance, it was sweet to read about David as a grandfather, and remember when he had been first a child with his toys and songs, then a college student bringing home a girlfriend, and then also as a parent. When his son Nicholas and young grandson Benny return home during the pandemic, I marveled along with David at how Benny was so similar to the young David.

But don't expect this to be an overwrought, epic, multi-generational saga. This 256-page novel features only the significant conversations, actions, and thoughts of the various characters. Yet when I finished reading it I felt that I knew exactly what Tyler was trying to convey, as Greta explains, "So this is how it works...this is what families do for each other - hide a few uncomfortable truths, allow a few self-deceptions. Little kindnesses...and little cruelties."

No one can write about family dynamics like Tyler. How people really interact with each other. What they think, what they say, and actually do. As one character notes, "Oh, the lengths this family would go to so as not to spoil the picture of how things were supposed to be!"

Some people complain that Tyler's books don't have a plot, but they're missing the point of her brilliant writing. "French Braid," like her other novels, is a family portrait containing insightful observations, portraying their relationships with each other, the love and the irritations, the miscommunications and misunderstandings. And it's Tyler's observations, descriptions, and what she chooses to focus on that make this another amazing book that I highly recommend.

I’m a Baltimorean so of course I had to read the latest Anne Tyler! I really enjoyed the first half of the book but it lost me when it switched gears about halfway in. I wish the stories had been placed in two separate book, neither seemed quite finished or polished enough.

French Braid details the lives of one Baltimore family (the Garretts) through several generations. Robin and Mercy Garrett aren't famous or wealthy; in fact, they're fairly ordinary, but in the hands of expert storyteller Anne Tyler, their story and that of their 3 children and numerous grandchildren makes for a fascinating read. Through Tyler's precision to detail, we, as readers, can see that it's often the small things in life that can make the biggest impact.

Anne Tyler's novels always have me yearning for more and French Braid is no exception. Focusing on what we might call the minutia of life -- the smallest details -- Tyler creates a world of complex humans and one where I don't want their stories to end.

I would like to thank #NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this ARC of #FrenchBraid.

Author Anne Tyler writes so well about families and idiosyncratic people that it is almost sleight of hand to realize not much happens in FRENCH BRAID. The book moves quickly through generations and myriad relatives of a family filled with ordinary, and honestly not very likable people, doing regular stuff for 60 some odd years. I kept thinking there might be some big reveal but that was just my mind wandering, hoping for a solution to a problem that did not exist for the author. Her story is a mild tale of an American family in the last 60 years; one that keeps as many secrets as physical distance allows. Something recognizable to everyone, yet difficult to describe well. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Anne Tyler has been on my radar for quite some time; part of me regrets that it took so long for me to get to her work, and another part is so very pleased that I still have it all to look forward to. French Braid is a deceptively mellow, slice-of-life realistic tale of an everyday middle class family of which each member is quite recognizable. Tyler has an incredible ability to capture the nuances of everyday life and make what would be mundane in less skilled hands both relevant and captivating. I became more and more completely invested as the book progressed, and I will miss the whole family now that it has ended.

Thank you to Anne Tyler, Knopf Publishing, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free e-arc through Netgalley.
I've been a fan of Anne Tyler for years. Her books have a quiet beauty that makes me reflect on the special in ordinary lives. This book had a lot of back and forth between ages and POV which could be a little confusing at times if you weren't paying super close attention, but it weaves together a story of generations in a family and how grow and evolve as humans in relationships.

Oh my goodness I was all over the place with French Braid, I felt like I was part of the Garretts family, and my head was spinning around like Linda Blair at the exorcist lol, trying to catch the plot and the characters where it was headed.

1959 The Garrets are ready to take a vacation, and this is their story, a story of a big family that unites on a family vacation, where everything goes wrong, good, and bad where every situation you can imagine happened. French Braid was the story of a family trying to be together, be united, and get in touch with everybody. a trip that it felt like it was necessary to touch base or even get to know more about each other such was the case for David.

David was my favorite character, he was a gentle soul, enigmatic, sensitive, someone, who needed to be understood, even his parents had a hard time understanding him and his emotions.

Mercy was a character that made me cringe at times, I couldn't understand her and it made me feel kind of sad it felt like she was kind of cold, still don't know why, but it was pretty evident that Mercy and Roni had a hard time connecting with their kids, especially in the last chapters. it felt like Mercy and Roni were pretty alone but never knew how to verbalize those feelings and continue their lives like this.

French Braid is a story that is written and it transpires over generations we get to meet the main characters when the whole story of this family started and then we get to meet more characters grandsons, daughters, and all. it is a story that will bring you joy, tears, and happiness. Over the years this family has been through all but the main thing is they're together.

French Braid was a good book 3.5 only because I felt there was too much going on and at times I had a hard time understanding keeping up with it, but overall it was good.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House UK for the advanced copy of French Braid in exchange for my honest review

French Braid is a contemplative walk alongside the Garrett family of Baltimore. Anne Tyler explores the ties that bind this complex extended family over the decades, writing from the late 50’s to the isolation of pandemic. The thread that intrigued me the most was the empty nested, unfulfilled wife who slowly crafts a life of her own, pursuing her artistic dreams. Tyler asks what do we owe those we love and those with whom we share blood, if maybe we don’t like them all the time.

Recommended for fans of Elizabeth Strout and Sue Miller.

The newest from one of my must-read authors, Anne Tyler. She has such a talent for making an ordinary family (always from Baltimore) seem so interesting and relatable. We get to see the Garrett family through 7 decades, ending in 2020. Each chapter highlights an event in a different decade told by a different family member (a summer by the lake, an anniversary party, COVID quarantine). It was a unique way to tell the story of all the generations and I really enjoyed it. Tyler’s books aren’t action packed, but if you like a quiet, thoughtful, character-driven novel this is for you. Little if any language, no steam.

Towards the end of French Braid, one of the characters explains how families are like French braids: even after they are taken apart, they retain the marks of the braid. We can clearly see this at work in Tyler's saga of the Garrett family. From the start, we see a family that is fractured but still recognizes one of their own. Serena, while on a trip with her new boyfriend, thinks she spots a cousin of hers at the train station. Her boyfriend is baffled that she can't be sure if this is her cousin or not; who doesn't recognize their family members? From there, the story jumps into the past, exploring just how the Garrett family goes from being a single family unit to one split up into different families, all while still connected by a shared history,

As someone who loves a family saga, French Braid was right up my alley. Give me all the family drama and exploration of relationships! Tyler masterfully covers multiple generations of the Garrett family while giving us beautifully flawed characters that you will at turns love and be frustrated by.

I was surprised by just how much Tyler was able to pack into this short book. On one hand, I enjoyed these snippets of family life, while also feeling like I could have spent several entire books with these characters. A couple of times, I wished for a family tree (maybe in the finished book?) so that I could verify how all the characters were connected to one another.

Overall. I really liked this examination of how families come together and pull apart. Tyler never disappoints!

I really enjoyed this book. Based on the blurb, I was a little worried that the scope meant we wouldn't get an individual sense of the many characters, but that wasn't the case. The snapshots for each character, though brief moments in time, were so vivid and core to their identities - not to mention beautifully written - that I felt not only as though I knew them, but as though I knew them well enough to understand why other characters' perceptions of them were so different from their own. The contrast between how each character saw him or herself and how the other family members thought of them was a fascinating theme, and felt very true to life. What also resonated was how their needs and hopes sometimes overlapped, sometimes clashed with one another - also true. The title - and the explanation for it - was perfect for the story.

For readers seeking plot-driven stories, this isn't it - but for those like me who love a good character-driven novel, I strongly recommend. (I don't often cry while reading books, but the scene where Robin recalls the first dinner Mercy made him brought me to tears.)

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Reminiscent of the long family sagas I read once upon a time, Anne Tyler has written a version that I could have found myself living. This author has a way of creating characters out of ordinary people living their lives the best they can. Though the story lacked any real drama, it did cause me to reflect on my own family dynamics. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for an advance copy to read and review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is a realistic portrait of complications within a family--unresolved issues, misunderstandings, etc. I loved the relationships yet they also broke my heart.

French Braid is such an interesting and thought provoking novel. The relationships of family over a generation digs into the whys of distant siblings and the dynamics of a very unusual but relatable family.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

French Braid is classic Anne Tyler — A slice of life story filled with realistic humans. The Garretts are a Baltimore family who vacation one summer at a lake house. Mercy is an aspiring artist while Robin owns a hardware store. Sisters Alice and Lily are complete opposites and David, the youngest in the family, is much different from the others.

The story follows the Garretts as they grow older, building their own families and detailing their relationships with one another as their lives progress. While this story is not the same, I couldn’t help but be reminded of The Most Fun We Ever Had, a family saga that I read and loved last year! French Braid is its own worthy story and I generally liked each of the Garrett family members.

This is my 4th book by Anne Tyler and while I still have several of her backlist books to catch up on, she does not disappoint! Her ability to create genuine characters is on par with Ann Patchett — Both Ann(e)s are brilliant authors.

Whenever I read an Anne Tyler book, I know I'm in a safe pair of hands with a writer who creates fully rounded characters and places them in believable everyday--and yet somehow still dramatic--situations. "French Braid" is no exception, as Tyler introduces the Garrett family of Baltimore (where else?) and moves through over 60 years of their family history, told in a series of episodes from roughly every decade and from various family members' points of view. I thought this structure was particularly appropriate for the Garretts, who always seem strangely out of tune with one another. We first meet and develop an impression of middle child Lily, for example, from the point of view of her older sister Alice--an impression that is then jarringly at odds with the one Lily herself makes later in her own chapter. Seeing how different characters in the same family view the same events and situations--and even each other--so differently, and how these impressions "braid" together to create a family's true narrative is, in fact, one of the chief pleasures of "French Braid" for me. Tyler's focus may be broader in this one than in her previous novels, but by the end of the book I felt strongly connected to this somewhat disconnected family--a time-tested Tyler trick.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed it.