This was my first Anne Tyler and I can see why she is such a beloved author.

It is the story of the Garrett-family roughly from the 1950s until the present day. We meet them once a decade or so and learn, usually via some sort of get-together, what has happened in the meantime.

This structure works very well, and the author is so good that she manages not only to paint very relatable characters, but also tell engaging stories. You can trust she is in full control of the narrative. It is both funny and touching. I found the family very relatable, and I believe many if not most families the tensions Tyler describes so well, are present. I found in particular the stories of the family vacation in 1959 and the 50 year anniversary in 1990 touching and beautifully written.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the eARC.
4,5 rounded down for now, but possibly to upgraded in a few months' time.

It was my first Anne Tyler book and now I can understand all the praise. This portrayal of an American family from the 1950s to the 2020s is masterfully crafted, extremely funny and very touching. The characters' personalities are so realistic, as is the way all the members of the family perceive themselves and each other very differently. It's a novel to make you giggle on one page and move you to the core the next.

French Braid is good, but not one of Anne Tyler's best, because there are no really likeable people in it. In earlier works, with a vague, absent minded central character they've had some redeeming features.
Mercy has an adoring husband, accepting kids and an unbearably selfish streak. Her elder daughter fills in when she drifts off with her art rather than feeding her family. When the kids are older she pursues her own hobby knowing her sly plan will break her husband's heart, bit pleases herself anyway.
She then lies before betraying what would have been a companion in a despicable way.
Really, she has no visible redeeming features.
Her family seem to cope around her and each offspring marries and has their own families which seem a bit less futile

I love absolutely everything Anne Tyler writes - and this was no exception. I was utterly immersed from the first page. Her people are wonderfully written, and feel absolutely real.

A wonderful tale of a family unit, and the individuals who are a part of it.

Mercy Garrett, while never a natural homemaker, has done her bit and now that the children are grown up and off her hands, she is putting herself first and concentrating on her art. She is slowly moving out of her home and into her studio – so slowly that none of the family want to make a thing of it. She wants a clutter-free life with clean lines and no knick-knacks – the things which have crowded the family home for all her married life. Although you can clear out your living space, you can’t clear away the memories – and Mercy’s head is packed full of those.

I’ve always been fond of a good family saga and this is one of the best. Revealing memories over the decades along with life today, there is always something going on to keep the reader hooked. Entertaining and enthralling, I felt as if I was reading about a family I knew personally. Not only is this a beautifully written novel, it also subtly catalogues shifting attitudes over the period. There are highs and lows and I loved them all. A complete picture of one family which kept me trying so hard not to race through the pages, wanting to make the story last. If you enjoy a family tale spread over the years, then this is one I recommend. 4.5*.

So it’s Anne Tyler, so I’m happy! And it’s Anne Tyler at her finest: telling the stories of people’s lives in her beautiful writing style.
She is a fantastic storyteller and this is a marvellous saga of the Garrett family dynamics - her characters are so believable, so flawed, ordinary yet extraordinary. She’s so clever at observing the ups and downs of family life and love with humour, compassion and humanity.
I’ve no more to say except French Braid is a delight, a joy - please never stop writing, Anne Tyler!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

It’s been a while since I read Anne Tyler and oh what an utter joy this book is. An all-absorbing, beautifully crafted family saga that weaves its way through the decades, French Braid really is a book that you lose yourself in.
Starting in the recent past with a young couple travelling by train back home to Baltimore from Philadelphia, a chance encounter with a cousin sees us swept back in time to follow the story of the Garrett family. The narration changes perspective throughout, focusing in turn on each member of the family, constantly giving different perspectives of both events and characters. I really enjoyed this and the very different personalities of the family members. Anne Tyler gives a fantastic observation of family life and her metaphor of the French braid with its ripples and waves left long after it’s undone.
I shall definitely be returning to more Anne Tyler very soon.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Oh dear, this really wasn't my type of book but I always try to be fair even when that's the case. But I found this tedious and really hard going. It's very Americanised (nothing wrong with that), but I didn't understand lots of the colloquialisms but more to the point I didn't really care as I never warmed to any of the characters. If this is modern family life then god help us.
A boring, individually self-centred family with hardly any interest in each other go for a holiday by a lake. The boy 'changes' while there - and that was the only storyline that kept me reading. The family neither like nor respect each other (though the idea is that 'love' is there - somewhere?) I ploughed through the selfish disintegration of a family which only the inadequate father seemed to cherish; himself being dismissed and treated with disdain by all. Depressing. Went through a couple of generations. There must be more to life than this.

I have been an Anne Tyler fan for a very long time, back until the eighties, and she has been a very easy answer to "who is your favourite writer" for almost as long. There is a near perfect mix of character work, prose and - lets be fair - quirk to her novels which have often struck me the perfect unassuming level to create low level empathy and really get inside the lives of others. Not least her knack of creating extremely flawed - and often selfish - people and making the reader sympathise, Its a knack that has gone a long way, but I have felt that her novels int he last ten years have started to run the well dry, but French Braid feels like a return to form due partially to the pandemic.

The form of French Braid is a family history over the last sixty years or so. There is a prologue where a daughter of the central family meets her partners parents, and then bumps into a cousin. The boyfriend points out her family doesn't seem to be close, and she herself wonders why in particular her uncle seemed so distant. And then we go back in time to see why this might be. Except, and here is the core Tyler signature move, there isn't really anything special about them. There's a mildly traumatic childhood accident, there is a semi-break up of the parent, and we travel through time with different viewpoint characters giving us enough of their unique world view to reach a point where they all feel thoroughly fleshed out, and all thoroughly lack anything beyond surface understanding of each other. The set-up was a bait and switch. There isn't any reason why the boy of the family drifted away, he just did at one point, they all went off an had their own lives. The French Braid of the title is the occasionally crossing of these lives.

I think its more successful than much of her recent work however due to the pandemic. The last story here takes place during the start of the Covid epidemic, and has our wayward son looking after his own grandchild for the period. Its the first proper piece of pandemic fiction I have read that has been about the minutiae of living through the lockdown, the hidden joys but also the constant fears. Its a short piece, but manages to wrap up what would otherwise be this loose structure of tales jumping eight to ten years at a time. There's no reason really to stop, except society stopped too so there is a good historical reason to stop there - also because it was a moment when people took stock of their lives and so the introspection it brings on here does not feel forced. French Braid is a worthy addition to her canon because whilst it feels like a remix of a number of her core themes, it also has something new as its ending.

Short review - Anne Tyler at her very best!

Long review - Prepare for some gushing!
Anne Tyler is without question my favourite contemporary writer. Her stories capture small lives made big through the spotlight of her powerful observation. I am always astounded at what she sees, at how she gets it..

French Braid like most of Tyler’s novels is about family; a family growing up in Baltimore. The novel moves between years and family members effortlessly..at the beginning I wasn’t sure how things would connect up and then I realised that like that braid everything had been oh so skilfully wound together in a perfect whole. Robin and Mercy have 3 children and the story follows their lives through the passage of time. The novel is full of scenes which etch themselves on the memory and through which the relationships shift and change and reveal themselves in regular day to day actions and interactions. A pivotal part of the book takes place on the family’s one and only holiday. The family appear separate, engaged on their own agendas ..
‘A passerby would never guess the Garretts even knew each other. They looked so scattered, and so lonesome.’

The story engages the reader from the first line and holds on tight throughout..effortless, gorgeous, glorious story. I feel I know each of these characters intimately ..

This is masterly in its understatement; exceptional in its observation and one of the best books I will read this year. Tyler fans rush out and grab this!

A thoroughly enjoyable gentle read the book moves through a family life ,the story moves through time as imperceptibly as life itself does .you hardly notice that a big time jump has happened until you are well into it
You see the story of a big family from the points of view of many of its members at different time periods
I love Anne Tyler as an author she. has the ability to see the tiny details that make a life and I found it interesting that the artist in her story does just the same , she focuses on one tiny detail in the room and paints this in minute detail leaving the rest of the room as a general impression .Her books move slowly and the reader feels gently wrapped in her utterly believable characters and storylines .

I really like the way this book is set over a long period. It doesn't feel too heavy though as it jumps forward in time in quite big chunks.
Its the story of a family, all the various relationships and a few issues.
Anne Tyler is such a lovely writer, it just all flows so smoothly. So easy to read but not as simple a story as it might appear.

This was the first Anne Tyler book I’ve read and I’m sorry to say I wasn’t overly impressed. It was just a book about a family, and not a very interesting one. Well written and an easy read, but no story line to speak of. I kept waiting for something to happen but it never did. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc, and sorry I can’t be more positive.

I’m a fairly recent convert to Anne Tyler’s writing. Her books will not thrill you, or have you on the edge of your seat with a twisty plot, but they will envelope you, amuse you, surprise you and warm your heart.

Tyler writes about ordinary people and ordinary families living through ordinary times, but captures the essence of what it means to live and love better than anyone else.

French Braid is her latest book out this week and it’s another lovely story, this time about three generations of the Garrett family from Baltimore, spanning the 1950s to the present day with grandparents Mercy and Robin, their three children Alice, Lily and David, and their grandchildren. The Garretts are neither close nor estranged, and the metaphor of a French braid is ascribed to them, hence the title of the novel.

Mercy is the most interesting of the characters for me. A mother who kept her children (other than David) at arm’s length, an artist and a dreamer. She sums herself up best when she says to her granddaughter: “Sometimes people live first one life and then another life….First a family life and then later a whole other kind of life. That’s what I’m doing.”

There are perspective shifts throughout the book, enabling the reader to view the family from different angles, never casting judgment and allowing you to make your own conclusions. The subtlety with which this is done is what struck me most - the skill that this entails is pretty awe-inspiring.

Tyler manages to impart the most profound feelings and emotions through the simplest of interactions between people. She reminds you that everyone has their eccentricities, but we are all fundamentally human with the same desire to love and be loved.

If you love Anne Tyler’s writing already, you won’t be disappointed by this one. Super stuff. 4/5 ⭐️

*Many thanks to the author, the publisher @randomhouse @vintagebooks @chattowindus for the ARC via @netgalley. French Braid will be published this Thursday 24 March. As always, this is an honest review.*

I got French Braid by Anne Tyler, for free from NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

The Garret’s take their one and only holiday in 1956, an event that will affect the family over the next 60 years.
French braid is a novel about families and how an event can have an affect in the years to come.
While the novel starts in the 20th century with a descendant of one of the people who went on the eventful holiday, after meeting her boyfriend’s parents for the first time.
When they see someone who she thinks might be her cousin, and her boyfriend thinks that how can you not know for sure one of your relations.
The story then goes back to the only holiday the family ever goes on and how it affected all future relations between them.
While I think French Braid was a wonderfully written novel with characters which were both bringing the reader to their point of view, each one had a flaw in them that could be seen by the reader.
This means while you always sympathised with individuals when another character feels something different about them you can see where they are coming from.
This really was one of the hidden gems of the novel, which allows readers to see the family dynamics from all angles. Allowing for a more balanced opinion as you read the book.
Although French Braid Examined why families drift apart because how relationships change, it did not cover in much depth how people move because of education, jobs, and lifestyle more at the end of the novel than at the beginning.
Having said that it is touched on in the book and novelist and fiction readers are more interested in individual thoughts and choices, rather than change in technology,
Having said that Anne Tylor in French Braid, has written an enthralling novel set around family dynamics.

When I first started reading this book I must admit that I didn't think that I was going to like it.............then I got drawn in.
This is the story of the Garret family, a story that crosses generations from the mid 1950s to the present day, an ordinary family. The Garrets are quite dysfunctional, each of them have their own particular foibles, father Robin who worries what people think, mother Mercy who aspires to be an artist but her aspirations are bigger than her talent, no nonsense eldest daughter Alice, second daughter flighty, erratic, boy mad Lily and reserved, deep thinking but misunderstood, David.
It wasn't a normal household by any means, there was very little family bonding. As I read further into the book I began to realise that the author had a great perception of everyday life, we can all relate to people like the Garrets, the way that everyone enquires what the traffic was like when guests arrive, Ann Tyler writes about life, she writes about everyday things that most of us don't notice, her observations of the changes to all our lives when the pandemic struck are spot on, chatting to neighbours over the garden fence, neighbours who are normally at work and too busy to chat, families deciding that they like walking and meeting the same people on their daily walks, the worry of loved ones on the front line. This story takes you through first loves, weddings, family disagreements, deaths, there is laughter and there is heartbreak.
This book is far outside my usual genre but I did find it an enjoyable read.
I received a free copy of this book and my review is voluntary.

I don't think there's something like a bad Anne Tyler's book and this one is excellent.
I was fascinated by the story of the Garret, their member and how the author was able to tell it in a book which isn't very long.
Characters development and storytelling are excellent, the plot kept me hooked.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Anne Tyler never fails to delight me. From the first page I was transported to her world of characterful, colourful family life, beginning in 1959 and seamlessly moving through the generations right to our present Covid infected time. People age, find fulfilment or regret, create their own families, deep in their own foibles and follies, but always truly human and fascinating as they age and move or pass on. So gentle but revealing too - Anne Tyler at her very best.

I love Anne Tyler and I love family sagas and this one did not disappoint. I always enjoy the gentle rhythm of her writing and narratives, the subtle connections and family secrets that pull together over a long timespan to make a rich, compelling portrait of a group of people. French Braid is charming, with warm and interesting characters and an enjoyable move from the past into the recognisable present. A lovely read, recommended.

A Good easy read which kept me intrigued. About a family who rub along but are not particularly close to one another. Very similar to so many families’ relationships and human nature in the way they say nothing rather than offend. The characters tended to just exist around one another. You could be living amongst this family or a close onlooker because you could feel all the nuances within their worlds.
I have to admit to feeling very sad and wondering which one of them was really fulfilled and happy. Because of this feeling it left me feeling there could have been so much more to their lives.