Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant

          I read Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler. It is a fictitious novel set in 1980's Baltimore about a perfectionistic woman named Pearl Tull and her family. As a child, Pearl was never good enough. She wasn't pretty enough or smart enough or rich enough. Due to this, no one thought she would ever get married. She tried everything to prove them wrong. She ended up finding a younger man later than the other girls and left her home in the South to marry him. Beck was a business man who constantly focused on his career. In the beginning, Pearl and Beck were very happy together until Beck kept moving their home around for work and never settled down. Pearl wanted to become a mother and she felt as though she was running out of time. They ended up having children anyway despite the constant uprooting. When their eldest child turned 14, they were living in Baltimore. Around this time, Beck randomly picked up his stuff and left. He left Pearl and their three children for his career. He didn't ever visit. Instead he sent 50 dollars a month in an envelope which was not nearly enough. He seldom left a note and if he did, it was simply stating how he was performing at his job. She was left alone with her three kids: Cody, Ezra and Jenny. Tyler allows a special insight into each child as they cope with their father's disappearance and how their childhood affects the rest of their lives. Ezra becomes Pearl's favourite and this causes Cody to become jealous. This shift in attention from their mother affects their lives drastically. Jenny becomes the studious child and becomes a doctor later in life. Ezra falls in love with working at a restaurant owned by a local woman. Against his mother's wishes, he doesn't go to college so he can work at the restaurant. Ezra gets drafted and purposely gets discharged to go back to work at the restaurant. He falls in love with a plain girl named Ruth and marries her. Cody, due to his jealousy of his brother chases after Ruth and falls in love with her. Ezra is torn apart by his brother's betrayal. When it seems as if the entire family is one huge giant mess, Ezra tries everything he can do to bring the family together. He takes over the restaurant and calls it Homesick Restaurant. Pearl Tull dies with her three children by her side. On the day of her funeral, their long lost father Beck Tull comes to mourn her death. Ezra reunites the broken family by cooking them a meal at his restaurant. The Tull family is brought together after decades of Pearl trying to keep them united.
          The book took place in the eighties, mostly in Baltimore. The Tull's lived in the lower middle class. It seemed as though the Tull's were part of a close knit community of white middle class families. It is written mostly in the perspective of Pearl but a good half of the book is written in Cody, Ezra and Jenny's perspectives. I personally really loved Ezra as I'm sure most of the readers love Ezra. His quirky innocent personality reminds me of a young child. I didn't like Pearl's personality but she suffered a hard life so it's hard to dislike her. The author described the characters so vividly that it felt so real. Each character was so complex and was the way they were for a reason that was revealed. The story seemed so close to the heart, it makes the reader wonder if some part of it is true.
         I have read at least 10 books since this project was assigned but I chose to do this specific book because it was easily my favourite. I think this was a lovely book that portrayed a powerful message about what the true definition of family. I've never been very close with my family but while reading this book, it forced me to look back on my upbringing and how the lack of parental support shaped my personality. I think that this book is definitely worth reading because it makes you think. Any piece of art that makes you think is worth consuming.