DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT

I read "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" by Anne Tyler over break. It's a really engaging story of a woman whose husband left her alone to raise three children, each with distinct personalities. The story explores the relationships among the siblings and with their mother, strained in many ways but always managing to remain intertwined as a family.

A few passages:

There ought to be a whole separate language, she thought, for words that are truer than other words -- for perfect, absolute truth. (p.10)

Her one mistake: a simple error in judgment. It should not have had such far-reaching effects. You would think that life could be a little more forgiving. (p.23)

But whenever Jenny returned, she was dampened almost instantly by the atmosphere of the house -- by its lack of light, the cramped feeling of its papered rooms, a certain grim spareness. She almost wondered if she had some kind of allergy. It was like a respiratory ailment; on occassion, she believed she might be smothering. Her head grew stuffy, as it did when she had studied too long without a break. She snapped at people. Even Ezra irritated her, with his calm and docility. (p.83)

Was this what it came to -- that you never could escape? That certain things were doomed to continue, generation after generation? (p.209)