AIBU to loathe Anne Tyler's novels?

[AthenaAshton]

I've tried about four of them, and have hated them quite vigorously. But everyone else (DH included) seems to love them. AIBU?

Accidental Tourist was my one and only experience. I'm also not wild about Nick Hornby... but my tastes rather run to Haruki Murakami and Margaret Atwood so a different genre I think?

Yabvvvvvu. She's a brilliant author. I agree with previous posters that 'Ladder of Years' and 'The Accidental Tourist' are her best pieces of work.

I said this on the other thread! I kept going through 2 of her novels, expecting something to happen. Nothing ever did. I liked the style, but nothing bloody happened!

I've never heard of her

I love her books! Especially "Back When We Were Grown Ups", "A Slipping Down Life" and "Ladder of Years." I think they are quite thought provoking when it comes to relationships.

I'm with you, Thistle. They're likeable novels but I wouldn't go out of my way to read another. Still, loads of my friends think she's amazing so perhaps the lack is in me.

Of course YANBU, you've given her a solid try and her style or subjects don't suit you. Fair enough. I like her books but that's personal taste.

I also love her writing. I remember reading one of her books during a very traumatic time in my life and it gave me much needed escape and comfort.

I love Anne Tyler's books. My favorites are Saint Maybe and Ladder of Years.

I know what you mean about being left cold by a writer that everyone else raves about, though. It's certainly happened to me. My mother loves Dickens and I gamely read my way through several of his books before realizing I just can't stand his writing.

Anne Tyler is wonderful. Ladder of Years, Accidental Tourist, and Breathing Lessons are my favorites. Her work is so humane and redemptive.

I love Anne Tyler but YANBU if she isn't to your taste, Jeremy Paxman is a fan which I find a bit odd. Also her Baltimore and the Baltimore of The Wire are very different, aren't they?

Baltimore - good name for a Birmingham curry house.

All v interesting!

I do (quite) like Nick Hornby. I did enjoy all of them, though can't remember much about them now.

I'm not sure what it is about Anne Tyler. Her writing just presses some kind of 'loathe' button in me. There's something sort of cloyingly 'womany' about her style, though I can't quite describe how or why!

I do like Kate Atkinson's novels, not least because they make me laugh.