A review by ada_elisabeth
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Oh boy.

I did not like this book. Reading it was a long and not thoroughly enjoyable experience.

First of all, it was so unnecessary. Did we really need three hundred and fifty (predictable) pages of a grumpy old man meeting a very, very annoying lady and,
falling in love
? I think not. I liked the first hundred or so pages. I was all ready to give this book four and a half stars and be on my merry way. But then it got worse. So. Much. Worse.

May I just start out by saying that I HATE MURIEL?!? Good characters? Fine. Evil characters? Decent, good even. Morally grey characters? My absolute favorite. But annoying characters? No thank you. And Muriel may be the most annoying character to ever exits. Ever. And you know what? All of the characters were kind of annoying. The only ones I liked were Macon (grumpy old men characters are always good), Julian, and Susan, Macon's niece. All of the others were impossible to empathize with, bland, and one-dimensional.

Also on the list of things I hated was the ending. Come on, Anne Tyler. What was that? You had it all set up to be a good ending, a book worthy of four stars. But nope, you had to go and mess it all up. I really, truly, and thoroughly hated that ending with every fiber of my being.

In short, this book was more or less a not very good version of A Man Called Ove. I'm not sure if I'd go as far as to say that I regret reading it, only that I don't think I'll read any of Anne Tyler's other works in the near future. (Also, despite how my review sounded, there were elements of this book that I quite enjoyed, but my hatred for Muriel kind of ruined the whole thing.) 3/5 stars.



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