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Back When We Were Grownups
Back When We Were Grownups
Author: Anne Tyler
"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person." So Anne Tyler opens this irresistible new novel. — The woman is Rebecca Davitch, a fifty-three-year-old grandmother. Is she an impostor in her own life? she asks herself. Is it indeed her own life? Or is it someone else’s? — On the surfa...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780375412530
ISBN-10: 0375412530
Publication Date: 5/1/2001
Pages: 288
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 105

3.6 stars, based on 105 ratings
Publisher: Knopf
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

mommytsunami avatar reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on
Helpful Score: 13
I love to read, but I couldn't get past the first chapter in this book. The storyline was very contrived, it felt like I was reading something written by a 12 year old girl. And as shallow as this may sound, the main characters ridiculous names (NoNo, Patch, Jeep, Biddy, Min Foo, Poppy? Come ON, is this a children's book?!) were what finally made me say "enough" and return this book to the library. Thank goodness it was only borrowed.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 121 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
On the New York Times Bestseller list. I enjoyed this book very much. It's about a woman in her 50's coming to terms with the fact that over the years, she has lived more and more of her life for others, and has no life of her own. How she discovers this and how she goes about changing the situation is very well written by Anne Tyler.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 26 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
This is one of Tylers better books. The main character is more fully developed as the book unfolds, and it is hard to find a likeable protagonist that is not young, sexy, exciting. Tyler provides a likeable heroine that is middle aged, not particularly beautiful,over weight and wonders what the road not taken would have been like. I think most of her books are good reads but forgetable. This one is the exception.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I read a recent newspaper article that claimed Tyler's book has one of the best opening lines, and I agree: "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person." This is a line that draws you into the book and into the main character, Rebecca Davitch, a woman in mid-life who begins to question her life's choices and who attempts to recapture some of what was "lost." This is an interesting story about understanding the difference between being content with one's life and being complacent.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 34 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
I really enjoyed this book. It was a little slow moving, but a great character study.
Read All 84 Book Reviews of "Back When We Were Grownups"

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reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 8 more book reviews
This is a beautiful book about a large crazy family that a woman doesn't feel a part of, but is.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 120 more book reviews
A very entertaining and heartwarming book!
sues avatar reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 94 more book reviews
I just love Anne Tyler. This is a good one. Just so well crafted.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 38 more book reviews
Interesting characters, great relationships.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 3 more book reviews
I enjoyed this as I found it introspective and also funny.
SanJoseCa avatar reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 328 more book reviews
This story is about a woman in her 50's looking back on all the important relationships in her life. She reflects on the choices she made as well as the "what ifs." This could have been just a story about a mid-life crises, but it is much more! It is a thoughtful reflection on the meaning of life defined by choices. This novel has many funny, even laught out loud moments as well as touching ones. Tyler writes about everyday life and makes it memorable!
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 29 more book reviews
For anyone 50+ years old who likes to read Anne Tyler, this book is worth the read. I couldn't get into it at first; the character's names are trite and cutesy, but after I got past the first scene, I couldn't wait to put it down. I started listening to it on a library audio book. I had bought the hard cover off the library's "withdrawn" shelf. I found I had to read it as listening to it was just too slow. I would definitely read another book by this author.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 48 more book reviews
Back When We Were Grownups is a thought provoking book full of wonderful insights.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 9 more book reviews
Ann Tyler at her best. This is a moving, loving, joyous and tragic tale of people so real you may know them all. An excellent read.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 35 more book reviews
I enjoyed this story.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 24 more book reviews
I enjoyed listening to the life of Rebecca and the noisy, rowdy, difficult members of the Davitch family. When Rebecca marries Joseph Davitch, she becomes the stepmother of his three kids, then has a daughter of her own. Her husband dies in a car crash, after which yet more Davitches come to live with her. Somehow, Rebecca--in the midst of her own troubles--holds it all together, but, she begins to suspect, at the cost of her own self.
reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 15 more book reviews
Although I listened to the book, meaning it traveled at it's own pace it felt slow with much to do about very little. I kept hoping for some revelation or some inspiring thought or moment but it was pretty much this woman living her life to figure out the life she was living was her own. Been done before and in a much more compelling way.
debman avatar reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 77 more book reviews
Wonderful Anne Tyler novel. Reads along nicely and reminds this empty nester how things used to feel! Glad to know that there are other more dysfunctional families around than mine. Love Baltimore and food and flowers as the settings.
knittymama avatar reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 424 more book reviews
I enjoyed this book very much. The story was tender, funny and thoughtful, the characters were wonderful with all their quirks, and the reader sounded great. I just wish there was an indicator at the end of each disc. I would be part of the way through the first track a 2nd time (and thinking WHAT?) before I would realize the CD had started over again...some music or a ding or something...ha ha!
ReadHead avatar reviewed Back When We Were Grownups on + 3 more book reviews
I loved this book. It's the first Anne Tyler I've read.. can't wait to read the rest.


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