Noah’s Compass, which was published in 2009, is Anne Tyler’s eighteenth novel. Tyler is a prolific and widely celebrated American writer whose novels have often been compared to those of Jane Austen and John Updike. Noah’s Compass concerns a man named Liam Pennywell who, at 60 years old, has just lost his teaching job. Unsure of whether he should retire early, Liam decides to move into a cheaper apartment on the outskirts of Baltimore to save money. On Liam’s first night in the new apartment a burglar breaks in and assaults him. He wakes up in the hospital and learns that a 38-year-old woman named Eunice has been assigned to help him recover his memories of the incident. Liam begins an affair with Eunice, but their relationship gets complicated when he discovers she’s already married. Other complications arise as Liam navigates thorny relationships with his daughters and with the mother of the burglar who assaulted him. Critics appreciated Tyler’s portrait of Liam, a self-effacing man who has weathered a lifetime of disappointment. Yet some also complained that Liam closely resembles Tyler’s other male protagonists, and that the novel would have benefited from stronger female characters.

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Noah's Compass: A Novel

 
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