Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is a 1982 novel by Anne Tyler.

The novel follows the life of Pearl Cody Tull, and her children: Cody, Ezra, and Jenny. Pearl is a stern perfectionist who is prone to attacks of violence and who raises her children, eventually alone. Tyler's novel reflects the lives, issues, and sadness of the Tull family which can be traced back to the father who deserted them. The novel deals with the ever complex issues of family and the disfunction that is inevitable. Cody the oldest is insanely jealous of his brother Ezra of whom he perceives as Pearl's favorite, the brother who always struggles to bring everyone in the family together. Jenny is the youngest and slightly misguided after her insecure childhood which leads to several marriages and divorces as she grows older. The most significant issue in the novel is that of family dinners, Ezra is always hosting an annual dinner in hope to encourage their family to reunite or unite for the first time. However, they never seem to be able to get through a single dinner without conflict. It seems however, that despite the Tull family's disfunction the real lesson to be learned is to accept the things you can't change and make the most of it, and finally that although family is everything it is certainly never close to perfect.