A Patchwork Planet

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Title A Patchwork Planet
Author Anne Tyler
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Fiction
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf
Released 1998 (1st edition)
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 287 p. (hardcover edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-375-40256-X (hardcover edition)

A Patchwork Planet is a novel by Anne Tyler. Published in 1998 it tells the story of Barnaby Gaitlin, anti-hero and failure who suffers from more than the usual quota of misfortune. The book is noted for its compliment of old people and eccentrics, and its sharply ironic humor.

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The novel is narrated with 29-year-old Barnaby, whose life has gone off the rails since he was caught robbing neighborhood homes as an adolescent. To the despair of his distant father, his social-climbing mother, his chilly ex-wife and his prematurely patriarchal brother, Barnaby now works for a company called Rent-a-Back, doing odd jobs for elderly clients.

He also waits, without much hope, for a visitation from the Gaitlin angel, who first suggested to Barnaby's great-grandfather the invention of the wooden dress-form that made the Gaitlins rich. He found his angel, though perhaps not where he first looks