A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler

[samvara]

Anne Tyler buying is almost a fetish now; see book = buy book. I haven't that many of her books but I've yet to hit a dud. You have to be in the right mood, Tyler has a gift for writing about people with problems and situations that don't quite work. This can be a lot of fun - The Accidental Tourist was very popular - but if you don't appreciate the absurdity of being alive she will drive you nuts.

Barnaby Gaitlin is divorced, an ex-delinquent, the black sheep of his neurotic family and the owner of a fabulous car he doesn't appreciate. He works for Rent-a-Back doing odd jobs for elderly clients and his wry narration and baffled response to the world around him is very enjoyable. I also appreciated his complete inability to not stuff things up, the man has an auto-destruct response to things going well and the scene where he almost gooses his brother's wife had me reading in horrified anticipation.

Bibliography for the curious

Those titles bolded are what I've collected so far.

If Morning Ever Comes (1964)
The Tin Can Tree (1965)
A Slipping Down Life (1969)
The Clock Winder (1972)
Celestial Navigation (1974)
Searching for Caleb (1975)
Earthly Possessions (1977)
Morgan's Passing (1980)
Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant (1982)
The Accidental Tourist (1985)
Breathing Lessons (1988)
Saint Maybe (1991)
Tumble Tower (1993)
Ladder of Years (1995)
A Patchwork Planet (1999)
Back When We Were Grownups (2001)
The Amateur Marriage (2004)