I love Anne Tyler's novels. They're all about ordinary people living in and around Baltimore. Virtually none of the stories she relates would get much more than a paragraph in the local paper if they were true, but she makes the reader care passionately about all the characters, each of whom she sympathises with. It's an approach that appeals to me as a Christian - refusing to write off, demonise or ridicule anyone. And she writes beautifully, with much humour and affection.
All that said, I don't think this is one of her best books. It's about two families who both choose to adopt Korean babies. They are the Donaldsons, American through and through, and the Yazdans, Iranian immigrants. It's warm and sad and funny and full of toe-curling misunderstandings, but I got the feeling that her research into Korean and Iranian culture hung a bit heavy.
But it's still a great read.
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