Anne Tyler’s Morgan Passing is not my favorite but it is well written. Quirky and good and I am glad that I read it. I had bought from a used bookstore previously. I ignored the condition of the book. As I read it, the pages crumbled and I had coughing fits as a smoker had read it before me. I tossed it into the waste basket and bought another used one. No coughing fits and enjoyed the story finally.

Morgan was extremely eccentric and a little difficult to understand. He was prone to acting like he was not. He did everything on a whim. I would not read this book as your first Anne Tyler book, you might get discouraged.

It would be very difficult to discuss the main characters without giving away the story. So, I am just saying, please read it after you have read many of her books. The characters are very well drawn. I imagined many of the scenes in a movie. ( )

I loved the writing and the depicture of 70s-era Baltimore but there wasn't a single character in this novel that I cared about, least of all Morgan. Much better character development in Tyler's later books. ( )

No doubt well written but I kept waiting for something to happen. This odd character drifts through life making increasingly bad decisions. One review said he was a hero so I kept waiting for him to do something heroic. Interesting characters but kept waiting for something to happen. ( )

Impressively written, but not for everyone. Tyler gives us almost no clues to the characters' inner lives except descriptions of their behaviors, which makes it difficult to stay interested in them long enough to figure out a way to appreciate them, to feel close enough to them to care.

I mean, in this one, two marriages are broken up, and in a manner seemingly almost whimsical and definitely impractical. And yet nobody seems upset or even conflicted - and the jacket comments praise the book as an heroic love story. Well, ok - in a way it is - but a reader has to be attentive to figure out how. ( )

I disliked this book so much it put me off Anne Tyler for years. I still haven't found my way back to her. ( )

A children's puppet show stops rather dramatically. Morgan, a typical Tyler eccentric, though perhaps more bizarre than most, gets involved. Which would be fine, except that he then becomes obsessed and turns into a kind of benign stalker.

I didn't much like Morgan - and liked him less towards the end - and didn't find any of the other characters sympathetic either. The writing is excellent, and the book is interesting in places with some clever dialogue. But I found it quite hard to keep going, with little motivation to continue. Overall I thought it a bit sad.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/02/morgans-passing-by-anne-tyler.html ( )

Anne Tyler is known for her quirky characters, but Morgan goes beyond the description of quirky or even eccentric. He is clearly not satisfied with who he is as he dresses in costumes and assumes different identities at the drop of a hat -- of which he has a closetful. He happened to be at a puppet show when a doctor was needed in a hurry. Morgan, who manages a hardware store in his real life, quickly offers his services and delivers Emily's baby on the way to the hospital. This isn't a spoiler as it occurs in the opening pages. Morgan disappears when they all reach the hospital but he shows up later on the streets of Baltimore as he follows Emily wherever she happens to go. She accepts the stalking, and he ultimately becomes a family friend. Very strange.

Ms. Tyler delivers her usual breezy conversations and detailed descriptions of her characters' everyday lives; however, I didn't feel like I got to know the characters in this book very well because of their unpredictable behavior and shaky motivations. I found Morgan to be more creepy than charming. The ending was supposedly a happy one, at least for some of the characters. I found it improbable and sad. All in all, it was a quick read and somewhat entertaining, but it is one of my least favorite Tyler books. ( )

For some unknown reason, I've been neglecting Ann Tyler's novels for the past few years. Reading this one reminds me of how wonderfully fleshed out her quirky characters are. ( )

Anne Tyler has written undisputed classics, but this one lacks her trademark zip and humor. ( )

Anne Tyler has written undisputed classics, but this one lacks her trademark zip and humor. ( )

i really, really like anne tyler's writing. i love how understated she is, how quirky - yet real - her characters are. that said, i didn't find the relationship that developed between morgan and emily (at the end, only) believable. the rest of his relationships seemed really real to me, especially his daughters and how they relate to him as they age. even the weird brindle worked. anne tyler works magic, i just dock it a little because of the way it went with morgan and emily, although his handling of it once it happened seemed spot on.

"This child had changed their lives past recognition, more than they had dreamed possible. You would think that someone so small could simply be fitted into a few spare crannies and the world could go on as usual, but it wasn't like that at all."

"An assignment had been given him. Someone's life, a small set of lives, had been placed in the palm of his hand. Maybe he would never have any more purpose than this: to accept the assignment gracefully, lovingly, and do the best he could with it."

"The phone rang on and on, first insistent, then resigned, faint and forlorn, rhyming with itself, like the chorus of a song." ( )

This novel follows an eccentric named Morgan as he bumbles through his life, putting on one costume after another, one persona after another, in an effort to discover who he really is. It’s not him but the woman who falls in love with him who discovers that, though. A quiet, entertaining read. ( )

A charming novel with a happy ending and lovable characters. ( )

This is the story of Morgan Gower who has 7 daughters and manages one of his wife's family's hardware store. The beginning of the book showed promise -- Morgan lets people think he is a doctor and assists in the emergency delivery of a baby -- but it took a little bit too long to get going and I had to put it down at about page 40. Normally, I love Anne Tyler's books, but this one just didn't do it for me. ( )

Her best one, I think.

This book was so well written, I couldn't put it down. I love Tyler's quirky, eccentric charactors and Morgan was no exception. Indeed you had a hard time liking him. I could have forgiven him anything had he come to his senses. This was the first and only book I literally threw across the room upon finishing! ( )

This 7th of Anne Tyler's books, although as well-written as any other, was probably the most frustrating. Morgan the main character, is so eccentric as to be oblivious to the pain he can cause others in his life, to the point of being unfaithful to and leaving his ever-patient wife who must be a saint. A story with an unsatisfying ending. ( )

The protag in this novel is so completely unlikeable that I could not manufacture any interest in the details of his life.