Even though I have one of hers I've still to read, I couldn't wait to read Anne Tyler's new novel, Noah's Compass, and so I didn't wait to read it. There are three things I want to say about it.
The first answers the question, 'Is it up to the standard of her previous work?' and the answer I give to that is a decisive yes. It displays all her usual qualities and skills: her ear for ordinary conversation, her eye for individual foibles and vulnerabilities, her humane understanding and her humour. I havered a while as to which rank I should assign the book to, but it is at least excellent in any case.
The second point is that the book is a page-turner, or so I found it. Having enjoyed all but one of her novels, I wouldn't claim the same thing for all the others; but partly because of the plot's general shape and partly because of a surprise it delivers some way in, Tyler keeps you on edge over where this story is going.
The third thing I want to say, I can't - not without spoiling the book for those who haven't read it, and I won't do that. I have a reservation of sorts, though not a literary reservation. From a literary point of view, some might even think the thing about which I have the reservation strengthens rather than weakens Noah's Compass.
Anyway, read it and see. The wise and wonderful Anne Tyler.