This is a generational novel brimming with social criticism, pointing out sins and injustices of the past and questioning what can be done about the past. What is the point of studying the past if we can neither change it nor learn from it? How culpable are those who refuse to see evil where it exists? What is our obligation to the past, to Negroes, to Jews? Is a truly classless society possible?
These are a few of the questions “The Guest Book” raises.

As I read Clock Dance by Anne Tyler, I had the uncomfortable sense of having no idea where the story was going. The story relates events in “chunks” of Willa’s life, starting with her childhood. Her father is totally amiable and placid while her mother is “high strung” and leaves the family for long periods of time during which Willa plays mother to her younger sister. The story skips ahead to her first marriage and then to her second. In the final and longest segment, she is summoned to the aid of her son’s ex-girlfriend who has been shot in the leg. Willa cares for her and her daughter as she recuperates. Even in this segment, I was getting impatient for something definitive to happen. Willa seems to live slightly removed from herself. She is pleasant, kind, and seemingly unflappable. She skims along the surface of life pleasantly, just as the story seems to stay on the surface of the character. And that is the point, the genius of Anne Tyler. She doesn’t explain, she shows.
This is a book you will think about and want to discuss long after you close the covers.

I couldn't put this book down after reading a few chapters. At first, it was like visiting a foreign land. The language, customs, and culture, as well as the names, were unfamiliar to m e. Soon I was immersed in the love story of Yeside and Akin as they deal with the pain of childlessness, the death of a child, a second wife, and feelings of guilt, betrayal, and forgiveness.

The political situation in Nigeria forms a suitable backdrop for this story of unfulfilled hopes and betrayals.

Readers who like intricately plotted crime novels and complex characters will love this one. Lola, the protagonist, can kill without remorse. She views the world from near the bottom of society. Her ambition is to be the boss of her drug dealing gang. Although she is ruthless and ambitious, she becomes a sympathetic character, and the reader begins to understand her world.

As the plot unfolds, questions about the effects of environment on character, the nature of prejudice, the role of women in society, sexism, justice, and social structures in general are explored.

This is a thought provoking and riveting novel that members of book clubs will enjoy discussing . It is not a book for the faint-hearted.