Summary

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is Anne Tyler’s ninth novel, published in 1982. As of 2012, she still lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where most of her novels are set.

Chapter 1. “Something You Should Know”

It is the fall of 1979, and 85 year old, nearly blind Pearl Tull is on her deathbed, thinking and dreaming about the past and her children. Her thoughts and memories are intertwined throughout the chapter with the present-day. Ezra is nearby, and when she’s awake, they talk about what’s on TV or about the family photos she keeps in a drawer. She is worried the family and the doctor will make her go to the hospital, while she prefers to die at home. She tells Ezra to invite everyone in her address book to her funeral, knowing the only person in it who is still alive is the husband who abandoned...