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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
dark
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
I wasn't sure about this from the beginning, but I stuck through it and it was well worth it.
This book has a lot of dark humour, and I also think a lot of themes in it are a critique of white boomers in America, particularly rich ones.
This book has a lot of dark humour, and I also think a lot of themes in it are a critique of white boomers in America, particularly rich ones.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A classic American novel. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! Once you start to get to know Harry you really start to like him, - his self-conscious thought processes, his obsession with Nixon and mirrored intrigue for his high-flyer brother. He's almost a naive little boy who just wants to do well. You feel proud of him, confused for him.
Read the full review on my blog
Read the full review on my blog
I really enjoyed reading this - such a diverse read with a story of awfulness, humour, humanity, obsession, hope and redemption.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
I loved the first half! Made me lol so many times. I honestly disliked the main character the whole way through. Maybe this was the point?? How flawed he is?? But idk. He did not grow on me! If gave me male fantasy vibes with how he just had an endless amount of money and women were constantly approaching HIM and then he gets all the credit for raising these children despite not even attempting to intervene in the death of their mother???? Anyyywayyyys. Book itself was funny but there were some underdeveloped storylines. Like too much packed in? Idk I would give her 3.6 if I could. I’d still recommended her!
A M Homes is a unique writer, I'm drawn to re-read her books, which is unusual for me. Her portrayal of the micro-relationships with the people we meet in our day-to-day business is fascinating.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
if you wanted a book with racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and surprisingly incest, rape, & pedophilia too…this is the one for you
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Classism
Other readers will be outraged to find this book settled firmly in my "predictable" and "slow" shelves. I admit, the book is crazy, all over the place, and just plain weird, but its message is simple. Human relationships triumph all wealth, class, disability, and race!
Homes goes about a striking way to prove that theory. A middle-aged man, battered by despicable parents, always the brother falling behind the other one, in a failing (or at least, fading) marriage, no children, no humans to tie him close to earth - save for the only one, his brother's wife whom he's desperately attracted to, but who is killed by said brother in the beginning. Well, then (99% of the book) comes the healing! Discovering family and reconnecting, happy, bizzare, frightening, and fortunate encounters with the most random of people... President Nixon's kid, a woman at the supermarket who sexually abuses him from the get-go but whom he still would consider his girlfriend, a Chinese lady from stereotypical Chinese backgrounds and no depth at all as a useful assistant (read: tool) on his Nixon files, two AMAZING GORGEOUS UNREALISTIC teenagers with no flaws whatsoever and a greater-than-an-average-adult ability to identify and rectify their faults, an unrelated elderly couple who are forced under his care yet proving to be no trouble at all despite their brains having half gone, easily placated by a set of African dolls. Don't even get me started on the South Africans!! Undying fascination with American junk food; pseudoscientific, "magical" substances that somehow solves all of the confused white main character's problems. I even noted a sentence describing themselves standing out at the Durban airport like a sore thumb. Well, it's an airport in a major, global city. No one would stand out like a sore thumb, not even in Africa, not even a white person, ESPECIALLY not in a nation historically colonized by white people.
Just look around you, everything is perfect! Everyone is lovely! Don't hold grudges! Easy to say, coming from an unbelievably fortunate white man who seems to face no real problems. Stashes of money, great kids that anyone would love to adopt, two women who obsess over him, mentally disabled elderly people who magically don't inconvenience him at all but instead introduce him to an entire bank-full of cash sitting underground, a dream job raining down from heaven immediately after he's fired from his previous one. The people who are nasty to him - George, or his mother - he is able to keep a safe, healthy distance from. What a believable, inspiring, America-affirming story.
I would have rated it lower, but for one reason or another I was able to keep reading till the end, which really is a lot to ask for from myself. Something about it was compelling; as fortunate as the said white guy was, he still had some serious insecurity issues, some serious lack of parental/familial love, that I couldn't help but feel connected with. I only wish the conclusion wasn't to "find the right people and look on the bright side." Life just doesn't work like that. Has it for the author?
Homes goes about a striking way to prove that theory. A middle-aged man, battered by despicable parents, always the brother falling behind the other one, in a failing (or at least, fading) marriage, no children, no humans to tie him close to earth - save for the only one, his brother's wife whom he's desperately attracted to, but who is killed by said brother in the beginning. Well, then (99% of the book) comes the healing! Discovering family and reconnecting, happy, bizzare, frightening, and fortunate encounters with the most random of people... President Nixon's kid, a woman at the supermarket who sexually abuses him from the get-go but whom he still would consider his girlfriend, a Chinese lady from stereotypical Chinese backgrounds and no depth at all as a useful assistant (read: tool) on his Nixon files, two AMAZING GORGEOUS UNREALISTIC teenagers with no flaws whatsoever and a greater-than-an-average-adult ability to identify and rectify their faults, an unrelated elderly couple who are forced under his care yet proving to be no trouble at all despite their brains having half gone, easily placated by a set of African dolls. Don't even get me started on the South Africans!! Undying fascination with American junk food; pseudoscientific, "magical" substances that somehow solves all of the confused white main character's problems. I even noted a sentence describing themselves standing out at the Durban airport like a sore thumb. Well, it's an airport in a major, global city. No one would stand out like a sore thumb, not even in Africa, not even a white person, ESPECIALLY not in a nation historically colonized by white people.
Just look around you, everything is perfect! Everyone is lovely! Don't hold grudges! Easy to say, coming from an unbelievably fortunate white man who seems to face no real problems. Stashes of money, great kids that anyone would love to adopt, two women who obsess over him, mentally disabled elderly people who magically don't inconvenience him at all but instead introduce him to an entire bank-full of cash sitting underground, a dream job raining down from heaven immediately after he's fired from his previous one. The people who are nasty to him - George, or his mother - he is able to keep a safe, healthy distance from. What a believable, inspiring, America-affirming story.
I would have rated it lower, but for one reason or another I was able to keep reading till the end, which really is a lot to ask for from myself. Something about it was compelling; as fortunate as the said white guy was, he still had some serious insecurity issues, some serious lack of parental/familial love, that I couldn't help but feel connected with. I only wish the conclusion wasn't to "find the right people and look on the bright side." Life just doesn't work like that. Has it for the author?
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated