Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Five stars for the first half, three stars for the rest. It starts out fast paced as Harry sleeps with his sister-in-law, gets divorced, has to cope with an insane brother, kids and dating, but the second half meanders to a halt.
Extremely dark, certainly will not leave the reader thinking more of the world but an excellent, excellent read
If you liked the movie, "The Royal Tennenbaums," you will love this book. It is disturbing and absurd and funny and realistic all at the same time. This is very dark humor.
There are strangers out there who care for us...
May We Be Forgiven starts ferociously: an affair, a fatal car accident, a brutal murder. Harry Silver is tipped out of his passive life as a mild-mannered husband, ineffective teacher and scholar of a deeply unloved subject, the presidency of Richard Nixon. He finds himself trying to rebuild his own life from the ashes of his brother's, forced to learn how to interact with people more emotional than himself, which he retreats from into a world of Craiglist-ey casual hookups.
But what starts out as something fast and brutal and cynical becomes something entirely different over the course of a vast and sprawling novel in the tradition of John Irving and Richard Ford and maybe even Don DeLillo (who is bizarrely a supporting character in the story). Homes creates this huge open-world sandbox for Harry to lurch around in, with what feels like hundreds of minor characters, each with their own full lives, bumping into him and sending him in different directions. Many of the encounters are slightly surreal: the avant-garde psychological treatments given to his brother, members of the Nixon family who wish to impart an incredible secret about the former president, even someone with inside information on the Kennedy assassination. Others offer warmth and compassion and wisdom, and other things that Harry has forgotten. Bit by bit, he acquires a family and discovers a new version of the American dream.
Homes' writing is a very functional, unintrusive first-person present tense that's bouyed up by the sheer volume of her ideas. The pace is extraordinary throughout and feels like the pace of real life rather than a novel. Like a real life, it swings between moods: sometimes wise, sometimes desperately sad, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. A wonderful reminder of why novels exist in the first place; as filling and satisfying as a Thanksgiving dinner.
May We Be Forgiven starts ferociously: an affair, a fatal car accident, a brutal murder. Harry Silver is tipped out of his passive life as a mild-mannered husband, ineffective teacher and scholar of a deeply unloved subject, the presidency of Richard Nixon. He finds himself trying to rebuild his own life from the ashes of his brother's, forced to learn how to interact with people more emotional than himself, which he retreats from into a world of Craiglist-ey casual hookups.
But what starts out as something fast and brutal and cynical becomes something entirely different over the course of a vast and sprawling novel in the tradition of John Irving and Richard Ford and maybe even Don DeLillo (who is bizarrely a supporting character in the story). Homes creates this huge open-world sandbox for Harry to lurch around in, with what feels like hundreds of minor characters, each with their own full lives, bumping into him and sending him in different directions. Many of the encounters are slightly surreal: the avant-garde psychological treatments given to his brother, members of the Nixon family who wish to impart an incredible secret about the former president, even someone with inside information on the Kennedy assassination. Others offer warmth and compassion and wisdom, and other things that Harry has forgotten. Bit by bit, he acquires a family and discovers a new version of the American dream.
Homes' writing is a very functional, unintrusive first-person present tense that's bouyed up by the sheer volume of her ideas. The pace is extraordinary throughout and feels like the pace of real life rather than a novel. Like a real life, it swings between moods: sometimes wise, sometimes desperately sad, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. A wonderful reminder of why novels exist in the first place; as filling and satisfying as a Thanksgiving dinner.
It took me over twenty days of my precious life to finish this book. During those twenty days-and then some-, people would ask me: oh, so what are you reading now? And I would say, 'May we be forgiven, by AM Homes. Not sure I'm going to forgive her.' People found it funny. I meant it as a joke, but I was being serious. I have no regrets though, I'm happy that I read this. I'm glad that, finally, interesting, thought-provoking, not-wow-not-meh-not-ugh books are crawling back to my shelves. Makes my reading life a lot more exciting.
I will not even try to summarize May we be forgiven, it would take me about 1000 words just to recount the main things that happen in this novel. It is one of the most eventful books I've read, ever. In the first five pages (roughly), the main protagonist, Harry, cheats on his wife, Claire, with his brother's wife, Jane. While they are on the early stages of what comes across as an incredibly rushed affair, his brother, George, goes crazy and causes a car accident and kills a family. Then George is put in the hospital (or was it a sanatorium?) while they all wait for the trial, but at some point he escapes and goes back home and finds Harry (so, the main protagonist) in bed with Jane. And then he kills her. And then there are 475 pages left to go. The story includes Harry's several sexual affairs, him taking care of children and pets, him teaching and then losing his teaching job. They also organize a Bar and Bat Mitzvah in Africa, and Harry adopts a third child. Oh, and I forgot about the Men Scouts Camp for irremediable criminals. There's also a lot of rambling about Nixon and there's some incident with a tampon not being inserted properly. No kidding.
So where does all this leave me, the reader?
During the first 100 pages I was thrilled. May we forgiven is a very dark comedy and I would laugh really hard now and then. I also was excited about the pace, it never got boring. There was always more and more. Then, after 200 pages, I started to become bored with so much craziness. By page 350 I considered quitting, but by then I was already too invested in the story, and I have serious problems when it comes to quitting books anyway. After hitting page 400, and only 80 pages away from the ending, all I could think about was finishing the book and moving on.
I'm glad I don't rate the books I read because if this was some kid's piece of homework I would pass it on to another colleague for them to grade. AM Homes is undeniably a good writer with a wry sense of humour and a fantastic ability to dig into the human soul. I'm aware that most of the things I could criticise about it are probably intentionally that way. However, this doesn't mean we are on the same wavelength. I was really recommending this book to everyone I came across when I first started it; by the time I was done with it, I had changed my mind.
To begin with, there's just too much going on, and it gets to a point when it borders on a strange sort of surrealism. No matter how many horrible things happen to the characters, the effects are minimal. They cry here and there, but I felt there was not enough feeling in their responses. These people -all of them- are numb robots, and I reject the idea that real human beings are that way. And then there's the final sense of redemption, that happy ever after that not even Snowhite and her Prince Charming were able to get. I also didn't understand why so many people hated Harry and placed him and George (a crazy murderer) under the same light? I mean, in my book, sleeping with a married woman and killing her are not exactly the same thing.
I have mixed feelings about May we be forgiven, but that's ok. That's good. That's what keeps both reading and writing experiences alive and going. Keep doing your thing, AM Homes, and I'll do mine. And who knows? We might meet again. Sometime.
http://bookmallows.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/book-review-may-we-be-forgiven-by-am.html
I will not even try to summarize May we be forgiven, it would take me about 1000 words just to recount the main things that happen in this novel. It is one of the most eventful books I've read, ever. In the first five pages (roughly), the main protagonist, Harry, cheats on his wife, Claire, with his brother's wife, Jane. While they are on the early stages of what comes across as an incredibly rushed affair, his brother, George, goes crazy and causes a car accident and kills a family. Then George is put in the hospital (or was it a sanatorium?) while they all wait for the trial, but at some point he escapes and goes back home and finds Harry (so, the main protagonist) in bed with Jane. And then he kills her. And then there are 475 pages left to go. The story includes Harry's several sexual affairs, him taking care of children and pets, him teaching and then losing his teaching job. They also organize a Bar and Bat Mitzvah in Africa, and Harry adopts a third child. Oh, and I forgot about the Men Scouts Camp for irremediable criminals. There's also a lot of rambling about Nixon and there's some incident with a tampon not being inserted properly. No kidding.
So where does all this leave me, the reader?
During the first 100 pages I was thrilled. May we forgiven is a very dark comedy and I would laugh really hard now and then. I also was excited about the pace, it never got boring. There was always more and more. Then, after 200 pages, I started to become bored with so much craziness. By page 350 I considered quitting, but by then I was already too invested in the story, and I have serious problems when it comes to quitting books anyway. After hitting page 400, and only 80 pages away from the ending, all I could think about was finishing the book and moving on.
I'm glad I don't rate the books I read because if this was some kid's piece of homework I would pass it on to another colleague for them to grade. AM Homes is undeniably a good writer with a wry sense of humour and a fantastic ability to dig into the human soul. I'm aware that most of the things I could criticise about it are probably intentionally that way. However, this doesn't mean we are on the same wavelength. I was really recommending this book to everyone I came across when I first started it; by the time I was done with it, I had changed my mind.
To begin with, there's just too much going on, and it gets to a point when it borders on a strange sort of surrealism. No matter how many horrible things happen to the characters, the effects are minimal. They cry here and there, but I felt there was not enough feeling in their responses. These people -all of them- are numb robots, and I reject the idea that real human beings are that way. And then there's the final sense of redemption, that happy ever after that not even Snowhite and her Prince Charming were able to get. I also didn't understand why so many people hated Harry and placed him and George (a crazy murderer) under the same light? I mean, in my book, sleeping with a married woman and killing her are not exactly the same thing.
I have mixed feelings about May we be forgiven, but that's ok. That's good. That's what keeps both reading and writing experiences alive and going. Keep doing your thing, AM Homes, and I'll do mine. And who knows? We might meet again. Sometime.
http://bookmallows.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/book-review-may-we-be-forgiven-by-am.html
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A little crazy but in the end, surprisingly heartwarming.
I really liked this weird book though I know many people who didn't. It starts with a fatal car accident, and then gets more violent from there, and the main character, a Nixon scholar, is left in charge of a house, pets, kids, and then collects other people along the way, kind of like a Katamari in the video game. There is an odd, satiric edge to it that I can see would be off-putting, yet I just went with it and enjoyed the ride. I often laughed aloud and couldn't help being glad for the main character for getting his act together over the course of the story. It reminded me of Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You, but is a white-male screw up novel written by a woman, which I think is an interesting slant. Also reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine in the farcically bizarre, hyper-real cast of characters and things they do. I'm going to be looking up reviews and interviews with the author. Even after I'm done, I'm still curious, because it was such an odd, involving book for me.
A lot of those who dislike it complain about unbelievability, and yet this was so clearly not ever striving for that, rather trying to hit a weird soap-opera like note of crazy drama.
A lot of those who dislike it complain about unbelievability, and yet this was so clearly not ever striving for that, rather trying to hit a weird soap-opera like note of crazy drama.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Sadly, this was not a book for me. There were bits that drew me in - especially some of the dialogue, which Homes seems to do quite well - but the copious amounts of subplots, and jumping from scene to scene was not to my taste. I’m aware it’s supposed to be a satirical, but it felt like it lacked depth sometimes too