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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Yes
Wat een heerlijk boek. Ik heb het met heel veel plezier gelezen. Af en toe is het absurd, af en toe is het grappig, af en toe is het tragisch, maar al die tijd is het mooi.
The first 100 or so pages were brisk and interesting, but after that it was a mess.
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
the found family aspect of this book is very sweet, and for that, I have added a star.
Otherwise.........
everyone says it’s a comedy, but I didn’t laugh much at all (except when harold silver explains how he “made out” with his sister-in-law’s coochie, and even then it was a cringe laugh).
There was so much always happening- in the middle of the book my head was spinning from all of the activity. And it just kept happening???
I think I would have preferred it being broken into chapters instead of long, chunky paragraphs with page breaks/page spaces ?
Otherwise.........
everyone says it’s a comedy, but I didn’t laugh much at all (except when harold silver explains how he “made out” with his sister-in-law’s coochie, and even then it was a cringe laugh).
There was so much always happening- in the middle of the book my head was spinning from all of the activity. And it just kept happening???
I think I would have preferred it being broken into chapters instead of long, chunky paragraphs with page breaks/page spaces ?
Too much happens in this book for me to be able to connect to any of it. Characters aren’t necessarily surface level, but they’re also not given enough space to breathe and feel like real people I should care about. Which isn’t ALWAYS necessary for me to enjoy a story, but the plot was too all over the place for me to be invested in that either. Overall, pretty meh. I think Holmes has a ton of potential, just needs to reign it in a bit.
Like the other book I read by this same author, this book is quirky and a little strange, with a random mix of characters. Overall, enjoyable and entertaining though.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I laughed throughout this novel, even as it follows a year of violence and loss. The main character is adrift and doesn't know it until dominoes of possibility start to fall. Some are spectacular and shocking, others inventive and hilarious (the discovery of a trove of short stories by Richard Nixon!). There's an arch wisdom to Homes' ability to make a man take on responsibility for home and family, responsibilities that keep expanding. It's a deeply humane book where comedy and tragedy rub up against each other.
Oof. The prose in May We Be Forgiven sucked me in, while the story itself did everything it could to make me want to throw my hands up in the air and walk away. It starts on an authentic enough note - an unbearable family Thanksgiving, with the narrator's brother making an ass of himself while the children refuse to look up from their phones. From here, things begin a march to the absurd, first in minor ways but soon becoming totally over-the-top.
Here are some of the things you have to look forward to in this book:
Embarrassing Chinese stereotypes!
An alternative prison where adult men are thrown together in the woods and abandoned to themselves Lord of the Flies style!
Experimental medicines at the nursing home that get formerly bedridden seniors dancing and taking swimming lessons in their diapers!
An impossibly expensive bar mitzvah trip to South Africa featuring a magical negro!
The prose is excellent and some parts of the book are truly funny in their dark weirdness, but so much of the story is just too nonsensical, and the overall motion of the book from disorder to a perfect happy ending didn't sit well with me. There's no real struggle; things go weird and then fall exactly into place without any effort on the part of the narrator. (Then again, a lot of details in the story point to the idea that the narrator is delusional and remembers situations quite differently from other people - he describes himself as if he is entirely passive and his whole life just plays out from other people acting on him, but when we hear those people's voices, they frequently say that he took the first action/made the first move. So is the entire book just one giant delusion? I don't actually think that was the author's point, but it possibly makes the story more interesting to read it that way, even if it's only replacing one kind of frustrating reading experience with a different one.)
The only thing that saves this book for me is how compellingly written it is; it has moments that are really engaging, but every time I'd start to get pulled in, the author would do something so over-the-top that I'd just want to yell at the book again. I'd read something else from [a:A.M. Homes|598299|A.M. Homes|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1408634896p2/598299.jpg] because there's potential here, but this book was really not for me.
Here are some of the things you have to look forward to in this book:
Embarrassing Chinese stereotypes!
An alternative prison where adult men are thrown together in the woods and abandoned to themselves Lord of the Flies style!
Experimental medicines at the nursing home that get formerly bedridden seniors dancing and taking swimming lessons in their diapers!
An impossibly expensive bar mitzvah trip to South Africa featuring a magical negro!
The prose is excellent and some parts of the book are truly funny in their dark weirdness, but so much of the story is just too nonsensical, and the overall motion of the book from disorder to a perfect happy ending didn't sit well with me. There's no real struggle; things go weird and then fall exactly into place without any effort on the part of the narrator. (Then again, a lot of details in the story point to the idea that the narrator is delusional and remembers situations quite differently from other people - he describes himself as if he is entirely passive and his whole life just plays out from other people acting on him, but when we hear those people's voices, they frequently say that he took the first action/made the first move. So is the entire book just one giant delusion? I don't actually think that was the author's point, but it possibly makes the story more interesting to read it that way, even if it's only replacing one kind of frustrating reading experience with a different one.)
The only thing that saves this book for me is how compellingly written it is; it has moments that are really engaging, but every time I'd start to get pulled in, the author would do something so over-the-top that I'd just want to yell at the book again. I'd read something else from [a:A.M. Homes|598299|A.M. Homes|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1408634896p2/598299.jpg] because there's potential here, but this book was really not for me.
I'm not sure why I read this. If it was supposed to be a commentary, I didn't get it. If it was supposed to be a dark comedy, I didn't laugh. There were moments where this book was ok to good, but most of the time I just wanted to finish it.