Reviews with content warning for Violence - May We Be Forgiven

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes

5 reviews

carlytenille's review

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Basically, everyone annoyed me

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baielleebooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I read this in fits and spurts, and my thoughts about May We Be Forgiven etch themselves onto a mental scattergram.

What I deeply appreciate is the level of granular detail in which the book unpacks the complexity of human emotion. The writing structure of short and long vinyettes are stylistically clever and enriched my own exploration into the main character, Harry, and his psyche. I also think it is one of the most eloquent texts that works to deconstruct the falsehoods and contentions within the American Dream ideology.

At the same time, did I occasionally drift in and out while reading? Yes. Did I think that race was sometimes depicted and represented in a patchy way? Yes. Were there occasions where I yearned for the narrative to recalibrate and pick up again from a character like George or Nate? Yes.

Nevertheless, this book sparked my imagination and a number of the lines in the book are really beautiful. Can without question see why this won the Women's Prize for Fiction when it was released in 2013. Would be interested to look into more of A.M. Homes' work.

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elenatamsen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

May We Be Forgiven begins with mediocre Nixon scholar Harold flirting with Jane, wife of his high- flying brother George, at Thanksgiving. Shortly thereafter George is involved in a traffic accident which sets in motion a train of events leading to the death of Jane, the unravelling of both men’s lives. Harold, at least, is eventually able to rebuild his life. He is initially fairly unlikeable and I was tempted to DNF when the book focussed a lot on his sexual hook-ups. I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. Harold’s redemption, his acts of genuine kindness and the caring community/ found family he became part of made it a worthwhile read for me. It’s a wild ride, sometimes funny, often dark and definitely uneven (the depiction of the Chinese American characters was jarring, especially on audio) but the overall theme stressing the importance of meaningful human connection really resonated.

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kellyung's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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