This Book Will Save Your Life [Paperback]

A. M. Homes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2007

Richard Novak is a modern day everyman, a middle-aged divorcee trading stocks out of his home. He has done such a good job getting his life under control that he needs no one, except his trainer, nutritionist and housekeeper. His life has slowed almost to a standstill, until two incidents conspire to hurl him back into the world. THIS BOOK WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE beautifully captures the strangeness of life through its depiction of the weirdness and instability of LA, a surreal city of earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, feral chihuahuas and doughnut-sellers with big dreams. And it reveals what can happen if you are willing to open up to the world around you. Since her debut in 1989, A. M. Homes has been among the boldest and most original voices of her generation, acclaimed for the psychological accuracy and unnerving emotional intensity of her storytelling. Her keen ability to explore how extraordinary the ordinary can be is at the heart of this touching and funny new novel, her first in six years.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Richard Novak is perfecting a life of isolation, a series of bizarre and surreal events force him to reassess his position and reconnect with the world around him. Upon emerging, he is bombarded with a cast of eccentric characters, including an unappreciated soccer mom, a reclusive writer and a jovial doughnut-shop owner. Throughout this darkly humorous audio, Scott Brick supplies excellent tone and subtlety, easily seducing his audience with the opening scene between Novak and a 911 operator. The contrast between the two highlights Brick's ability and range. While his vocal depictions of characters match up and remain consistent, Brick almost falters with the Novak. For the most part, Brick keeps Novak steady but occasionally delivers a speaking voice that doesn't fit the profile range delivered previously. While his uniformity on Novak wavers, his projection of the anxiety and agitation that plague Novak's life cannot be understated. This book probably won't save your life, but it's likely to make you laugh and ponder your own connection with the world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Let's start with the good news for fans of A. M. Homes (Music for Torching; The Safety of Objects): it's not all bad. A few critics praised Homes's convincing characters, emotional immediacy, deadpan dialogue, and expert skewering of modern L.A. The San Francisco Chronicle even compared Homes to Kurt Vonnegut (and Richard to Billy Pilgrim). Unfortunately, negative reviews prevailed. Critics described the characters, plot, and onerous moral about the prisons of our own making as cartoonish, clichéd, and tired. The Washington Post sums up the sentiment: "If you're as isolated and disconnected as Richard, you'll find the details here surprising and hilarious, but otherwise, it's yesterday's news."<BR>Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Non Basic Stock Line; Export e. edition (February 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862079765
• ISBN-13: 978-1862079762
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,822,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book from the beginning to the end, June 20, 2006

By 

Eliza Bennet (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: This Book Will Save Your Life (Hardcover)

The title might be a bit presumptuous, but this novel, in the most captivating way, makes you think about stopping to smell the roses. In a way, it does throw out a lifeline. The book is charming, funny, outrageous, and just might be a long, modern day parable for good living.

When Richard feels incredible, real pain, he seems to "wake up" from his repetitive, meaningless life. By opening up, he allows himself to meet, and befriend, a cast of intriguing, genuine, although slightly eccentric, characters. From the donut maker, the crying housewife, the movie star, and my favorite, Nic the writer, Richard's eyes are opened to life as it could be, maybe should be. As Richard starts remembering who he is, and what really matters, the most incredible things are going on around him.

I tried to read this book straight through, although my life kept getting in the way (school, sleeping, family) but believe me, once I started, I didn't want to put it down. Now I'm going to lay it down, recommend it to my friends, and go love on my cat, call my kids, and do something nice for someone.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Message To Glean From The Book, May 1, 2006

By 

Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: This Book Will Save Your Life (Hardcover)

This chapterless marathon through one mans isolated existance in modern Los Angeles is brimming with optimism and hope. Richard Novak is a wealthy day trader living in the Hollywood Hills with a sink hole in his back yard, and a famous actor next door. When he calls 911 while experiencing what he believes is a soon to be fatal heart attack, the course of his life radically begins to change. For me, the book was almost fable like in it's telling with events transpiring that are both fantastic and nearly unbelievable. Yet the underlying message of making a simple connection with your fellow man sustains successfully without slipping into Hallmark sentimentality. On a side note, being an Angelino, the book captures the city and it's inhabitants with razor sharp precision.

29 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How simple is the meaning of life?, April 24, 2006

By 

Mark Mauer (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Book Will Save Your Life (Hardcover)

A friend who also has read this book said it was Cheever as if written by Bill Hicks: savage, funny assault on suburban life. (If he stole that line from someone else then he's now double damned.)

Still, it may not be as cynical and savage as Bill Hicks would have it. Hicks wanted LA to fall in the ocean so he could live oceanside in Arizona Bay. Though that does come close to happening here, no one is laughing manically about it. In fact, there are no villains in This Book Will Save Your Life. (At least not among the main characters). There is no one out to destroy another person to make their own life better, and there is no one who cares nothing about other people.

There is however an abundance of surreality that does not seem far removed from life in Los Angeles. The possiblity that a saber-tooth tiger is loose somewhere in the Hollywood Hills doesn't seem as far-fetched as it could, when coupled with the rest of the book's car wrecks, kidnappings, artisan donuts and kindness of strangers.

It's a book about helping other people, trying not to be selfish, and seeing what's going on around you. And despite my decription and the book's title, it's not mushy feel-goody pablum. It is not chicken soup for anyone's soul. It's a good read though.