Product Description

Short listed for the Richard & Judy Book Club 2007. An uplifting story set in Los Angeles about one man's effort to bring himself back to life. Richard 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. His life has slowed almost to a standstill, until two incidents conspire to hurl him back into the world. One day he wakes up with a knotty cramp in his back, which rapidly develops into an all-consuming pain. At the same time a wide sinkhole appears outside his living room window, threatening the foundations of his house. A vivid novel about compassion and transformation, "This Book Will Save Your Life" 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 her touching and funny new novel, her first in six years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86520 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 380 pages

Review
'AM Homes' new novel is weird and warm and wise and really rather wonderful' Mark Haddon * "Witty and well written while in pursuit of the spirits living inside the machine" Times * "Homes is excellent on the inner workings of men" Time Out

Daily Telegraph
"This sharp-edged, soft-core satire on self-help cuts from event
to surreal event with cinematic clarity...

Sunday Telegraph
"Bitter-sweet LA morality tale... a witty picaresque novel"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book.
I thought this book was fantastic!

The book is an easy read, and I found it very difficult to put down. It's about Richard, a wealthy but lonely man in LA who needs to do something more with his life. You don't feel particularly sorry for him, but get intricately involved in his life, as he develops a friendship with Anhil, who sells donuts and provides wisdom, and from there seems to pick up people along the way who are in need of a friend, as is he. The people he meets are very interesting, and vividly described, so that they become your friends too. The book also explores Richards relationships with his family; his brother, parents, ex-wife and son.

As it's set in LA it also describes how life differs there - the Beverley Hills way of life, with constant sunshine, a focus on looking good, eating healthily and 'being someone'. (Its references to Malibu Beach and Santa Monica and the pier brought back great memories of a holiday I went on to those places last year).

Ultimately however, it shows that people are all individual human beings who need friends and need to be loved, and it doesn't matter where they come from or how rich they are, they all have the same needs.

It was a joyful, uplifting book, which didn't preach, but just told a story which was funny to read and sad to have finished. So quickly over! Read it in the depth of winter to cheer you up and bring sunshine into your life, or on holiday as an easy, relaxing read. It will fit the bill.

I don't think it'll save anyone's life
This book is rather strange. Novak the main character is having a sort of mid life crisis. He has cut himself off from the world and the book tells the story of his attempt to rejoin normal life.

However this is LA and nothing is normal. Novak encounters some frankly bizarre situations some of which are totally unbelievable, other are funny and others are just warped.

The characters are interesting but I just couldn't get that excited about them or the plot.

I have to admit I was drawn to the book due to the pictures of donuts on the front. Shallow I know.

Only a best seller because it's a Richard and Judy book
I, personally feel that this book would have slipped through the net if it hadn't been for all the hype attached to Richard and Judy book nominations.
It was an easy read, but left me feeling a bit empty, like I wasn't sure why I'd bothered.

We meet Richard Novak, a reclusive on-line investor, as he starts to show all the signs of the onset of a heart attack. As a result he is forced to leave his enclosed world as he calls an ambulance and goes to hospital. This seems to have been a bit of a wake-up call and he decides to change direction and make something of his life. Then it all starts to become a bit unbelievable as one calamity after another hits his house and he becomes a bit of a local hero / superman figure. The odd bit of assistance here and there would have been fine, but to have managed quite so many good deeds and heroic actions in such a short space of time was rather stretching belief.

The one aspect of the book that I did enjoy was the repairing of bridges between himself and his son, who he'd left with his wife after the break-up of their marriage.

The finale is suitably over-the-top, a fitting end to a strange book.