Buckle up. Quite the satiric romp, (very funny yet also moving). We follow Richard, a privileged, self-absorbed man who trades stocks and lives a very isolated life on the west coast. When things suddenly start to go very wrong (Emergency Department-visit-inducing pain and the appearance of a sink hold on the property of his cliffside home) Richard's adventures begin. We watch him reconnect with his east coast family, his neighbours, strangers, and--most important--himself. ( )

This was a light, refreshing read. Populated by surrealist situations and characters just on the near side of believability, This Book Will Save Your Life sometimes erred on the side of being too frivolous. On the other hand, the voyage of Richard was poignant and extremely applicable to modern times. Richard starts the novel as a perfectionist, number crunching, rich business man, who only eats the healthiest, most organic, of foods and has no real connection to other humans at all. Through the introduction of increasingly wacky characters including an Indian donut baker with a penchant for puns, a lonely housewife, a rich movie star and Richard's even more self-absorbed ex-wife, and even more wacky situations (kidnappings, all-white houses, horse-filled sinkholes and silent retreats), Richard learns to reach out and embrace the world. My only other complaint, beyond the twee-ness of several scenes would be the way that the only way Richard actually manages to meet so many people and free himself from the banality of life is by being incredibly rich, which kind of undercuts the message. ( )

Similar to "May we be Forgiven", this is a story of personal transformation as it relates to family and finding joy where it lacked previously. Ms. Homes has a way with uncovering deep emotion and family trauma while injecting humor along side. In this particular story Richard uncovers his own 'heroes journey' which he experiences not only with strangers but with those he loves or forgot. I loved this book equally as much as "Forgiven" and look forward to others from her too! ( )

No matter what the San Francisco Chronicle says, this has no spirit of Kurt Vonnegut. That man is a legend and now I have to read that book.

This book read like the buddha of suburbia, this same feeling of being dropped into someone's life and seeing the dynamics of what plays out and how they evolve.

However for Richard Novak, he spent a short time in this book being a depersonalised robot, and near at the end, he chose a different set of algorithms, never changing his core, realizing that was his core and who he was.

This book might change your life, but it didn't change mine. Rich retired man in Los Angeles bears no resemblance to my life, and it's hard to empathize with that in mind.

I tried however, and I can sense some of the grayness that encapsulated his earlier life, and since I strongly felt that, I felt the book should be given 4 stars instead of 3. ( )

This was my first A. M. Homes book, and I'm afraid she just isn't in my wheelhouse. There was some solid writing, but the book has a fundamental flaw. Presumably, the narrative is meant to showcase the resurrection of the main character's humanity. He suddenly begins engaging with the world around him after a health crisis. The message seems to be that he is living a better, more connected life. But the things the character does are highly correlated with his wealth and entitlement - very few people could engage with people in the ways he does, and the solution always seems to be for him to throw a stack of cash at the problems he sees. The rich, whiny, and self-importance with which he goes about this new life overshadowed the better nature of the message of human connection and memory. ( )