This is the dicey part," the stunt director says over the walkie-talkie. "We have to land him gently. The second the horse has all four legs on the ground he's going to want to bolt. You have to get the cable off so he doesn't drag us. You have to get the cable." It is also important to me to write books that are funny—darkly funny. I find daily life to be surrealistic. The split between what we’re able to accomplish in mechanical terms combined with human behavior and a kind of flawed social structure—e.g., an automated voice versus a “live” person, and so on—all tells me a lot about who we (Americans) are as people and who we are becoming. And despite being perpetually hopeful about what we are each capable of, I remain often stunned by what I see. I’ve always written about families—couples and marriage—and the ways we fail ourselves and each other. And in this new novel, I’m at it once again. Despite how fractured these families may seem, I do believe strongly in family and marriage and very much want to see people learning to communicate and be more successful in their relationships. All relationships are hard work, even “just” owning a dog. Home to Hollywood and Disneyland, Los Angeles may just be the American epitome of the controlled environment: man-made, manicured, synthetic. If the Great American Novel tends to tell of the outsider looking for and grasping at the American Dream, A.M. Homes’s This Book Will Save Your Life inverts such tales in a droll, satirical adventure of personal redemption that turns on the absurd. For what seemed like a light-hearted romp, turned out to be a forensic examination and rumination of this reader’s own life. You know, Richard’s experiences in this story, would touch on so many people. I would be surprised if any one reader couldn’t find something to draw on here.

If you have any ideas about the ending and what was going on there, I'd love to hear from you. I am so over the ambiguous ending, especially in a book that's not really good enough on its own for me to care. But I do want to know what happened to the dog. Fascinating . . . I consumed these stories exactly like a spectator of a good fight or a neighbor peering through the hedge, and I felt sharply observed in turn. Homes, with her fierce sharp wit, reveals her characters’ deep flaws. No one gets away with anything and the spectacle is delightful.”—Molly Livingston, The Paris Review Daily Carpenter, Susan (March 10, 2009). "Neil Strauss is ready for any emergency". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 26, 2009.The larger problem, though, is the dullness of Homes's satiric edge. She portrays Los Angeles as a city collapsing -- morally and physically -- but it's Apocalypse Lite. Anyone who wants to make fun of bizarre diets, ludicrous luxuries, New Age fads and crippling exercise regimes has to stay ahead of the ever-escalating real-world grotesqueries of modern life. 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. Not the normal genre I read but a friend recommended it, so I branched out. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but what a talented author A.M. Homes is!!! An unnerving glimpse through the windows of other people’s lives. A.M. Homes is a provocative and eloquent writer, and her vision of the way we live now is anything but safe.”—Meg Wolitzer They get in line for the driving ride. You must be at least three years old and so high to go on this ride. Sadly this book goes nowhere. At all. Things happen. There are even plot resolutions. But they're so artfully hidden, so well-buried under that pile of prose that you only realise that something has happened hours later. And that robs the book of any closure. I've had a few weeks to think about it and figure out the story. And I still feel like someone tore out the last chapter of the copy I read. It's just left me with unresolved frustated feelings for the book. Which is ironic, given the subject matter.

ben’in babasız çektiği acılar çok dokunaklı açıkçası ama ben artık bu romanları ohoo bizde neler var duygusuyla okuyorum. maalesef 3. dünya gerçekliği :(

A police car on a routine patrol stops in front of the house. "Why didn't you call us? We like to know what's going on. What is going on?" Throughout the book we see Richard come to life, and there is some nice writing in their about the nature of suffering: However, this book is light-hearted and very funny. Case in point: “I hate broccoli. The only reason I voted for George Bush was because he hated his vegetables as much as I do.” There are so many brilliant examples of Homes’ wit and originality with both plot and language. I.e. “last summer we took a wonderful cruise to Alaska. It was “delicious,” she writes, as though they’d eaten a glacier.” There is a horse in the center of the hole, eating grass. Again, he thinks of the signs on the telephone poles at the bottom of the hill. "UFO? You Are Not Alone."

Fascinating . . . I consumed these stories exactly like a spectator of a good fight or a neighbor peering through the hedge, and I felt sharply observed in turn. Homes, with her fierce sharp wit, reveals her characters’ deep flaws. No one gets away with anything and the spectacle is delightful.” —Molly Livingston, The Paris Review DailyBerton, Justin (March 15, 2009). " 'Emergency,' by Neil Strauss". Sfgate.com . Retrieved March 26, 2009. Homes, whose masterful handling of suburban dystopia merits her own adjective, may have just written her midcareer magnum opus with this portrait of a flawed Nixonian bent on some sort of emotional amnesty.”—Christopher Bollen, Interview Your novel’s title will surely draw in readers. How did you come up with the title? In what ways do you hope the novel will change people’s lives? Or might it be a wry commentary on self-help books? A nod to the nihilistic funnymen of Britain’s Benrik series (“This Book Will Change Your Life”)? All of the above? None of the above? Often I have a title before I start to work—but this time, I wasn’t sure. I finished the novel and gave it to my agent who said, I love it, what’s it called. And I blurted out, “This Book Will Save Your Life,” which I hope holds true. It saved Richard Novak’s life—he is far happier and more fulfilled at the end. Esposito, Michael (March 21, 2009). " 'Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life' author Neil Strauss plans for the worst". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 8, 2009 . Retrieved March 26, 2009.