What do you think?
Rate this book
Deine Mutter war ein Fisch
With her signature humor and compassion, A.M. Homes exposes the heart of an uneasy America in her new collection - exploring our attachments to each other through characters who aren't quite who they hoped to become, though there is no one else they can be.
In A Prize for Every Player, a man is nominated to run for president by the customers of a big box store, while he and his family do their weekly shopping. At a conference on genocide(s) in the title story, old friends rediscover themselves and one another - finding spiritual and physical comfort in ancient traditions. And in Hello Everybody and She Got Away, Homes revisits a Los Angeles family obsessed with the surfaces and frightened of what lives below.
In the nearly three decades since her seminal debut collection The Safety of Objects, Homes has been celebrated by readers and critics alike as one of our boldest and most original writers, acclaimed for her psychological accuracy and "satire so close to the truth it's terrifying" (Ali Smith). Her first book since the Women's Prize-winning May We Be Forgiven, Days of Awe is a major new addition to her body of visionary, fearless, outrageously funny work.
In A Prize for Every Player, a man is nominated to run for president by the customers of a big box store, while he and his family do their weekly shopping. At a conference on genocide(s) in the title story, old friends rediscover themselves and one another - finding spiritual and physical comfort in ancient traditions. And in Hello Everybody and She Got Away, Homes revisits a Los Angeles family obsessed with the surfaces and frightened of what lives below.
In the nearly three decades since her seminal debut collection The Safety of Objects, Homes has been celebrated by readers and critics alike as one of our boldest and most original writers, acclaimed for her psychological accuracy and "satire so close to the truth it's terrifying" (Ali Smith). Her first book since the Women's Prize-winning May We Be Forgiven, Days of Awe is a major new addition to her body of visionary, fearless, outrageously funny work.
344 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2018
152 people are currently reading
1867 people want to read
About the author
A.M. Homes
77 books1,417 followersA.M. Homes is the author of the novels, The Unfolding, May We Be Forgiven, which won the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction, This Book Will Save Your Life, Music For Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, and Jack, as well as the short-story collections, Things You Should Know and The Safety of Objects, the travel memoir, Los Angeles: People, Places and The Castle on the Hill, and the artist's book Appendix A: An Elaboration on the Novel the End of Alice.
In April of 2007 Viking published her long awaited memoir, The Mistress's Daughter, the story of the author being "found" by her biological family, and a literary exploration and investigation of identity, adoption and genealogical ties that bind.
Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and appears frequently in Art Forum, Harpers, Granta, McSweeney's, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Zoetrope. She is a Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair, Bomb and Blind Spot.
She has been the recipient of numerous awards including Fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, NYFA, and The Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library, along with the Benjamin Franklin Award, and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.
In addition she has been active on the Boards of Directors of Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center In Provincetown, The Writers Room, and PEN-where she chairs both the membership committee and the Writers Fund. Additionally she serves on the Presidents Council for Poets and Writers.
A.M. Homes was a writer/producer of the hit television show The L Word in 2004-2005 and wrote the adaptation of her first novel JACK, for Showtime. The film aired in 2004 and won an Emmy Award for Stockard Channing. Director Rose Troche's film adaptation of The Safety of Objects was released in 2003, and Troche is currently developing In A Country of Mothers as well. Music For Torching is in development with director Steven Shainberg with a script by Buck Henry, and This Book Will Save Your Life is in Development with Stone Village Pictures.
Born in Washington D.C., she now lives in New York City.
In April of 2007 Viking published her long awaited memoir, The Mistress's Daughter, the story of the author being "found" by her biological family, and a literary exploration and investigation of identity, adoption and genealogical ties that bind.
Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and appears frequently in Art Forum, Harpers, Granta, McSweeney's, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Zoetrope. She is a Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair, Bomb and Blind Spot.
She has been the recipient of numerous awards including Fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, NYFA, and The Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library, along with the Benjamin Franklin Award, and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.
In addition she has been active on the Boards of Directors of Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center In Provincetown, The Writers Room, and PEN-where she chairs both the membership committee and the Writers Fund. Additionally she serves on the Presidents Council for Poets and Writers.
A.M. Homes was a writer/producer of the hit television show The L Word in 2004-2005 and wrote the adaptation of her first novel JACK, for Showtime. The film aired in 2004 and won an Emmy Award for Stockard Channing. Director Rose Troche's film adaptation of The Safety of Objects was released in 2003, and Troche is currently developing In A Country of Mothers as well. Music For Torching is in development with director Steven Shainberg with a script by Buck Henry, and This Book Will Save Your Life is in Development with Stone Village Pictures.
Born in Washington D.C., she now lives in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
March 10, 2018
I loved loved loved May We Be Forgiven and am a fan of Homes. This just wasn't the collection for me. Many of the stories are very dialogue driven which is fine. The dialogue is sharp and clever and maybe that's the problem. At times, everything feels just too clever. For sure, I read the whole book and felt like I learned something from reading these stories, but I can't say that I loved most of the stories or would want to read them again. The narrative voice felt too similar from one story to the next and many of the stories are deeply, deeply strange. That's not a bad thing! It's just an observation. The title story, Days of Awe, is the story I loved--so smart and nuanced and sly--a real showstopper. So, this is a very good book of short stories. It's me, not the book on this one.
Read
July 26, 2020“Che ore sono in Cina?”
“Adesso?”
Ruby annuisce.
“In Cina oggi è domani.”
Alle volte, quando leggo buona narrativa americana recente - per brevità “postmoderna“, molto dialogata, sebbene postmoderno non significhi granché, esiste in definitiva chi sa scrivere come si deve e chi meno - mi viene in mente Pavel Florenskij, che diceva di aver vissuto un’infanzia talmente felice che se a casa loro si fosse ipoteticamente presentato Dostoevskij, suo padre avrebbe detto sottovoce ai suoi figli, “bambini andate a giocare in cortile, Fëdor Michajlovič non si sente molto bene.”
A.H. Homes è nata nel 1961, non siamo in ambito Dostoevskij, naturalmente, benché uno dei 12 racconti sia esplicitamente dedicato a Flannery O’Connor (“Punto Omega”). Ma non siamo neppure dalle parti della O’Connor. Qui la morte e la vita sono decorazioni, sullo sfondo. Siamo a Los Angeles (la raccolta è del 2018) e i giorni di apprensione del titolo, «Days of awe», sono giorni di parole estenuanti, comiche, anche patetiche, volutamente patetiche da risultare comiche. Le preoccupazioni e le parole per dirlo, che siano quelle di un genitore ricoverato in clinica, di una spesa familiare a Walmart, di una gita a Disneyland, di un ennesimo intervento di chirurgia estetica, sono sempre brillanti, ma di un brillante angoscioso.
(Una coppia che osserva il cielo)
“Difficile a dirsi, vero?” dice lui guardando il cielo. “Guardalo. Non è incredibile? Così azzurro, così aperto.”
“Le mie lacrime sanno di crema solare,” dice lei.
Ci sono racconti brevi, fatti di dialoghi, che sono praticamente perfetti, tutto il libro potrebbe avere come epigrafe una poesia di Wisława Szymborska: «quasi non bastassero i guai veri della vita/ci uccideremo con le parole».
Vi copio alcuni dialoghi che trovo esemplari, dal racconto “Mio”:
“Sto invecchiando,” dice lei quella sera quando sono a letto, uno accanto all’altra. Lei legge. Lui finge di dormire.
“Un giorno alla volta,” dice lui.
“Di più,” dice lei. È come se tutto fosse accelerato, se un’ora contasse per due, sempre più veloce.”
“Cominci a ricordarmi tua madre.”
“Che c’entra mia madre?”
“Era sempre convinta di stare per morire,” dice lui.
“Be’ vedi un po’ cosa le è successo,” dice lei.
“Aveva ottantatré anni,” dice lui.
“La morte è sempre la morte, a qualunque età. E lei era bella viva, finché non è morta. Senti qua le mie dita, fredde come il ghiaccio,” dice lei.
“Le tue dita sono sempre fredde e tu hai un bel pezzo di strada davanti.”
“Che ne sai tu?”
“Sono obiettivo... La gente della tua età e nelle tue condizioni non muore così.”
[…]
E prima che possano dire altro, lui incolla le labbra su quelle di lei e lei su quelle di lui, e insieme mangiano le loro parole.
I racconti migliori della raccolta per me sono: “Domenica con fratello”, “Tutto a posto tranne la pioggia“, “L’ultima stagione felice“, “Mio”, “Se n’è andata”.
Quello che dà il titolo alla raccolta è forse uno dei meno riusciti, altri due sono troppo surreali. Ma nel complesso è una raccolta che si fa ricordare. O no?
“Adesso?”
Ruby annuisce.
“In Cina oggi è domani.”
Alle volte, quando leggo buona narrativa americana recente - per brevità “postmoderna“, molto dialogata, sebbene postmoderno non significhi granché, esiste in definitiva chi sa scrivere come si deve e chi meno - mi viene in mente Pavel Florenskij, che diceva di aver vissuto un’infanzia talmente felice che se a casa loro si fosse ipoteticamente presentato Dostoevskij, suo padre avrebbe detto sottovoce ai suoi figli, “bambini andate a giocare in cortile, Fëdor Michajlovič non si sente molto bene.”
A.H. Homes è nata nel 1961, non siamo in ambito Dostoevskij, naturalmente, benché uno dei 12 racconti sia esplicitamente dedicato a Flannery O’Connor (“Punto Omega”). Ma non siamo neppure dalle parti della O’Connor. Qui la morte e la vita sono decorazioni, sullo sfondo. Siamo a Los Angeles (la raccolta è del 2018) e i giorni di apprensione del titolo, «Days of awe», sono giorni di parole estenuanti, comiche, anche patetiche, volutamente patetiche da risultare comiche. Le preoccupazioni e le parole per dirlo, che siano quelle di un genitore ricoverato in clinica, di una spesa familiare a Walmart, di una gita a Disneyland, di un ennesimo intervento di chirurgia estetica, sono sempre brillanti, ma di un brillante angoscioso.
(Una coppia che osserva il cielo)
“Difficile a dirsi, vero?” dice lui guardando il cielo. “Guardalo. Non è incredibile? Così azzurro, così aperto.”
“Le mie lacrime sanno di crema solare,” dice lei.
Ci sono racconti brevi, fatti di dialoghi, che sono praticamente perfetti, tutto il libro potrebbe avere come epigrafe una poesia di Wisława Szymborska: «quasi non bastassero i guai veri della vita/ci uccideremo con le parole».
Vi copio alcuni dialoghi che trovo esemplari, dal racconto “Mio”:
“Sto invecchiando,” dice lei quella sera quando sono a letto, uno accanto all’altra. Lei legge. Lui finge di dormire.
“Un giorno alla volta,” dice lui.
“Di più,” dice lei. È come se tutto fosse accelerato, se un’ora contasse per due, sempre più veloce.”
“Cominci a ricordarmi tua madre.”
“Che c’entra mia madre?”
“Era sempre convinta di stare per morire,” dice lui.
“Be’ vedi un po’ cosa le è successo,” dice lei.
“Aveva ottantatré anni,” dice lui.
“La morte è sempre la morte, a qualunque età. E lei era bella viva, finché non è morta. Senti qua le mie dita, fredde come il ghiaccio,” dice lei.
“Le tue dita sono sempre fredde e tu hai un bel pezzo di strada davanti.”
“Che ne sai tu?”
“Sono obiettivo... La gente della tua età e nelle tue condizioni non muore così.”
[…]
E prima che possano dire altro, lui incolla le labbra su quelle di lei e lei su quelle di lui, e insieme mangiano le loro parole.
I racconti migliori della raccolta per me sono: “Domenica con fratello”, “Tutto a posto tranne la pioggia“, “L’ultima stagione felice“, “Mio”, “Se n’è andata”.
Quello che dà il titolo alla raccolta è forse uno dei meno riusciti, altri due sono troppo surreali. Ma nel complesso è una raccolta che si fa ricordare. O no?
August 20, 2018
I was unaware of A.M. Homes' new story collection until I listened to an interview of her on KCRW Bookworm, but it made me request it immediately. I listened to the interview again after finishing because I like hearing her perspective on her own stories. Apparently some of them are based on a character from her first book of stories, The Safety of Objects (the character of Cheryl in this collection.)
First of all, the title story is my favorite, about two academics who have a long history hooking up at a Genocide(S) conference. I also love some of the shorter, tighter stories like "Be Mine."
But the two stories with Cheryl, that really seem to give Homes a chance to say what she REALLY feels about Los Angeles, are probably the most memorable. Where people have to wear sunglasses because everyone and everything is too bright. Where nobody is sure who they really are because they've spent so much energy altering their appearance. Where people have to go to foam restaurants while they're still surviving their limited-calorie diets. And it's not that unusual for someone to just... die... because they've been starving themselves. Nobody seems that upset or surprised when this happens.
This is probably a 3.5 star read, rounded up because I enjoyed almost everything (I skipped the bird chatroom one, which I just couldn't get through.) But if I were to recommend a Homes book, it wouldn't be starting here. Maybe May We Be Forgiven.
First of all, the title story is my favorite, about two academics who have a long history hooking up at a Genocide(S) conference. I also love some of the shorter, tighter stories like "Be Mine."
But the two stories with Cheryl, that really seem to give Homes a chance to say what she REALLY feels about Los Angeles, are probably the most memorable. Where people have to wear sunglasses because everyone and everything is too bright. Where nobody is sure who they really are because they've spent so much energy altering their appearance. Where people have to go to foam restaurants while they're still surviving their limited-calorie diets. And it's not that unusual for someone to just... die... because they've been starving themselves. Nobody seems that upset or surprised when this happens.
This is probably a 3.5 star read, rounded up because I enjoyed almost everything (I skipped the bird chatroom one, which I just couldn't get through.) But if I were to recommend a Homes book, it wouldn't be starting here. Maybe May We Be Forgiven.
April 28, 2018
The eponymous first story is definitely the strongest, which is a shame. It showed what was possible. Also reminded me of the days when you'd buy an entire 33 1/3 LP on the strength of one song. A. M. Homes is a proven, talented, award-winning writer with a large following, but after reading several of her works, I find her novels more successful than her short fiction. They seemed unable to get off the ground.
September 17, 2018
Short shrift.
It’s bad enough to be disappointed by any book but to be disappointed by a book written by an author you love is glum-making in the extreme. I couldn’t get on with this at all, I’m afraid. Didn’t like the characters, didn’t like the stories, found myself skipping swathes. No, I’m just not going to spend any more time on this one.
It’s bad enough to be disappointed by any book but to be disappointed by a book written by an author you love is glum-making in the extreme. I couldn’t get on with this at all, I’m afraid. Didn’t like the characters, didn’t like the stories, found myself skipping swathes. No, I’m just not going to spend any more time on this one.
August 17, 2020
I miei insieme a A.M. Homes (come da titolo)
May 13, 2018
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP Viking
Pub. Date: June 5, 2018
If you want a razor sharp look into the absurdities of present-day life that will force you to admit your own ego issues, then this is your book. But be prepared: some of it may be difficult to interpret. This short story collection is penned by the author A.M. Homes. Homes is known for her controversial novels and unusual short stories. She has received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is literary fiction and not a beach read. Although this genre is usually harder to read, I still enjoy it. Still, frankly, it is not the genre that makes this book difficult. It is that some of the stories are incoherent. One of my favorite authors, Roxane Gay, wrote on Goodreads, “I am a fan of Homes…This just wasn't the collection for me.” I get Gay’s words since I loved Homes’ dark comedy, “May We Be Forgiven,” but I had trouble with this book. In fact, there are only two stories in the collection that I enjoyed: “Brother On Sunday” and “The National Cage Bird Show.”
In “Brother On Sunday” we meet two male siblings and observe their contentious relationship. One brother is single and rather obnoxious. He is the type of guy who dates women half his age to wear as arm candy. Every Sunday, this brother visits his married brother and his wife, along with the couple’s friends at the beach. However, the story is not really about the brothers, it is actually about how plastic we all have become: in our physical appearance as well as in our personalities. The married brother is a doctor who deals in vanity. Eh, you know what I mean, the sort of doctor that gives botox injections and facial fillers. The group’s beach talk is about the agony one goes through to starve oneself thin. That horrible feeling one gets when they realize that their thighs begin to dimple. And God help us all, the inevitable telltale of age: sagging of skin. In many ways, this story reminded me of the nonliterary novel, “You Think It, I’ll Say It.” By the end of “Brother,” the reader discovers that it’s not only the single brother who is obnoxious, but rather all the characters are hard to like.
It is harder to follow than “Brothers,” but I did enjoy “The National Cage Bird Show,” a story told entirely through messages in a chat room for bird owners. The main protagonists are a teenage girl and a grown man who is in the army and stationed overseas. Thank goodness there is nothing sexual in their chats. The man is trying to cheer up the girl because when her mom meets her in the emergency room after she is in a car accident her mother’s first words imply that her daughter’s face is now ruined. The mother’s words pretty much sum up the book’s nods to the over-the-top importance of beauty in today’s society. But there are many other topics in this chat room, and some conversations are as sweet as they are bizarre, making me chuckle. Think a couple of old women seriously discussing the importance of which brand of bird feed one uses.
I am afraid the other ten stories lost my interest. I admit just skimming them making me wonder that if I had put in more effort I might have found something to like in the whole collection. But, most reviewers know not to waste time reading something you have lost interest in. I agree with the author, Sara Nelson, “So Many Books, So Little Time” Yet, I still encourage you to read the book because the author has once said about her books, “I write the things we don’t want to say out loud.” And, that is a very admirable trait.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
Find all my book reviews at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list
Leave Me Alone I am Reading & Reviewing: https://books6259.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Martie’s Book Reviews: https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP Viking
Pub. Date: June 5, 2018
If you want a razor sharp look into the absurdities of present-day life that will force you to admit your own ego issues, then this is your book. But be prepared: some of it may be difficult to interpret. This short story collection is penned by the author A.M. Homes. Homes is known for her controversial novels and unusual short stories. She has received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is literary fiction and not a beach read. Although this genre is usually harder to read, I still enjoy it. Still, frankly, it is not the genre that makes this book difficult. It is that some of the stories are incoherent. One of my favorite authors, Roxane Gay, wrote on Goodreads, “I am a fan of Homes…This just wasn't the collection for me.” I get Gay’s words since I loved Homes’ dark comedy, “May We Be Forgiven,” but I had trouble with this book. In fact, there are only two stories in the collection that I enjoyed: “Brother On Sunday” and “The National Cage Bird Show.”
In “Brother On Sunday” we meet two male siblings and observe their contentious relationship. One brother is single and rather obnoxious. He is the type of guy who dates women half his age to wear as arm candy. Every Sunday, this brother visits his married brother and his wife, along with the couple’s friends at the beach. However, the story is not really about the brothers, it is actually about how plastic we all have become: in our physical appearance as well as in our personalities. The married brother is a doctor who deals in vanity. Eh, you know what I mean, the sort of doctor that gives botox injections and facial fillers. The group’s beach talk is about the agony one goes through to starve oneself thin. That horrible feeling one gets when they realize that their thighs begin to dimple. And God help us all, the inevitable telltale of age: sagging of skin. In many ways, this story reminded me of the nonliterary novel, “You Think It, I’ll Say It.” By the end of “Brother,” the reader discovers that it’s not only the single brother who is obnoxious, but rather all the characters are hard to like.
It is harder to follow than “Brothers,” but I did enjoy “The National Cage Bird Show,” a story told entirely through messages in a chat room for bird owners. The main protagonists are a teenage girl and a grown man who is in the army and stationed overseas. Thank goodness there is nothing sexual in their chats. The man is trying to cheer up the girl because when her mom meets her in the emergency room after she is in a car accident her mother’s first words imply that her daughter’s face is now ruined. The mother’s words pretty much sum up the book’s nods to the over-the-top importance of beauty in today’s society. But there are many other topics in this chat room, and some conversations are as sweet as they are bizarre, making me chuckle. Think a couple of old women seriously discussing the importance of which brand of bird feed one uses.
I am afraid the other ten stories lost my interest. I admit just skimming them making me wonder that if I had put in more effort I might have found something to like in the whole collection. But, most reviewers know not to waste time reading something you have lost interest in. I agree with the author, Sara Nelson, “So Many Books, So Little Time” Yet, I still encourage you to read the book because the author has once said about her books, “I write the things we don’t want to say out loud.” And, that is a very admirable trait.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
Find all my book reviews at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list
Leave Me Alone I am Reading & Reviewing: https://books6259.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Martie’s Book Reviews: https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
July 25, 2018
Dit boek kan ik niet in een keer bevatten en dat is iets positiefs. Ik wil het direct nog eens lezen en ik weet zeker dat ik dan weer andere dingen tegen kom, de verhalen anders beleef. Deze verhalen zitten vol ironie en zwarte humor. Soms zijn de situaties herkenbaar, maar zo uitvergroot dat je er ongemakkelijk van wordt, dan weer heel realistisch en pijnlijk. Dit boek laat je nadenken over jezelf door allerlei verschillende karakters op te voeren. Zonder twijfel vijf sterren.
July 13, 2019
Maar 5 sterren voor het verhaal 'De nationale vogeltentoonstelling'
July 31, 2020
Giorni di quotidiana apocalisse
"Che significa, praticante?" dice sua madre. "Siamo ebrei, perché dovremmo praticare? Non ne abbiamo passate abbastanza?"
racconti cinici e quasi surreali nella loro cattiveria, il primo e l'ultimo sono due momenti della stessa situazione familiare, come Homes ci ha da tempo abituati, i suoi personaggi tornano sempre sul luogo del delitto e a volte ritornano solo per raccogliere le macerie di quello che si sono inflitti nella prima parte della storia
per motivi che non saprei spiegare ogni volta che leggo un libro di Homes, questo ovviamente solo dopo aver letto quelli di Aimee Bender, penso sempre che è a Homes che la Bender voleva assomigliare, solo c'è di diverso che la Homes mette al centro della narrazione "il bisogno" dei suoi protagonisti, invece la Bender ci racconta delle loro derive, ma da fuori come attraverso uno specchio, come se fosse solo una spettatrice, mentre Homes sa esattamente quando e dove la sua storia andrà a parare perchè lei è là con i suoi personaggi e ne costruisce il destino davanti ai tuoi occhi di lettore curioso
"Il desiderio di dominare, di vincere, è fondamentale per la natura umana? La crudeltà dell'uomo verso l'uomo è un fatto della vita? Siamo davvero così bestie? Esiste una sequenza ordinata che col tempo conduce inevitabilmente all'estinzione. La vera domanda è: quali sono gli obblighi della coscienza? Possiamo esercitarci a fare le cose in modo diverso? Per questo siamo qui, stronzo."
"Che significa, praticante?" dice sua madre. "Siamo ebrei, perché dovremmo praticare? Non ne abbiamo passate abbastanza?"
racconti cinici e quasi surreali nella loro cattiveria, il primo e l'ultimo sono due momenti della stessa situazione familiare, come Homes ci ha da tempo abituati, i suoi personaggi tornano sempre sul luogo del delitto e a volte ritornano solo per raccogliere le macerie di quello che si sono inflitti nella prima parte della storia
per motivi che non saprei spiegare ogni volta che leggo un libro di Homes, questo ovviamente solo dopo aver letto quelli di Aimee Bender, penso sempre che è a Homes che la Bender voleva assomigliare, solo c'è di diverso che la Homes mette al centro della narrazione "il bisogno" dei suoi protagonisti, invece la Bender ci racconta delle loro derive, ma da fuori come attraverso uno specchio, come se fosse solo una spettatrice, mentre Homes sa esattamente quando e dove la sua storia andrà a parare perchè lei è là con i suoi personaggi e ne costruisce il destino davanti ai tuoi occhi di lettore curioso
"Il desiderio di dominare, di vincere, è fondamentale per la natura umana? La crudeltà dell'uomo verso l'uomo è un fatto della vita? Siamo davvero così bestie? Esiste una sequenza ordinata che col tempo conduce inevitabilmente all'estinzione. La vera domanda è: quali sono gli obblighi della coscienza? Possiamo esercitarci a fare le cose in modo diverso? Per questo siamo qui, stronzo."
November 15, 2020
Lo normal sería que A. M. Homes tuviese una estatua en cada librería, en cada biblioteca, en cada uno de los corazones de los que amamos de una manera u otra la literatura. Pero no es así. Sí, es una autora con cierto prestigio, pero no el que debería. Es más, lector, no pierdas el tiempo con este estúpido texto: lee a Homes.
Conocí a A. M. Homes a través de David Foster Wallace. En sus memorias indicaba que a sus alumnos de primer año les leía su relato “Una muñeca de carne y hueso”. Un relato que sirve para comprender lo que Homes es capaz de alcanzar, lo incómodo que podría resultar su lectura. Wallace reconocía disfrutar con la reacción que producía el texto en sus alumnos.
Días temibles es su última colección de relatos. Un tamaño en el que se maneja bien, que le permite concretar su ironía, su desapego vital, su poderosa narrativa. No obstante, existe un hilo conductor, una localización en la que tienen lugar los infiernos de Homes: California. Lo que para una gran parte de la población sería el lugar ideal, Homes escarba con sus uñas en las almas hasta retratar un universo vacuo y triste, quizá la antesala de lo que nos espera
Conocí a A. M. Homes a través de David Foster Wallace. En sus memorias indicaba que a sus alumnos de primer año les leía su relato “Una muñeca de carne y hueso”. Un relato que sirve para comprender lo que Homes es capaz de alcanzar, lo incómodo que podría resultar su lectura. Wallace reconocía disfrutar con la reacción que producía el texto en sus alumnos.
Días temibles es su última colección de relatos. Un tamaño en el que se maneja bien, que le permite concretar su ironía, su desapego vital, su poderosa narrativa. No obstante, existe un hilo conductor, una localización en la que tienen lugar los infiernos de Homes: California. Lo que para una gran parte de la población sería el lugar ideal, Homes escarba con sus uñas en las almas hasta retratar un universo vacuo y triste, quizá la antesala de lo que nos espera
April 4, 2018
I was disappointed. I love Homes. I didn't like this book.
October 7, 2018
While I appreciate the themes that Homes was approaching in this story collection; some of these stories fell short in that they were hard to follow. I believe a good short story is a refined art and for this I look forward to reading Homes’ earlier story collections. This collection was just “almost there” for me. The author’s satirical commentary on modern, superficial society was pretty brilliant, but not always brilliantly executed. A couple of these stories were somehow linked together by characters and I got so confused...what is happening here?
“Brother on Sunday,” the opening to the collection was one of the best here, with it backdrop of two rival brothers. One of the brothers is a plastic surgeon and the dialogue that takes place between the two siblings addresses modern obsession with the physical body being the sum of our value.
“The National Cage Bird Show” was my favorite in the collection and also the most fluid. It is not necessarily a safe tale. Homes’ takes risks with content and her ways of developing her subject matter of sexual assault, war, and, again, a little nod to the over significance physical appearance—all the while in a chat room with bird enthusiast’s talking over each other about seed and cage liner.
The L.A. stories are creepy. The folks portrayed in these stories; they aren’t really my kind of people. I couldn’t relate to them at all. That’s kind of the point. These people are so far disconnected from the world. They are like the hyperbole of the disconnected, nearly-sociopathic, image-obsessed LA a-holes featured in a reality show. These stories really had potential to be the best in the bunch. The anorexic waif whose diet consists of menu items under 10 calories (gorgeously displayed foams that her family oohed and aah-ed at) succumbs to her disorder and the family efficiently only holds a memorial on social media. The dog who has surgery to be more attractive to his owner....Such fantastic satire.
While I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading this collection; I would encourage newbies to try one of Homes’ earlier works. I know I am.
“Brother on Sunday,” the opening to the collection was one of the best here, with it backdrop of two rival brothers. One of the brothers is a plastic surgeon and the dialogue that takes place between the two siblings addresses modern obsession with the physical body being the sum of our value.
“The National Cage Bird Show” was my favorite in the collection and also the most fluid. It is not necessarily a safe tale. Homes’ takes risks with content and her ways of developing her subject matter of sexual assault, war, and, again, a little nod to the over significance physical appearance—all the while in a chat room with bird enthusiast’s talking over each other about seed and cage liner.
The L.A. stories are creepy. The folks portrayed in these stories; they aren’t really my kind of people. I couldn’t relate to them at all. That’s kind of the point. These people are so far disconnected from the world. They are like the hyperbole of the disconnected, nearly-sociopathic, image-obsessed LA a-holes featured in a reality show. These stories really had potential to be the best in the bunch. The anorexic waif whose diet consists of menu items under 10 calories (gorgeously displayed foams that her family oohed and aah-ed at) succumbs to her disorder and the family efficiently only holds a memorial on social media. The dog who has surgery to be more attractive to his owner....Such fantastic satire.
While I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading this collection; I would encourage newbies to try one of Homes’ earlier works. I know I am.
July 27, 2018
How to write an AM Homes short story:
- Come up with a central conflict of two characters, foils to one another
- Make them come together somehow
- Introduce a third and fourth conflict. Then a fifth and sixth!
- Send characters flailing all over the world
- Forget your point
- Sum it up by using a central image that appeared in the first scene. "She looked in the mirror for the second time that week."
- Pretend that's as good as having a point.
- Come up with a central conflict of two characters, foils to one another
- Make them come together somehow
- Introduce a third and fourth conflict. Then a fifth and sixth!
- Send characters flailing all over the world
- Forget your point
- Sum it up by using a central image that appeared in the first scene. "She looked in the mirror for the second time that week."
- Pretend that's as good as having a point.
June 13, 2018
When Alice Munro won the Nobel, her editor described her prose as untouchable – as in, needing no touch. It’s a perilous detail, but Treisman coined a term the rest of us can use: ‘the Munrovian step’, to describe the annihilating plot shifts Munro pairs with the ability to “gently carry us forward, through the revelation, through the surprise or shock of it, to some kind of understanding, some acceptance, whether rueful or joyful.”
I’d read Munro as a master of small violence, but it is that gentleness I love. Holmes’s title story works on that same softness, the kind you see only in relief:
“She pushes him off, laughing, “Erike, put that away. You’re like you’ve got pickes in your keppe. We’re in public.”
Reluctantly, he zips up. I’ll tell you something about genocides that people don’t talk about.”
She waits.
“They fucked a lot. They fucked all the time, because they needed the relief, they needed not to think for a brief moment, needed to remind themselves that they were human, and because they knew they were going to die.”
And if Anne Fadiman argued for reading books where they took place, my plea is for reading in platonic sororities. Read Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West at the same time. Or Nabokov and Edmund Wilson. You can tell, quickly, which lines would have thrilled their friend. Holmes’s prose shares so much with Grace Paley, her former teacher – and this is worth proximity to them.
I’d read Munro as a master of small violence, but it is that gentleness I love. Holmes’s title story works on that same softness, the kind you see only in relief:
“She pushes him off, laughing, “Erike, put that away. You’re like you’ve got pickes in your keppe. We’re in public.”
Reluctantly, he zips up. I’ll tell you something about genocides that people don’t talk about.”
She waits.
“They fucked a lot. They fucked all the time, because they needed the relief, they needed not to think for a brief moment, needed to remind themselves that they were human, and because they knew they were going to die.”
And if Anne Fadiman argued for reading books where they took place, my plea is for reading in platonic sororities. Read Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West at the same time. Or Nabokov and Edmund Wilson. You can tell, quickly, which lines would have thrilled their friend. Holmes’s prose shares so much with Grace Paley, her former teacher – and this is worth proximity to them.
May 30, 2018
In an interview with The Guardian, author A.M. Homes once said of her work,” What I'm doing, which sometimes makes people uncomfortable, is saying the things we don't want to say out loud." Her latest novel, Days of Awe, a short story collection, makes the reader fidget and wince at uncomfortable prose that gets under your skin and characters who simultaneously invoke sympathy and revulsion.
Reading each of these stories, I immediately transported myself into the scenes that the author writes so vividly with concrete sensory details that hint at suppressed hurts, desires and unresolved conflicts, the stuff that defines our past and shapes our present. I highly recommend Days of Awe by A.M. Homes for its provocative characters and raw experiences that reveal the foibles of humanity
Reading each of these stories, I immediately transported myself into the scenes that the author writes so vividly with concrete sensory details that hint at suppressed hurts, desires and unresolved conflicts, the stuff that defines our past and shapes our present. I highly recommend Days of Awe by A.M. Homes for its provocative characters and raw experiences that reveal the foibles of humanity
Read
July 29, 2018An uneven collection but goddamn that title story
July 24, 2018
Sommige gevaarlijk realistisch, andere met iets meer fantasie en magie, maar allemaal even relevant en modern. Benieuwd naar meer van deze schrijfster!
August 12, 2018
Het ene verhaal is geweldig, en bij het volgende vraag je je af hoe je de tijd die je aan het lezen besteed hebt ooit nog terug krijgt. Favoriet: De laatste keer dat het fijn was.
March 14, 2019
Brilliant. Perfect. As only A.M. Homes can do. One of my favourite books of the year, and definitely one of my favourite story collections ever.
February 5, 2021
Short stories. Some compelling, some lesser so. It isn't easy to put depth in characters of short stories, but Homes manages to create complexity in just a few pages.
August 8, 2018
In haar verantwoording schrijft AM Homes dat deze bundel verhalen zeer langzaam tot stand gekomen is. Dit lijkt te suggereren dat ze nogal met de materie geworsteld heeft. In ieder geval was het lezen van de verhalen voor mij een tamelijk moeizame ervaring. Misschien vindt dit zijn oorzaak wel in de ontstaansgeschiedenis van de bundel. Je kunt een verhaal te snel afronden maar je kunt er ook te lang over doen. Van heel veel sleutelen wordt een verhaal niet per sé beter.
Het belangrijkste bezwaar dat ik bij lezen had, was de erg wisselende kwaliteit van het geschrevene. Goede, een enkele keer zeer goede, beschrijvingen laat de auteur nogal eens volgen door veel mindere passages. Zo eindigt het onderhoudende openingsverhaal Broer op zondag met een kleuterachtige vechtpartij tussen de broers die het verhaal verpest. Lukte het de schrijfster niet om een goed einde te verzinnen en heeft ze er na lang piekeren dit maar van gemaakt?
De langere verhalen in de bundel, waaronder het titelverhaal, zeuren te lang door. Als lezer verlies ik de draad, weet niet meer waar het verhaal over gaat en geef ik het op. Er zijn twee verhalen met dezelfde personages, Hallo allemaal en Ontsnapt. Hier bestaat Homes het om een paar beschrijvingen uit het eerste verhaal letterlijk te laten terugkomen in het tweede, zonder dat daar een reden voor is. In het eerste verhaal verandert een redelijk geloofwaardige dialoog opeens zo van toon dat het lijkt of het een gesprek tussen twee robots betreft. Ook heeft de auteur nogal eens de neiging om achtergrondinformatie voor de lezer in een dialoog te verwerken, zodat de personages elkaar vertellen wat ze allebei allang weten. Heel knullig.
Het is me niet gelukt om me bij deze verhalen ook maar enigszins betrokken te voelen. Merkwaardig genoeg hebben twee verhalen een vergelijkbare setting en thematiek als twee verhalen van de Britse schrijfster en Booker-prize winnaar Penelope Lively: respectievelijk een familie- en vriendenbijeenkomst en een congresbezoek. Vergeleken bij de pogingen van Homes zijn de versies van Lively een wonder van vertelkunst: onderhoudend, humoristisch en vlot geschreven. Misschien kan de uitgever een volgende keer eens voor de verhalenbundel van deze auteur kiezen als er een vertaling komen moet?
Het belangrijkste bezwaar dat ik bij lezen had, was de erg wisselende kwaliteit van het geschrevene. Goede, een enkele keer zeer goede, beschrijvingen laat de auteur nogal eens volgen door veel mindere passages. Zo eindigt het onderhoudende openingsverhaal Broer op zondag met een kleuterachtige vechtpartij tussen de broers die het verhaal verpest. Lukte het de schrijfster niet om een goed einde te verzinnen en heeft ze er na lang piekeren dit maar van gemaakt?
De langere verhalen in de bundel, waaronder het titelverhaal, zeuren te lang door. Als lezer verlies ik de draad, weet niet meer waar het verhaal over gaat en geef ik het op. Er zijn twee verhalen met dezelfde personages, Hallo allemaal en Ontsnapt. Hier bestaat Homes het om een paar beschrijvingen uit het eerste verhaal letterlijk te laten terugkomen in het tweede, zonder dat daar een reden voor is. In het eerste verhaal verandert een redelijk geloofwaardige dialoog opeens zo van toon dat het lijkt of het een gesprek tussen twee robots betreft. Ook heeft de auteur nogal eens de neiging om achtergrondinformatie voor de lezer in een dialoog te verwerken, zodat de personages elkaar vertellen wat ze allebei allang weten. Heel knullig.
Het is me niet gelukt om me bij deze verhalen ook maar enigszins betrokken te voelen. Merkwaardig genoeg hebben twee verhalen een vergelijkbare setting en thematiek als twee verhalen van de Britse schrijfster en Booker-prize winnaar Penelope Lively: respectievelijk een familie- en vriendenbijeenkomst en een congresbezoek. Vergeleken bij de pogingen van Homes zijn de versies van Lively een wonder van vertelkunst: onderhoudend, humoristisch en vlot geschreven. Misschien kan de uitgever een volgende keer eens voor de verhalenbundel van deze auteur kiezen als er een vertaling komen moet?
June 16, 2018
What I loved most about this collection of stories was the variety between stories. Certainly some stories had similar themes, tones, and feels, but there were also some strange stories worked in there too that I found refreshing in their own way.
My favorite stories were Brother Sunday, Days of Awe, Hello Everybody, All Is Good Except For the Rain, Your Mother Was a Fish, A Prize for Every Player, and She Got Away. I enjoyed how certain themes were threaded through the stories.
I noticed that many stories focused on the idea of saying goodbye to parents when you are older. Many of the characters are deeply connected to their parents and have anxieties about their aging and leaving them. A few stories centered around the idea of the inability to say no when a character didn’t want to do something. Other themes I found throughout were questioning of characters sexuality, pistachios dyed red (this was random but popped up in two stories), and the storing/collecting/coveting of objects.
I found Homes writing in this collection to be especially reminiscent of Don DeLillo at moments. She writes these wonderful characters who are so wholly American and explores the sadness of modern American life through these characters. The stories are quite dialogue driven, which was challenging at points, but made you feel like you were right there listening in on conversations.
My favorite stories were Brother Sunday, Days of Awe, Hello Everybody, All Is Good Except For the Rain, Your Mother Was a Fish, A Prize for Every Player, and She Got Away. I enjoyed how certain themes were threaded through the stories.
I noticed that many stories focused on the idea of saying goodbye to parents when you are older. Many of the characters are deeply connected to their parents and have anxieties about their aging and leaving them. A few stories centered around the idea of the inability to say no when a character didn’t want to do something. Other themes I found throughout were questioning of characters sexuality, pistachios dyed red (this was random but popped up in two stories), and the storing/collecting/coveting of objects.
I found Homes writing in this collection to be especially reminiscent of Don DeLillo at moments. She writes these wonderful characters who are so wholly American and explores the sadness of modern American life through these characters. The stories are quite dialogue driven, which was challenging at points, but made you feel like you were right there listening in on conversations.
October 3, 2025
Segunda lectura que hago de esta obra. En este caso, más en profundidad. Qué manera de escarbar en la mente humana, de reflejar una realidad social y de utilizar la rutina y las situaciones disparatadas para construir cuentos afilados e hirientes. Homes no es una cuentista cualquiera, tiene un estilo muy bien definido que la destaca por encima de muchas voces.
April 30, 2019
A estas alturas ya tengo claro que los libros de relatos suelen ser irregulares, pero en este caso no me pareció así. Las historias en "Días temibles/Days of awe" son regulares en un sentido muy amplio del término, con escasas excepciones. Destacan "Muestra Nacional de Pájaros" y "Días de ira", el resto no las he disfrutado nada.
La voz narrativa era prácticamente la misma en todas las historias, los personajes planos y sus decisiones arbitrarias. Tramas complejas en exceso o demasiado ligeras que, en cualquier caso, no llevan a ningún sitio. En muchos momentos me encontré preguntándome si el problema lo tenía el libro o lo tenía yo; y al final creo que he repartido un poco la culpa. Es una pena porque creo que es una buena autora, pero no me quedan ganas de repetir después de leer ésto. Me espera demasiada buena literatura en las estanterías.
La voz narrativa era prácticamente la misma en todas las historias, los personajes planos y sus decisiones arbitrarias. Tramas complejas en exceso o demasiado ligeras que, en cualquier caso, no llevan a ningún sitio. En muchos momentos me encontré preguntándome si el problema lo tenía el libro o lo tenía yo; y al final creo que he repartido un poco la culpa. Es una pena porque creo que es una buena autora, pero no me quedan ganas de repetir después de leer ésto. Me espera demasiada buena literatura en las estanterías.
December 22, 2018
I read the title story Days of Awe in the New Yorker and was quite impressed. I was eager to read more of her work, but I must say I was mostly disappointed by the other 11 stories in this collection. Days of Awe was clearly the best of the bunch. Only three of the others seemed fairly interesting: Hello Everybody, The National Cage Bird Show, and A Prize for Every Player. The rest were just too weird and contrived. It felt like someone was trying to jazz up a recipe for vegetarians by adding too many bizarre flavors, like taking a kale smoothie and adding marshmallow and peanut butter and lemon curd. The response is WTF is this?
October 9, 2021
The title story was so good I stopped reading so I could think about it some more. An immaculately constructed beast about one of the biggest topics I can think of (and something I think of often): what to do with the history's epic pain and suffering? Who owns it and what use does it have? It's quite brilliant.
But the quality in here is varied. It's weird given that one story was so good that others just seem to fizzle out before I can figure out what their point was. But I'm convinced the fault is then with me? Do they need a reread? Not sure?
But the quality in here is varied. It's weird given that one story was so good that others just seem to fizzle out before I can figure out what their point was. But I'm convinced the fault is then with me? Do they need a reread? Not sure?
April 3, 2020
This book was recommended to me by an experienced short story writer. I did expect a lot of it and felt a bit disappointed. Every story has its merits: they are technically flawless, the language is beautiful, but nevertheless I never 'felt' the characters, I never really got touched by emotions. It all seemed a bit 'cerebral'. But that's just a matter of taste.
March 28, 2021
Cuentos muy dishomogéneos, variados, tal vez por haber sido escritos a lo largo de mucho tiempo, como la autora reconoce en los agradecimientos. Cuentos experimentales, que no me han llegado, y más clásicos, clásicos según los cánones de A.M.Homes, que me han fascinado. Pase lo que pase, a A.M.Homes siempre merece la pena leerla.
October 25, 2018
I have problems with the trans - and homophobia in the book. I know this is an author that likes to be incendiary. That being said, some of these stories deeply moved me and some were hilariously scathing critiques of the modern United States.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews