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Music for Torching
A tour de A. M. Homes's unforgettable New Yorker story unfolds into a fiercely entertaining novel of marriage, family, and the American dream.
In a tale that unfolds over the course of one week at the beginning of summer, A. M. Homes lays bare the foundations of marriage and family life at the end of the century—the American Dream gone dry. Flash frozen in the anxious entropy of suburban subdivision, Paul and Elaine (the couple featured in Homes's acclaimed first collection of stories, The Safety of Objects) have two boys and are obsessed with "making things good again." Alone--together--they spin the quiet terrors of family life into a fantastical frenzy that careens out of a Stepford-wife neighbor, an ill-conceived plan for a tattoo, a sexy town cop who shows up at all the wrong moments, an allergy-relief cleanup team in space suits, a hoard of contractors and repairmen, a mistress calling on the cell phone, and a hostage situation at the boys' school. With characters so flawed and outrageous they are entirely believable, Music for Torching is a surreal vision of a most familiar landscape.
In a tale that unfolds over the course of one week at the beginning of summer, A. M. Homes lays bare the foundations of marriage and family life at the end of the century—the American Dream gone dry. Flash frozen in the anxious entropy of suburban subdivision, Paul and Elaine (the couple featured in Homes's acclaimed first collection of stories, The Safety of Objects) have two boys and are obsessed with "making things good again." Alone--together--they spin the quiet terrors of family life into a fantastical frenzy that careens out of a Stepford-wife neighbor, an ill-conceived plan for a tattoo, a sexy town cop who shows up at all the wrong moments, an allergy-relief cleanup team in space suits, a hoard of contractors and repairmen, a mistress calling on the cell phone, and a hostage situation at the boys' school. With characters so flawed and outrageous they are entirely believable, Music for Torching is a surreal vision of a most familiar landscape.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
77 people are currently reading
3603 people want to read
About the author
A.M. Homes
76 books1,409 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 428 reviews
May 22, 2015
My second shot with A.M. Homes' brand of familial dysfunction was much better than my first (the decidedly one-note short story collection Things You Should Know). This one, a particulary more ferocious novel Music for Torching is, at its finer moments, as good as anything written by a few of her East Coast-based Pulitzer-winning kings of dysfunction fiction predecessors (John Updike and John Cheever immediately come to mind), though refreshingly with a female-centric perspective. While I generally loathe books that feature relationships wracked by infidelity (c'mon authors, there are other ways of portraying familial dysfunction without racing to the obvious) there's something with this couple, Paul and Elaine, that beg a little deeper examination.
White Plains NY-adjacent, 2.3 children-bearing Paul and Elaine are utterly average, the perfect middle class, cocktail- and dinner-party-throwing paradigm,, but are completely bankrupt in feelings for each other. (Ok, that's not true: they despise each other. Elaine hates Paul for his all but overt line-up of neighborhood vajayjay, Paul hates Elaine for moralizing and overall bitchitude). They ate completely stymied and seemingly running headlong into divorce-land when they come up with the ridiculously bizarre idea to shake up the marital stasis: burn the house down while barbecuing.
Paul and Elaine are loathsome creatures (Paul, of course, quite a bit more loathsome than Elaine), but Ms. Homes gives them just enough humanity that you actually care they are trying something, anything to save their marriage, even as it becomes increasingly clear their actions are futile.
This book just about got 4 stars from me, but the ending (which ordinarily I'd applaud for depicting karmic comeuppance for characters behaving badly, was just too WTF, too ugh-eliciting to embrace. Still (not counting the crud ending) Ms. Homes travels down a well-beaten path that I rarely enjoy traveling down, and succeeded in keeping me in it to the end.
White Plains NY-adjacent, 2.3 children-bearing Paul and Elaine are utterly average, the perfect middle class, cocktail- and dinner-party-throwing paradigm,, but are completely bankrupt in feelings for each other. (Ok, that's not true: they despise each other. Elaine hates Paul for his all but overt line-up of neighborhood vajayjay, Paul hates Elaine for moralizing and overall bitchitude). They ate completely stymied and seemingly running headlong into divorce-land when they come up with the ridiculously bizarre idea to shake up the marital stasis: burn the house down while barbecuing.
Paul and Elaine are loathsome creatures (Paul, of course, quite a bit more loathsome than Elaine), but Ms. Homes gives them just enough humanity that you actually care they are trying something, anything to save their marriage, even as it becomes increasingly clear their actions are futile.
This book just about got 4 stars from me, but the ending (which ordinarily I'd applaud for depicting karmic comeuppance for characters behaving badly, was just too WTF, too ugh-eliciting to embrace. Still (not counting the crud ending) Ms. Homes travels down a well-beaten path that I rarely enjoy traveling down, and succeeded in keeping me in it to the end.
January 30, 2024
DNF…three chapters in and I quickly realized (actually by chapter one) that this is just not a book for me. Miserable people being miserable, allowing every whim and dark, morbid thought to careen through their lives with reckless outcomes. There doesn’t even seem to be an actual plot, just morose reading about their day to day. Moving on to something more interesting!
September 28, 2023
La historia de un matrimonio en la medianía se ha explorado hasta el cansancio en la literatura contemporánea, sobre todo en la literatura norteamericana, pues en USA 🇺🇸 existe esa percepción de que todos son nacidos ganadores y el cielo es el limite. De tal suerte que llegar a los 40 y no ser asquerosamente rico o célebre, significaría que fracasaste, que no hay vuelta atrás, que formas parte de esa gran inmensidad de mediocres que pueblan el suelo norteamericano.
Ante este escenario Paul y Elaine interpretan magníficamente bien ese papel, casados, mediocres, a un paso de la vejez, a partir de esta casilla de salida se empiezan a dar una serie de eventos que van cambiando la dinámica familiar que incluye dos hijos aún niños.
Aunque el tema suena deprimente, el libro no lo es, en su gran mayoría, ya que el absurdo y las situaciones disparatadas se suceden una tras otra, por lo que inclusive nos cuestionamos si realmente es tan triste el tema, pues pareciera que se la pasan bastante divertidos, pero yo creo que el autor tuvo una magnífica idea al darle humor a la historia, hace que cuando caigamos en cuenta de que realmente existe este vacío inmenso en sus vidas que los hace cometer error tras error y aunque parecía sin consecuencias, al final las cosas derivan en un resultado triste pero lógico.
La lectura no decae, si hay momentos que piensas que las cosas que pasan son exageradas al borde, que falta un poco de esa mediocridad que destilan todos, pues los personajes llegan a ser interesantes o muy teatrales, que hasta llegas a pensar que la mitad de ellos vive en un mundo de sueños oníricos totalmente desdoblados de la realidad.
El final es emocionante pero también es demasiado, como la gota que derrama el vaso entre tantas cosas extrañas que le pasan a esta gente.
Te deja en duda si leíste un libro que toma en serio el tema o una comedia del absurdo.
Nota: tuve un gran problema con el título en español es como si el que lo tradujo no hubiera leído el libro. Hay una anécdota en el libro que tiene que ver con la palabra incendiario que se usa en el original, y que tiene un significado distinto, al incendiado que se usa en español.
Ante este escenario Paul y Elaine interpretan magníficamente bien ese papel, casados, mediocres, a un paso de la vejez, a partir de esta casilla de salida se empiezan a dar una serie de eventos que van cambiando la dinámica familiar que incluye dos hijos aún niños.
Aunque el tema suena deprimente, el libro no lo es, en su gran mayoría, ya que el absurdo y las situaciones disparatadas se suceden una tras otra, por lo que inclusive nos cuestionamos si realmente es tan triste el tema, pues pareciera que se la pasan bastante divertidos, pero yo creo que el autor tuvo una magnífica idea al darle humor a la historia, hace que cuando caigamos en cuenta de que realmente existe este vacío inmenso en sus vidas que los hace cometer error tras error y aunque parecía sin consecuencias, al final las cosas derivan en un resultado triste pero lógico.
La lectura no decae, si hay momentos que piensas que las cosas que pasan son exageradas al borde, que falta un poco de esa mediocridad que destilan todos, pues los personajes llegan a ser interesantes o muy teatrales, que hasta llegas a pensar que la mitad de ellos vive en un mundo de sueños oníricos totalmente desdoblados de la realidad.
El final es emocionante pero también es demasiado, como la gota que derrama el vaso entre tantas cosas extrañas que le pasan a esta gente.
Te deja en duda si leíste un libro que toma en serio el tema o una comedia del absurdo.
Nota: tuve un gran problema con el título en español es como si el que lo tradujo no hubiera leído el libro. Hay una anécdota en el libro que tiene que ver con la palabra incendiario que se usa en el original, y que tiene un significado distinto, al incendiado que se usa en español.
November 3, 2012
I'm really torn in my opinion of this book. As more time goes by since I've finished it, as I think about it more, I like it better than I did when I had first finished it. When I first finished this book I was absolutely shocked by the outcome, I put the book down and was incredibly confused, and really upset. But I knew that I didn't dislike the book, I hadn't been able to put it down. A.M. Homes' style of writing is mesmerizing, and the characters are all just so terrible and so lifelike in their bad qualities, everything is so descriptive and real. I had really liked the book throughout reading it. It was only in the last few pages that my opinion started to turn, the ending didn't feel like it fit in this book. Even though, looking back, there were some hints that something might happen, some event at least similar in intensity to what happened. But nothing felt wrapped up to me, and I don't mean to say that every book needs a clear and concise ending, but when I say that nothing felt wrapped up I really mean that absolutely nothing was finished when the book ended. So I'm torn. Throughout the majority of reading I liked the book, and then I was really upset by the ending. I feel like it needed more, like the characters need to learn from the ending rather than having the book finish in the middle of the events. I'd like to read more about these characters, to see if this event changed them in any way like nothing else seemed to.
February 11, 2022
Jamás hubiese leído nada de Homes de no ser por su cuento “Una muñeca de carne y hueso”, el cual conocí gracias a Foster Wallace quien decía que era de sus relatos preferidos. Todos los años se los leía a sus alumnxs. No lo culpo, es la clase de relato que por lo corrosivo dan ganas de leer en voz alta solo para ver la reacción de la gente.
En “Música para corazones incendiados” seguimos a Paul, Elaine y sus dos hijos. Una familia normal que viven en un barrio de clase media de Estados Unidos que, cansados de la monotonía que aseguraba su existencia, deciden incendiar su casa en una improvisada barbacoa para después alojarse en un motel con sus hijos con la esperanza de eliminar aquello que estaba fallando en sus vidas. Pero, como anuncia la sinopsis, esto tan solo es el principio. Posteriormente se alojaran en casa de sus amigos y mediante una relación demasiado sadista entre Elaine y Paul, cada uno, por momentos, más humanamente insoportable que el anterior; no hacen mas que querer salvar una vida familiar y una relación que ya no existen. No son personajes hechos para agradar (como la mayoría en este libro), pero son tan reales que por momentos llegan hacerlo.
Homes me recuerda ligeramente a Carver, pero más incisiva y desquiciada. Su estilo es dinámico y no para de provocar al lector continuamente con su acida ironía. Acierta con su visión decadente sobre el modelo de “normalidad” de una familia, disecciona su sistema y que es lo que llega a fallar. Vemos como poco a poco empiezan relucir los trapos sucios: infidelidades, envidias, hipocresía, insatisfacción, etc. Como pueden ver nada nuevo que hayamos visto o vivido en nuestras vidas.
En cuanto al final, se que parece sacado de la manga. Pero acaso ¿no es así la vida? Tan dolorosamente desgarradora, absurda, inexplicable y, sobre todo: incendiaria.
Desde aquel momento que leí aquel relato supe que no le perdería la pista y ahora no puedo hacer mas que confirmarlo, pero dejare pasar un periodo considerable de tiempo antes de adentrarme a otro trabajo suyo. El único pero que le veo es que, por momentos, cuando llevaba la mitad leída, me sentí un poco saturado, aunque después se recupera bastante y al final, en mi caso, resulta en una lectura extrañamente gratificante que quedara rondando en mi memoria.
Aquí dejare el relato "Una muñeca de carne y hueso": https://barcelonareview.com/cas/eng4t...
En “Música para corazones incendiados” seguimos a Paul, Elaine y sus dos hijos. Una familia normal que viven en un barrio de clase media de Estados Unidos que, cansados de la monotonía que aseguraba su existencia, deciden incendiar su casa en una improvisada barbacoa para después alojarse en un motel con sus hijos con la esperanza de eliminar aquello que estaba fallando en sus vidas. Pero, como anuncia la sinopsis, esto tan solo es el principio. Posteriormente se alojaran en casa de sus amigos y mediante una relación demasiado sadista entre Elaine y Paul, cada uno, por momentos, más humanamente insoportable que el anterior; no hacen mas que querer salvar una vida familiar y una relación que ya no existen. No son personajes hechos para agradar (como la mayoría en este libro), pero son tan reales que por momentos llegan hacerlo.
Homes me recuerda ligeramente a Carver, pero más incisiva y desquiciada. Su estilo es dinámico y no para de provocar al lector continuamente con su acida ironía. Acierta con su visión decadente sobre el modelo de “normalidad” de una familia, disecciona su sistema y que es lo que llega a fallar. Vemos como poco a poco empiezan relucir los trapos sucios: infidelidades, envidias, hipocresía, insatisfacción, etc. Como pueden ver nada nuevo que hayamos visto o vivido en nuestras vidas.
En cuanto al final, se que parece sacado de la manga. Pero acaso ¿no es así la vida? Tan dolorosamente desgarradora, absurda, inexplicable y, sobre todo: incendiaria.
Desde aquel momento que leí aquel relato supe que no le perdería la pista y ahora no puedo hacer mas que confirmarlo, pero dejare pasar un periodo considerable de tiempo antes de adentrarme a otro trabajo suyo. El único pero que le veo es que, por momentos, cuando llevaba la mitad leída, me sentí un poco saturado, aunque después se recupera bastante y al final, en mi caso, resulta en una lectura extrañamente gratificante que quedara rondando en mi memoria.
Aquí dejare el relato "Una muñeca de carne y hueso": https://barcelonareview.com/cas/eng4t...
August 8, 2024
A M Homes turns the mundane into utter madness. She creates chaotic and fascinating characters that quench my dark taste! 🖤
Music For Torching is a story where nothing in particular is happening, apart from what’s inside everyone’s head of course.
🔥 🧯 Bravo!
Music For Torching is a story where nothing in particular is happening, apart from what’s inside everyone’s head of course.
🔥 🧯 Bravo!
August 25, 2009
I hated this book and everyone in it. If it wasn't for a class I wouldn't have finished it. When I was done reading it I literally threw it at the wall. I will never be able to hurt that book the way it hurt me.
May 12, 2013
OH MY GOD is exactly what I said to my empty living room when I finished reading this novel by A.M. Homes. After Revolutionary Road and Little Children this is the third successive novel i've read dealing with suburban life in America. Paul and Elaine this time are the unhappy couple and a little bit crazy, certainly depressed, completely selfish, mostly unlikeable and somehow and i've no idea how but Homes makes you care about these two strangely believable characters. The story starts when they burn down their house on a whim, seemingly just for the craic by kicking over the barbeque. The house isn't completely destroyed just some superficial damage and a hole in the dining room wall. They end up staying at Pat and Georges house, Pat being the stereotypical stepford housewife who isn't as most people aren't, all that she seems (it is very funny and very weird when that little plot thread comes to a head) and their two kids Sammy and Daniel are shipped off to two friends house (Sammy staying with Nate the son of Mrs Apple, one of the women Paul is having an affair with, and Daniel with the Meaders who are the traditionally normal family but seem kind of odd against the cacophony of strange characters we meet). The rest of the story then deals with this anything but normal family attempting to get back to normal, to rebuild and improve their house and well lives too.
I think this novel is about how people are never who they portray on the surface and that really everyone is a little bit crazy but even if it's about nothing but an entertaining story then that's more than enough. Homes writes the kind of things other people are afraid to say out loud and she writes it well. I have a sad little confession, when I read a book I write down the sentences/quotes I particularly like. I couldn't do that with this novel, because I pretty much particularly liked every line in it. It's very funny, it's very dark, it's very twisted and it's very excellent. It may not be to everyones liking however, I imagine a good barometer would be if you like American Beauty then this you will love.
Finally, I wished more books had endings like this one, she's some writer. If the one advantage of being dark and twisty is getting to love novels like this then I say embrace the dark and twisty, it's occasionally worth it.
I think this novel is about how people are never who they portray on the surface and that really everyone is a little bit crazy but even if it's about nothing but an entertaining story then that's more than enough. Homes writes the kind of things other people are afraid to say out loud and she writes it well. I have a sad little confession, when I read a book I write down the sentences/quotes I particularly like. I couldn't do that with this novel, because I pretty much particularly liked every line in it. It's very funny, it's very dark, it's very twisted and it's very excellent. It may not be to everyones liking however, I imagine a good barometer would be if you like American Beauty then this you will love.
Finally, I wished more books had endings like this one, she's some writer. If the one advantage of being dark and twisty is getting to love novels like this then I say embrace the dark and twisty, it's occasionally worth it.
August 25, 2008
Delightfully devastating. With this book, A.M. Homes paints a haunting picture of suburbia. The main characters, Paul and Elaine, have managed to keep up with the Joneses in their seemingly perfect suburban town, but their lovely house, friendly neighbors and two boys have left them with a life filled with boredom and despair. They want to make things good again in their lives, yet are caught in a shame spiral that begins with a failed attempt to burn down their house and ends with a hostage situation.
Homes does a terrific job of creating painfully honest characters with terribly unfortunate lives to whom the reader can actually relate. Both the writing and plot entertain throughout and make you never want to set foot in a cul-de-sac again.
February 5, 2017
Few writers are as incisive and savagely funny as Homes when it comes to dissecting that dysfunctional beast that is family. I just love her.
Η τύπισσα πρέπει να μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά ΧΤΕΣ. Είναι απόλαυση σκέτη.
Η τύπισσα πρέπει να μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά ΧΤΕΣ. Είναι απόλαυση σκέτη.
May 27, 2023
a.m. homes’un “bu kitap hayatınızı kurtaracak”ını okumuş ve beğenmemiştim. hadi zambra’cım anmış adını, bir şans daha vereyim dedim. maalesef. “yangın müziği” de beni hiç tatmin etmedi.
çok sıkıldım bu 40’lı yaşlara gelmiş orta sınıf beyaz amerikalıların bunalımlarından. bizim popomuzda ayı bağırıyor yıllardır, dünyanın en fakir ülkesiyiz ve böyle deliremiyoruz açıkçası.
nasıl bir delirmek anlatayım. bir anda kavga etmeyi artık bırakıp ortak bir kararla evlerini yakıp önce yemeğe sonra otele uyumaya giden bir çift var öncelikle. elaine ve paul. elaine üni’den sonra çalışmamış, iki çocuk yapmış ve yetersizlik duygusuyla boğuşan kafa karışık biri. paul ise piçin teki, bence bu tanım yeterli.
neyse bu çift evlerini yakıyor, sonra bir hafta içinde çocuklar hep arkadaşlarının evinde kalıyor ve huyları değişiyor. elaine evinde kaldığı dünyanın en mükemmel ev kadınıyla yatıyor, oral seksler, dildolar havalarda uçuşuyor. sonra yetmiyor genç bi polisle yatıyor. sonra da üniversite okumaya karar veriyor.
paul ise zaten düzenli olarak elaine’i aldattığından daha farklı deliriyor. geceleri gecelik giymeye, her yerini tıraş etmeye ve oje sürmeye başlıyor 🤔 arada bir öğle tatili dövme yaptırıyor.
bu ayrı ayrı delirmeler yetmiyor, birbirlerini dövüyorlar ve sonra deli gibi sevişiyorlar. bu arada evde tavanda delik var, yemek odası çökmüş vs… gelen giden belli değil. bir ara imdat diye bağıracaktım çünkü yok yani o ev toplanmıyor. kimse çocuklarla ilgilenmiyor.
ve netekim romanın sonunda çocuklarla ilgili kötü bir şey oluyor. homes bağıra bağıra silahlanmayla ilgili mesaj veriyor.
vallahi hiç beğenmedim. film olunca bu karmaşa yine çekiliyor ama romanda beni mahvetti. gelin türkiye’de yaşayın kardeşim. bakalım burda nasıl delireceksiniz. kesin müge anlı’da izlerdik ahahah.
bu arada avi pardo çevirisi çok iyi ama çok tashih var. bir de geniş zaman kullanımı aşırı itti beni. niye öyle bir şey yapmışsa yazar.
çok sıkıldım bu 40’lı yaşlara gelmiş orta sınıf beyaz amerikalıların bunalımlarından. bizim popomuzda ayı bağırıyor yıllardır, dünyanın en fakir ülkesiyiz ve böyle deliremiyoruz açıkçası.
nasıl bir delirmek anlatayım. bir anda kavga etmeyi artık bırakıp ortak bir kararla evlerini yakıp önce yemeğe sonra otele uyumaya giden bir çift var öncelikle. elaine ve paul. elaine üni’den sonra çalışmamış, iki çocuk yapmış ve yetersizlik duygusuyla boğuşan kafa karışık biri. paul ise piçin teki, bence bu tanım yeterli.
neyse bu çift evlerini yakıyor, sonra bir hafta içinde çocuklar hep arkadaşlarının evinde kalıyor ve huyları değişiyor. elaine evinde kaldığı dünyanın en mükemmel ev kadınıyla yatıyor, oral seksler, dildolar havalarda uçuşuyor. sonra yetmiyor genç bi polisle yatıyor. sonra da üniversite okumaya karar veriyor.
paul ise zaten düzenli olarak elaine’i aldattığından daha farklı deliriyor. geceleri gecelik giymeye, her yerini tıraş etmeye ve oje sürmeye başlıyor 🤔 arada bir öğle tatili dövme yaptırıyor.
bu ayrı ayrı delirmeler yetmiyor, birbirlerini dövüyorlar ve sonra deli gibi sevişiyorlar. bu arada evde tavanda delik var, yemek odası çökmüş vs… gelen giden belli değil. bir ara imdat diye bağıracaktım çünkü yok yani o ev toplanmıyor. kimse çocuklarla ilgilenmiyor.
ve netekim romanın sonunda çocuklarla ilgili kötü bir şey oluyor. homes bağıra bağıra silahlanmayla ilgili mesaj veriyor.
vallahi hiç beğenmedim. film olunca bu karmaşa yine çekiliyor ama romanda beni mahvetti. gelin türkiye’de yaşayın kardeşim. bakalım burda nasıl delireceksiniz. kesin müge anlı’da izlerdik ahahah.
bu arada avi pardo çevirisi çok iyi ama çok tashih var. bir de geniş zaman kullanımı aşırı itti beni. niye öyle bir şey yapmışsa yazar.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2011
It was very difficult for me to assign a rating to this book.
On one hand - it is very well written. That is usually enough to earn 4 stars from me. I do love a well-turned phrase.
On the other hand - it was very difficult to read. The characters - straight across the board - are very unlikeable. It was hard for me to care about what happened to them. To make matters worse, every now and then I would see a little glimpse of myself or of other people I love. Never enough to make me think that I - or they - was/were 'just like' that character - far from it - but enough to make me uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable. That is the one word I would choose if I had to write a one-word review.
The story revolves around a suburban couple in their 40's. Dissatisfaction with their lives prompts them to make a rash decision which sets the events of the rest of the book in motion. Said events are over the top, but only just slightly so - making it not exactly realistic, but not exactly madly fantastic, either.
Without spoiling anything, the ending is shocking - and worse than even these unlikeable characters deserve.
On one hand - it is very well written. That is usually enough to earn 4 stars from me. I do love a well-turned phrase.
On the other hand - it was very difficult to read. The characters - straight across the board - are very unlikeable. It was hard for me to care about what happened to them. To make matters worse, every now and then I would see a little glimpse of myself or of other people I love. Never enough to make me think that I - or they - was/were 'just like' that character - far from it - but enough to make me uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable. That is the one word I would choose if I had to write a one-word review.
The story revolves around a suburban couple in their 40's. Dissatisfaction with their lives prompts them to make a rash decision which sets the events of the rest of the book in motion. Said events are over the top, but only just slightly so - making it not exactly realistic, but not exactly madly fantastic, either.
Without spoiling anything, the ending is shocking - and worse than even these unlikeable characters deserve.
April 29, 2012
I'm only saying this was 'okay' because the book was well written and there were the odd amusing moments. I didn't enjoy the story; it was basically a series of "poor me" moments that culminated in an event that I thought was awful and unnecessary. I didn't enjoy the characters, again because they were all so pre-occupied with feeling sorry for themselves, despite their largely cushy lives. The characters are awful to themselves and to each other.
I realise that this is the point of the book - that the lives of those who have supposedly achieved the American dream are not perfect - but the book explores the theme in a really obvious, annoying and gratuitous way.
I realise that this is the point of the book - that the lives of those who have supposedly achieved the American dream are not perfect - but the book explores the theme in a really obvious, annoying and gratuitous way.
June 18, 2017
This is my first book of 2017 and I can't imagine anything that follows it will be quite the same.
This is the story of Paul and Elaine. They are profoundly and irreparably unhappy with just about every facet of their lives. Early in the story they are BBQing in their backyard yard when they decide to spray their house with lighter fluid, tip the grill over, and torch their house. They have no reason or overriding goal other than simple and complete nihilism.
That their house doesn't actually burn is a metaphor for everything else that is incomplete and unfinished in their lives. What it does accomplish however is a setting in motion of profound consequences and misery.
As you can guess, this is a pretty dark story. One of the darker books I've read in a long time(and I like dark stories).
I was struck in particular by just how miserable these characters are and how hopeless they feel. They are extremely unloveable human beings and yet one can't help feeling sympathy for them. As Elaine says to Paul, "we're all we have, and we're not enough".
That is truly who these characters are.
Alone even in the presence of each other.
This is the story of Paul and Elaine. They are profoundly and irreparably unhappy with just about every facet of their lives. Early in the story they are BBQing in their backyard yard when they decide to spray their house with lighter fluid, tip the grill over, and torch their house. They have no reason or overriding goal other than simple and complete nihilism.
That their house doesn't actually burn is a metaphor for everything else that is incomplete and unfinished in their lives. What it does accomplish however is a setting in motion of profound consequences and misery.
As you can guess, this is a pretty dark story. One of the darker books I've read in a long time(and I like dark stories).
I was struck in particular by just how miserable these characters are and how hopeless they feel. They are extremely unloveable human beings and yet one can't help feeling sympathy for them. As Elaine says to Paul, "we're all we have, and we're not enough".
That is truly who these characters are.
Alone even in the presence of each other.
April 27, 2009
Just started. Not sure if it's great literature or total crap.
Update. Total crap CONFIRMED.
This book is desperate to be Delillo's White Noise, but it fails with such misery that I'm surprised I haven't gouged out my eyes and accidently had lesibian intercourse. Not necessarily in that order.
Take my advise and read White Noise if you are looking for modern Americana.
Update. Total crap CONFIRMED.
This book is desperate to be Delillo's White Noise, but it fails with such misery that I'm surprised I haven't gouged out my eyes and accidently had lesibian intercourse. Not necessarily in that order.
Take my advise and read White Noise if you are looking for modern Americana.
July 17, 2008
Wow! What a book! it's intense, and crazy, like a night out with non stop action and crazyness going around. It doeasn't give you much hope in marriage or suburban life, but it is very very fun! I love A.M Homes!
November 16, 2012
I can't in good conscience give this fewer than three stars, because it held my attention, was at times strikingly funny and/or insightful, and was a definite show of talent - but so many times I wanted to throw it across the room and/or give it one star, so, I am settling for three with misgivings.
Let's start by saying that I am a realist. I like my fiction as unfictiony as possible. What I can't handle is fiction via fun house mirrors, ie, scenarios and people so outlandish they cannot be real or relatable yet the storyline and overall writing is acting as if it's real. Sort of like watching the Simpsons (which I love) but with real people, not cartoons. Suddenly, not so funny anymore.
MFT takes on the ever popular and painfully cliched topic of Les Suburbs, seemingly nice families and homes that are riddled with unrest, affairs, and quiet desperation. This is suburbs on crack, and everyone is beyond the realm of real, be they too unlikable or too perfect or too troubled. Overall you feel like the characters (if not the author herself) are on crack and therefore nothing actually seems upsetting, or it's all upsetting, because it all falls short of seeming actual.
The basic premise is a rather clever one - unhappy Elaine and Paul (who are always flirting with macabre in their unhappiness - we first meet them washing up in the kitchen, and Elaine holds a knife to Paul's neck and grazes it. Mm yup that is unhappy, certainly, and all the odder that it doesn't strike either of them as particularly worrisome, or change the tenor of their marriage) decide whilst barbecuing one early summer evening to tilt the grill (after pouring lighter fluid on the house) and have the whole thing burn down. I like this as a symbol - indeed, the houses we build are often traps and represent our own undoing - but the book split off in to too many odd parts after that, so that even if you could go along for the ride (and admittedly this is difficult for me, as Homes seems to want me to feel bad for people who seem to only feel bad for themselves, and anyway they all seem like morbid puppets so why should I care??) there are too many twists and turns to really stay with you as a story. So, anyway, they burn the house, but instead of feeling better they end up further messing up their marriage and children and whatever else.
I wonder about the following. First, is there a value to shock value, by which I mean, so many times I hear, "This was disturbing" or "This evoked a strong reaction so s/he gets credit for that" and I wonder if this is really true, like, is Homes a celebrated writer because she can really gross me out and perplex me with her unfeeling and mildly creepy characters? But shouldn't I like the people, or care, or root for them? I mean, what is talent? Is it making you feel, period, or is it making you feel something you like feeling?
The other thing is, this book made me reflect on the writers I love, specifically John Irving. What I love about John Irving, aside from his wit and literary prowess and beautiful language and you know everything else, is that he presents a fascinating world that is ALMOST entirely real except when it isn't. He gives us a slanted world that is quirky and strange yet oddly believable. Well, doesn't Homes do that, and yet Homes kind of disgusts me while John Irving makes me happy to be literate. So I guess it's not just the ability to "tell the truth but tell it slant" as much as it's... I don't know, still having something pulsing in your story that is human, rather than destroying everything that is? Or something?
This review (such as it is - thank you, Homes) would not be complete without saying what the bleep to the ending. Yeah. Really. What was that??? So if nothing else grabbed you, that ought to at least make you curious. I know I read through to the end in small part because of that.
Let's start by saying that I am a realist. I like my fiction as unfictiony as possible. What I can't handle is fiction via fun house mirrors, ie, scenarios and people so outlandish they cannot be real or relatable yet the storyline and overall writing is acting as if it's real. Sort of like watching the Simpsons (which I love) but with real people, not cartoons. Suddenly, not so funny anymore.
MFT takes on the ever popular and painfully cliched topic of Les Suburbs, seemingly nice families and homes that are riddled with unrest, affairs, and quiet desperation. This is suburbs on crack, and everyone is beyond the realm of real, be they too unlikable or too perfect or too troubled. Overall you feel like the characters (if not the author herself) are on crack and therefore nothing actually seems upsetting, or it's all upsetting, because it all falls short of seeming actual.
The basic premise is a rather clever one - unhappy Elaine and Paul (who are always flirting with macabre in their unhappiness - we first meet them washing up in the kitchen, and Elaine holds a knife to Paul's neck and grazes it. Mm yup that is unhappy, certainly, and all the odder that it doesn't strike either of them as particularly worrisome, or change the tenor of their marriage) decide whilst barbecuing one early summer evening to tilt the grill (after pouring lighter fluid on the house) and have the whole thing burn down. I like this as a symbol - indeed, the houses we build are often traps and represent our own undoing - but the book split off in to too many odd parts after that, so that even if you could go along for the ride (and admittedly this is difficult for me, as Homes seems to want me to feel bad for people who seem to only feel bad for themselves, and anyway they all seem like morbid puppets so why should I care??) there are too many twists and turns to really stay with you as a story. So, anyway, they burn the house, but instead of feeling better they end up further messing up their marriage and children and whatever else.
I wonder about the following. First, is there a value to shock value, by which I mean, so many times I hear, "This was disturbing" or "This evoked a strong reaction so s/he gets credit for that" and I wonder if this is really true, like, is Homes a celebrated writer because she can really gross me out and perplex me with her unfeeling and mildly creepy characters? But shouldn't I like the people, or care, or root for them? I mean, what is talent? Is it making you feel, period, or is it making you feel something you like feeling?
The other thing is, this book made me reflect on the writers I love, specifically John Irving. What I love about John Irving, aside from his wit and literary prowess and beautiful language and you know everything else, is that he presents a fascinating world that is ALMOST entirely real except when it isn't. He gives us a slanted world that is quirky and strange yet oddly believable. Well, doesn't Homes do that, and yet Homes kind of disgusts me while John Irving makes me happy to be literate. So I guess it's not just the ability to "tell the truth but tell it slant" as much as it's... I don't know, still having something pulsing in your story that is human, rather than destroying everything that is? Or something?
This review (such as it is - thank you, Homes) would not be complete without saying what the bleep to the ending. Yeah. Really. What was that??? So if nothing else grabbed you, that ought to at least make you curious. I know I read through to the end in small part because of that.
April 16, 2013
I saw this book on a recommendation list and figured I would give it a try since I like quirky dark humor in the spirit of Running With Scissors. Homes' style is dry, witty, and leaves nothing to the imagination. Where most other authors in this genre of starkly depressing humor use flowery language to skirt around the issues presented, Homes uses very simple English to get her points across, and most of the time it makes for a refreshingly human read with minimal pretense. Despite the fact that not much actually happens in the book, it's fast paced and constantly keeps you wondering just what will happen next.
This is very "slice of life". It's simply a series of terrible events in a family's life that aren't too far fetched from things that could really happen. A few scenes are over the top and definitely reserved for fiction, but overall this is a believable and touching book, even when it's crass and disturbing. The ending leaves more to be desired, it's left on an uncomfortable cliffhanger, but so are many moments in real life. In real life no one's story is wrapped up happily at the end to make up for all the bad, so I guess the omission of an epilogue works for Music For Torching.
I'll give Homes the benefit of the doubt, not everything in life is picture perfect, despite how we all try. This is especially evident in the character Pat, someone striving for perfection who ends up losing herself to her pent up desires before the eyes of the dysfunctional family she's taken into her home after the "accidental" fire that sets up the events of the book.
I'd recommend it to others who are fans of the likes of Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris. It's a bit less poetic and sentimental than the works of those authors, but what it lacks in verbose language it makes up for in gritty relatable honesty.
This is very "slice of life". It's simply a series of terrible events in a family's life that aren't too far fetched from things that could really happen. A few scenes are over the top and definitely reserved for fiction, but overall this is a believable and touching book, even when it's crass and disturbing. The ending leaves more to be desired, it's left on an uncomfortable cliffhanger, but so are many moments in real life. In real life no one's story is wrapped up happily at the end to make up for all the bad, so I guess the omission of an epilogue works for Music For Torching.
I'll give Homes the benefit of the doubt, not everything in life is picture perfect, despite how we all try. This is especially evident in the character Pat, someone striving for perfection who ends up losing herself to her pent up desires before the eyes of the dysfunctional family she's taken into her home after the "accidental" fire that sets up the events of the book.
I'd recommend it to others who are fans of the likes of Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris. It's a bit less poetic and sentimental than the works of those authors, but what it lacks in verbose language it makes up for in gritty relatable honesty.
April 30, 2013
I have been rewatching the Sopranos from the start. Like the Sopranos, this is a study of selfish kids of baby boomers who have themselves had kids who are now caught in the maelstrom of their indulgent selfishness. AM Homes first novel, Jack, is dark but hopeful, as are her last two, May We Be Forgiven and This Book Will Save Your Life. But there's no hope in this book. These are people who have everything they need and do most of what they want and don't enjoy it and don't know what to do with it.
It's a very well written book, but I didn't enjoy living with the people in it. In the Sopranos there's charm and gags to alleviate the horror of people's true selves. Nothing here.
Quick tip. I bought this for the mother of a one year old without reading it on the strength of how much I like AM Homes. It was not a good book for the mother of a one year old to read. It's not David Peace exactly, but don't read it if you're not 100%.
Ed
It's a very well written book, but I didn't enjoy living with the people in it. In the Sopranos there's charm and gags to alleviate the horror of people's true selves. Nothing here.
Quick tip. I bought this for the mother of a one year old without reading it on the strength of how much I like AM Homes. It was not a good book for the mother of a one year old to read. It's not David Peace exactly, but don't read it if you're not 100%.
Ed
October 4, 2023
Yine bir Amerikan orta sınıf krizi. Modern insanın problemlerini çok seviyorum. Özellikle tüm arzularını bastırıp yaşamaya çalışan insanların trajedileri çok basit ama etkileyicidir. Romanda korunaklı yaşamlarda, mutlu aile görüntüsü çizen insanlar var. Başta anne figürü olmak üzere yavaş yavaş tüm mahalleyi alan bir delilik hali var. Elaine cinsel yöneliminden, evliliğinden hatta çocuklardan da bıkmış bir karakter. Kavga ederken evi yakacak kadar da ileri gidiyorlar eşi ile birlikte. Ortada ev kalmayınca da komşuları konuk ediyor ailemizi. Komşu aile ile girdikleri ilişkiler de garipti. Homes düzenli görünen hayatlarda her şeyin bir anda tepetaklak olabileceğini göstermeye çalışıyor. Ne yazık ki gösteremiyor. Kitap her şeyiyle ortalama. Karakterlerle bağ kuramadım. Karakterlerin eylemlerinde bir mantık yok en kötüsü o harekete iten sebepler de yok. Okur hayatlarında sıkışıyorlar demek zorunda hemen her şeye. Lineer kurgularda pek sevmediğim bir şey.
August 20, 2009
Three thoughts:
1. How do these people have so much sex?
2. The feeling of ennui, and floating through your life--well, I only wish AM Homes could have given a way of fixing it, instead of just capturing it so well.
3. *Do Not Read* if you are thinking about pursuing the stereotypical suburban lifestyle...and have an inkling of a reservation about it.
1. How do these people have so much sex?
2. The feeling of ennui, and floating through your life--well, I only wish AM Homes could have given a way of fixing it, instead of just capturing it so well.
3. *Do Not Read* if you are thinking about pursuing the stereotypical suburban lifestyle...and have an inkling of a reservation about it.
July 11, 2020
A wild ride through the dark anxieties of a suburban family. Elaine and Paul, wife and husband, think they hit rock bottom. They’re stuck. They can’t get out of the hole their life has become. So they set their house on fire, take the kids, and spent the night in a motel room. The first chapter of this book was published as a short story in The New Yorker. It does feel like a very good story, to be honest. But the aftermath, how they navigate through this second chance they have, is just as thrilling and engaging. It’s not a satisfying read though. There are epiphanies, but no so much character development. And it’s supposed to be like that. AM Homes purposely portrays the emptiness, the depression, the inertia of modern American life. What do you after you’ve reached the ideal of adult life? A great house, a good job, a loving family. Are we, or in this case, the characters, suppose to ask for something else? The author also dismantles other aspects of the American way of life: bullying, school shootings, insurance companies, and the river of secrets and compulsions that runs behind the perfect suburban facade. Sounds heavy, but Music for torching is a comedy. A savagely funny and sharply written one.
September 14, 2022
Me costó mucho meterme en la historia y en el estilo literario (¿cómico-patético?), pero lo conseguí y lo disfruté. Hasta el final. Ahí se rompe crudamente ese estilo para descolocar, no sé si es un final aleccionador, pero no me convence. De todos modos, es el primer libro que leo de la autora y me deja con ganas de más.
November 5, 2018
I found this book at the airport; concerned, I had the owner paged and when she arrived at the gate she said that she had intentionally left the book on a chair because she thought it was a horrible book and didn't want it and was leaving it for someone who might. At that, I thought I might test her assessment for myself. My verdict: how could something so beautifully written be so dreadful? I agree with the person who willfully abandoned this book. It's horrible. Elaine and Paul, a married couple with children are bored with each other and their lives. It's no wonder because they are utterly vapid, uninteresting, and mind-bogglingly lacking in self-awareness. They are the most unsympathetic protagonists I've ever encountered in a novel. I wanted to slap them for their continuous stupidity and lack of backbone. Toward the end, the two of them sort of come to their senses but I never cared if they did. The ending, while suspenseful, makes no sense. We never know if Elaine and Paul resolve their issues with each other. There are some same-sex dalliances or wanna be dalliances with both of them and I spent the book wanting them to each go off with their respective same sex flames: for Elaine to end up with Pat and for Paul to end up with his college buddy because it seems that underneath it all, they prefer relations with their respective genders. The problem is tha they are lacking in the self-awareness to even understand that. Yeah, suburban conformity has always been a nightmare. This is no revelation. And I'm no prude but the ridiculous abundance of gratuitous sex seemed pulled right out of a reality show like some incarnation of the "Real Housewives" franchise. And the ending seems like "Real Housewives of Westchester County go to Sandy Hook." The juxtaposition is just bizarre. I'm sure there are lots of upper middle class conformist people like Paul and Elaine in suburbia who, for whatever reason, make a life for themselves in this style because they think they should, not because it suits them. Was this written for people like them? I don't know who the target audience is. It isn't me, that's for sure. I gave it two stars up from one because it IS well-written. But I think I may put the book back in the airport. It's wasting space on my shelf.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2009
A.M. Homes writes from what I call a Suburban Surrealist bent. That is, what could sort-of, possibly happen in real life, but usually doesn't, and is weird, and wacky, and well, fascinating.
A.M. Homes is fabulous at creating a doll's house view of a nuclear family, and then dissecting the family from the inside out -- thoughts, feelings, and processes. Music for Torching is a bird's eye view of the couple, Paul and Elaine who smoke crack in their living room out of boredom. This couple was seen before in her book of short stories, The Safety of Objects -- which is an excellent book and also a great movie Directed by Rose Troche, with Glenn Close and Patricia Clarkson.
Again, we revisit Paul and Elaine and the effects of their boredom. It's a fabulously entertaining, eccentric, though easily accessible novel. Not one to read aloud to friends as it's not lyrical, but instead, silently to oneself, marveling at the good fortune of one's own life.
A.M. Homes is fabulous at creating a doll's house view of a nuclear family, and then dissecting the family from the inside out -- thoughts, feelings, and processes. Music for Torching is a bird's eye view of the couple, Paul and Elaine who smoke crack in their living room out of boredom. This couple was seen before in her book of short stories, The Safety of Objects -- which is an excellent book and also a great movie Directed by Rose Troche, with Glenn Close and Patricia Clarkson.
Again, we revisit Paul and Elaine and the effects of their boredom. It's a fabulously entertaining, eccentric, though easily accessible novel. Not one to read aloud to friends as it's not lyrical, but instead, silently to oneself, marveling at the good fortune of one's own life.
May 29, 2016
Okay, I was cleaning out my bookcases and this book was shelved as though it had been read. I read the synopsis and had no memory of this book. I started reading the opening pages, sure it would come back to me. Fifty pages in, I'm totally hooked and very sure that I had not ever actually read it. That was at maybe 5-something pm. I just finished it in one marathon read and am blown away and ready to order everything else she's written. To recount the plot makes it sound like every late 20th century suburban midlife crisis piece of crap ever written. Let me say unequivocally: it is original and a bit hysterical and otherworldly in a worldly way. In short, its own amazing thing with an ending that drops you off so abruptly you will actually blink your eyes. At least I did.
April 8, 2009
The worst book ending I have encountered in a long time. I threw the book across the room in rage, I could not believe she would finish like that, switching genres and turning it into the tragedy of a child. She does have a very interesting style, as a writer, and is very good with characters and dialogues. But this novel is in some ways still so stuck in certain suburbia clichés that reading it was like reading a novel on the 1950s, only with people having cell phones. Sure, some suburbs are stuck in the fifties, but come on. One can find better ways to deal with it that this, especially if you still want to stick to the oh-so-contemporary Columbine shoot-out at the end.
April 12, 2009
(2.5) Today's suburban dweller is a different type of beast. One can read Homes' account of the Weiss family and find the heartbreaks and frustrations rendered by Cheever, Updike and Yates ghosted over with a dash of Delillo. The characters totter on the edge of chaos. An apt portrait of the thrill seeking, self gratifying set. Written in clean and crisp sentences with episodic momentum, the novel has the feeling of a vaguely entertaining TV show: distanced, cool, impeccable. No place for tragedy, no place for outrage, things simply are.
October 16, 2013
I had to force myself to finish this almost plot-less book. There is no clear sense of time- for all those affairs and drama to happen in the span of one week, I mean really?! Everything was just so unexpected and crazy that eventually crazy became normal.
And it's disturbing on so many levels, though I'm sure it somewhat reflects the problems of suburban Americans and the flaws of the American Dream.
The only character that I genuinely cared for is the one that Homes killed.
And it's disturbing on so many levels, though I'm sure it somewhat reflects the problems of suburban Americans and the flaws of the American Dream.
The only character that I genuinely cared for is the one that Homes killed.
January 11, 2015
One of the worst books I've ever read. If a book could be written in a minor key, this would be the result. This could be beautiful, but there's no character development, the editing is disappointing with inconsistent details all over the place, and the ending? The ending is ridiculous - it's as if the author came up against deadline and needed to end it. I wish I would have bailed on this book in the first chapter, like I'd originally wanted.
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