Published 2006 / Length 372 pages
Set in modern-day Los Angeles, This Book Will Save Your Life charts a summer in the life of Richard Novak, a successful but emotionally numb share trader who rarely leaves the air-conditioned luxury of his house high up in the Hollywood hills. The day before the novel opens he suffers an inexplicable and intense pain resulting in hospitalization; when he returns to his house, he notices a huge hole has opened up in the ground nearby. The foundations of his ordered world are literally and metaphorically shifting.
During the course of the book, we follow Richard’s journey through a seemingly random progression of events and interactions with a cast of unusual and often eccentric characters. The setting adds to the heightened, almost surreal atmosphere – this is a strange, wild LA filled with feral chihuahuas, landslides, bush fires, a stranded horse and a mystery big cat. Homes’s economical writing style is filled with sharp, black humour: it may be an ‘easy’ read, but it packs a strong emotional punch.
‘The book is a gentle, entertaining antidote to the overachievements of much of modern life … Overall, it is fantastical, anti-American, anti-consumerist, anti-individualist.’ – The Observer
• It’s unusual in literature for the soul-searching hero to be so wealthy. What importance does money have on Richard’s emotional journey? Did you find that his wealth hindered you from identifying with him?
• The author has talked about her strong sense of ‘dislocation’ in being an adopted child (as described in her memoir, The Mistress’s Daughter). How is Richard ‘dislocated’ from his own life at the start of the novel? Do you think it’s useful to look at an author’s real life when you’re thinking about their work?
• Most of the major characters in the book are men. Do you think the (female) author captures the male psyche successfully?
• Did this book save your life? What is the relevance of the title?
• This Book Will Save Your Life was selected as a Richard & Judy Book Club choice in 2007.
• The Great Gatsby by F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (see here) – a powerful portrayal of the souring of the American dream, set in the jazz age.
• The Bonfire of the Vanities by TOM WOLFE – a successful Wall Street trader’s life unravels as the result of a random event.
• Less Than Zero by BRET EASTON ELLIS – career-launching novel depicting the nihilistic world of the privileged in 1980s Los Angeles.