Synopses & Reviews
As A.M. Homes's incendiary novel unfolds, the Kodacolor hues of the good life become nearly hallucinogenic. Laying bare the foundations of a marriage, flash-frozen in the anxious entropy of a suburban subdivision, Paul and Elaine spin the quiet terrors of family life into a fantastical frenzy that careens out of control. From a strange and hilarious encounter with a Stepford Wife neighbor to an ill-conceived plan for a tattoo, to a sexy cop who shows up at all the wrong moments, to a housecleaning team in space suits, a mistress calling on a cell phone, and a hostage situation at a school, A.M. Homes creates characters so outrageously flawed and deeply human that they are entirely believable.
Review
"Compelling....[A] haunting story of suburban ennui. It's no small achievement that Homes...manages to portray these blighted souls as people more to be pitied than loathed." People
Review
"It takes a real virtuoso to pull all this together, and Homes, happily, is just that." Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"Music for Torching has genuine and affecting emotional depth....[Homes] gives conscience and tragic awareness to her characters with remarkable results." The Boston Globe
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"Searing...heartbreaking...the picture of suburban society is defly presented." USA Today
Review
"A sly, fast-paced and...darkly comic novel about a suburban marriage that's going to hell, fast." Wall Street Journal
Review
"In this remarkable fourth novel, A.M. Homes delivers a sad/funny, wild-card strewn indictment of the ways our lives don't work at century's close....[A]ll the more superb for the depth of its humanity." Washington Post Book World
Review
"Brilliant....I found myself rapt from beginning to end, fascinated by Homes's single-minded talent for provocation." New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
A tour de force: 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 control: 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.
Synopsis
As A.M. Homes's incendiary novel unfolds, the Kodacolor hues of the good life become nearly hallucinogenic.Laying bare th foundations of a marriage, flash frozen in the anxious entropy of a suburban subdivision, Paul and Elaine spin the quit terors of family life into a fantastical frenzy that careens out of control. From a strange and hilarious encounter with a Stepford Wife neighbor to an ill-conceived plan for a tattoo, to a sexy cop who shows up at all the wrong moments, to a housecleaning team in space suits, a mistress calling on a cell phone, and a hostage situationat a school, A.M. Homes creates characters so outrageously flawed and deeply human that thery are entriely believable.
Synopsis
As A.M. Homes's incendiary novel unfolds, the Kodacolor hues of the good life become nearly hallucinogenic.Laying bare th foundations of a marriage, flash frozen in the anxious entropy of a suburban subdivision, Paul and Elaine spin the quit terors of family life into a fantastical frenzy that careens out of control.From a strange and hilarious encounter with a Stepford Wife neighbor to an ill-conceived plan for a tattoo, to a sexy cop who shows up at all the wrong moments, to a housecleaning team in space suits, a mistress calling on a cell phone, and a hostage situationat a school, A.M. Homes creates characters so outrageously flawed and deeply human that thery are entriely believable.
About the Author
A.M. Homes is the author of the novels The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, and Jack, as well as the short-story collection The Safety of Objects and the artist's book Appendix A. Her fiction has been translated into eight languages, and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her fiction and nonfiction appear in magazines such as The New Yorker and Artforum, among others, and she is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Mirabella, Bomb, Blind Spot, and Story. She teaches in the writing programs at Columbia University and The New School and lives in New York City.