When I read The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories several years ago, I said, "A.M. Homes is the author I am most likely to check out further." It took awhile, but I have finally done it.
May We Be Forgiven starts with an apparent mental breakdown and murder, but after the smoke clears, these events cast very little shadow over the rest of the story. The rest of the book is about how our narrator ends up supporting a makeshift family.
There are a lot of excellent moments, especially what the back cover calls "unexpected intimacies," but I didn't feel like it all held together. Harold never becomes distinctive as a character, and the narrative meanders. I think there's a theme to be found in Harold's views on Richard Nixon (as the reflection of his era and the end of the American Dream), but it feels tacked on.
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