Behind a veneer of whip-smart dark comedy, AM Homes’ novels engage deep conversations with her times. She is this rare author who invites us to follow her where, frankly, we would never go on our own: into the psyche of a pedophile; into the increasingly awkward sessions between a psychoanalyst guilty of abandoning her infant daughter 20 years ago, and her young patient, an adopted child herself (Bad Mother); into the disintegrating daily life of a suburban family (Music for Torching); into the chaotic life of a historian specializing in Nixon (We May be Forgiven), etc.

As a writer, AM Homes stands in the crack of our social selves, which we strive to make as perfect as possible, and our unspeakably messy private lives, and nothing escapes her razor-sharp eye. She explores our deepest taboos and sheds light on our compulsions, our unacknowledged desires, and our outbursts of madness with her perfectly cracked and popping sentences.

The crack from which she writes in Les Hommes de toujours reveals a plot that is as domestic as it is political, and that will sound strangely familiar to readers, for it is none other than the divide that we’ve been discussing nonstop this past election.
The novel begins in Phoenix, Arizona, on the day of Obama’s first election and the weeks that follow until his inauguration. It focuses on Big Guy, a wealthy die-hard conservative, his alcoholic wife Charlotte, and their daughter Meghan as they adjust to McCain’s defeat.

While Charlotte checks herself into a luxurious rehab clinic, Meghan begins to question the political leanings of her parents. Left to his own devices, Big Guy devotes all of his time to the creation of a group of men — les hommes de toujours — who share his political views and his current state of disarray. As the plot progresses, it becomes clear that he intends to save America from the downward spiral it has fallen into.

No other writer embraces the absurdity and inner chaos as AM Homes does, with a sense of humor that borders on mischief and an ability to face our darkest and most terrifying truths.

Les Hommes de toujours (The Unfolding), by AM Homes, translated from the English by Yohann Gentric, Actes Sud
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Read further
AM Homes speaks to En Attendant Nadeau

Christopher Bollen discusses with AM Homes in Interview

Miriam Bridenne

After almost two decades of working in publishing, and a few round trips between Paris and New York, Miriam has decided to settle down at Albertine to do what she enjoys most: recommending books she loves. Somehow this also includes taking bizarre pictures for Albertine's social media outlets.

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