Homes, A.M.: *1961

This Book Will Save Your Life, 2006 - Thematic Parallels: Isolation

Homes, A.M.: This Book Will Save Your Life, 2006
The novel explores themes of isolation, human connection, midlife crisis, redemption, and how it’s often through facing the unexpected—and the absurd—that we find real meaning.
The following books are thematically similar. They lend themselves well to being read in groups, compared with one another, or used to teach a similar topic over an extended period with a class:
- Boyle, T.C.: The Tortilla Curtain, 1995, ~350pp
  Like Homes’ novel, this is set in L.A. and combines humor and poignant commentary on modern anxieties, featuring characters whose lives intersect unexpectedly.
  - Both novels critique Los Angeles privilege, isolation, and consumerism. They center on insulated white male protagonists whose encounters with “others” force them to confront moral and existential crises. The difference lies in tone and outcome: Boyle offers a tragic, uncompromising vision of division, while Homes provides a surreal, hopeful exploration of reconnection.
- Hornby, Nick: A Long Way Down, 2005, ~250pp
  This novel centeris on four strangers whose lives intersect at a crisis point, each grappling with issues like depression, loneliness, and the search for purpose.
  - Both novels depict emotionally numb people jolted awake by crisis, finding unexpected connections in an alienating modern city. They balance humor and melancholy while asking how to live meaningfully when life feels empty.
- McCabe, Patrick: The Butcher Boy, 1992, ~210pp
  This is a novel dealing with psychological and social isolation and transformation.
  - Both novels share themes of alienation, psychological complexity, social critique, and dark humor, but they differ in tone, setting, and resolution—one tragic and rural, the other comic and urban.
- Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men, 1937, ~100pp
  This novel explores human connections, loneliness, and dreams for a better life.
  - Both works share themes of loneliness, the search for purpose, societal critique, character growth, and the interplay of humor with tragedy. They both explore how humans navigate isolation and connection in challenging worlds.
List of general discussion questions on Isolation (pdf)
List of essay prompts on Isolation (pdf)