A.M. Homes' "May We Be Forgiven" Humanities' Frailties Duly Noted

"May We Be Forgiven" is a novel that is simultaneously repugnant & miraculous.  Amer. writer A.M. Homes novel was awarded the Women's Prize for Fiction ('13.)  The 1st chapt. of Homes' novel was originally submitted as a short story.  Salmon Rushdie declared it one of the best Amer. Short Stories ever written.  I compare Homes' with Bellows, Stegner, Roth & Updike.  These great writers are all zeitgeists and highly crafted artists.  The beginning is gruesome.   Many will be repelled enough to stop reading.  For those with stamina to continue, you will be richly rewarded with rich storytelling in the absurd & the brilliant eye of social commentary.  Harold Silver, a college prof. & Nixonophile is having a Thanksgiving dinner with his family.  Harold's brother George is a successful TV exec. with a beautiful wife, Jane. They have a young son Nate & daughter Ashley.  Claire & Harold are married without children.  Harold has always lusted after Jane.  A lurid affair between them ends with George bashing Jane's head while she & Harold are in bed.  From this horrendous murder forward, the plot  meanders in unexpected direction with bizarre, fully developed characters. George is imprisoned.  Claire leaves him.  And, Nate & Ashley are left under his care.  Harold seems an empty vessel (and "an asshole according to Nate) but after assuming responsibility for his niece, nephew & Ricardo, the child orphaned by his brother's car crash, he becomes a man of substance who rises to meet challenges head-on and fully embraces life's emotional impacts.  "The depth to which I now feel everything, when it is not paralyzing is terrifying."  Harold becomes an excellent listener and care giver for the children.  In turn, Harold reaps a lot from Nate, Ashley & Ricardo "As children can do so effortlessly, we instantly go from the most solemn to joyous."  This novel is a cosmos of wonder.  Ashley, at the following Thanksgiving quotes to those assembled together "Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy." (A. Frank)