I was sent a copy of this by MN book club (thank you) and belatedly am posting a review, as it took me a long time to get throught it - 700 pages and tiny print. I agree with others, it started brilliantly by the last third I'd had enough. I've read and loved other AM Homes (especially recommend Music for Torching), in particular I'm a huge fan of her darkness and the seeming randomness of some her interactions and encounters.
All that was there initially in MWBF, but in the last third the gloop started to be laid on like custard. My misgivings were - firstly - I didn't feel I really knew the original Harry, so his journey to contented man with his makeshift family didn't resonate. We knew nothing about his first marriage except his wife was Chinese, and painted in slightly racist terms, as heartless and ambitious. For such a loser, he seemed to have no trouble attracting the ladies, and I got bored of all the online hook ups. Also bored by the Nixon bits, though they may well resonate with a US audience.
Worst of all was the relationship with the children. Quite simply, how could a 12 and 11 year old behave like this? Rebuilding South African villages, having affairs with teachers. It's not enough to have Harry say "I couldn't believe how young they were" every now and then, we couldn't believe it either because it simply wasn't credible. Why didn't the author just make them 16 and 15?
The South African bits read like bad travelogue, full of patronising stuff about the happy natives, some of it was also factually inaccurate, which jarred. It sounded like AM Homes wanted to pass off her SA holiday as a tax deductible expense by including it in the book.
All this said, I'll still be first in the queue to read this author's next novel as she is a huge, original talent. Thank you MN for sending me a copy.