Saturday, September 5, 2009

Review: "This is Where I Leave You" Jonathan Tropper


I have been lucky enough to have read some fantastic fiction recently! First there was "The Slap" by Christos Tsiolkas, which was fascinating, then Sophie Kinsella's "Twenties Girl", which I had a difficult time putting down, and now there's Jonathan Tropper's "This is Where I Leave You"- amazing!

"This is Where I Leave You" begins as Judd Foxman finds out that his father has died. The family were fairly prepared for it, as Mort had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer about a year and a half ago. Apparently Mort's dying wish had been for his entire family, his wife and his four very different children, to spend a week together sitting "shiva" a Jewish tradition. Judd is not looking forward to spending a week together, as his family is wildly dysfunctional and he's still dealing with the fact that his wife has left him for his boss, and that she is now pregnant.

Judd reluctantly returns to the family home and there he reunites with his mom, Hillary, a psychologist with huge breasts and apparently no shame, Paul, his serious older brother who is running the family business, Wendy, his sister with three kids and apparently no idea how to raise them, and Phillip, the baby of the family, and also the screw-up. Judd has no idea how he will survive a week with these people, especially considering that all of them are emotionally damaged. However, after a lot of "together-time", two fistfights, and some hurt feelings, Judd comes to understand that dysfunctional or not, these people will always be his family.

What a great book- I was sorry to see it end! The characters in the book were screwed up beyond belief, yet I could empathize with each and every one of them. The book was suprisingly funny, and I actually laughed out loud at a couple of parts, causing the people around me to look at me a little funny. You can't help but root for Judd, the main character, as he comes to grips with both his fathers death and his wife's betrayal. It says in the back of the book that Jonathan Tropper is currently adapting this book to become a feature film for Warner Bros' studios, and I can tell you that this is one movie that I can't wait to see!

4 comments:

  1. judging by the colourful cover, I don't know that I would ever have picked it up to give the back cover a read, but now that I have read your review I suspect that I would love this book. Thanks.

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  2. Sounds like a great book to get a hold of and add to my to read pile. Thanks a lot.

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  3. Great review. I really liked the book and can't wait to see the movie - I just hope they don't ruin it.

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  4. I just posted my review of this book and linked to your review. I agree - it is a great book and I definitely want to read more Tropper!

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