Review: This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

5 stars for This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.

This is Where I Leave You is an entertaining family saga that amuses me to no end. I laugh and I cry and I stare and I moon over the first person narratives as well as any mocking good humor that ensues.

Meet the Foxmans as they sit Shiva. There is Mr Morton Foxman (recently deceased), Mrs Hillary Foxman and their four grown-up children, Wendy, Paul, Judd (narrator) and Phillip. Forced to reconvene at Knob’s End, the cul-de-sac where their parents’ house stands over the course of seven days, the emotionally inarticulate Foxmans go through an unexpected emotional growth as they grapple with whatever life throws at them - kids or the lack thereof, finances and fiancées and soon-to-be ex-wives, loneliness and self-esteem, love and loss, death and grief.

Life issues are common problems, issues and crises that happen to normal people living normal lives just like you and me. The thing is, the author manages to capture the gist of it and proceeds to fabricate a story in the context of the Foxmans all so well that I simply cannot resist but read the book and laugh out loud.

If you ever find yourself bombarded by life issues and are at your wits' end, take a step back, pick up this book, relax and read it for a good laugh.


Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Edition edition
Publication date: 6 Aug 2009

*** Favourite quote 1 ***

We can all nod and smile and carry on our end of the conversation in an endless loop while our minds float somewhere outside our bodies.

*** Favourite quote 2 ***

A problem is something to solve... If there’s no solution, it’s not a problem, so stop treating it like one.

~ This Is Where I Leave You
Jonathan Tropper

@}--->>--->>-----

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family-including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister-have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.

As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened.  For Judd, it’s a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd’s father died: She’s pregnant.

*Blurb from author's website*

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