This Is Where I Leave You

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Sheryll-Ann, January 22, 2012 (view all comments by Sheryll-Ann)
This is one of those books that truly made me laugh out loud and tear up from its poignancy. I love stories about dysfunctional families and this book really delivers.

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rubyg2000, January 3, 2012 (view all comments by rubyg2000)
I found myself wanting to turn in early just so I could spend more time reading this book. The characters are engaging and the book is sad but funny. Definitely worth checking out if you like some family dysfunction with your humor, or humor with your family dysfunction.

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OneMansView, December 19, 2010 (view all comments by OneMansView)
Combines hilarity and sharp insights

This book is thematically similar to the author’s previous work but ratchets up the outrageousness considerably. It takes a no-holds-barred look at the longtime emotionally distant, Jewish Foxman family when they convene due to the death of the family patriarch for a week of mourning. The book is funny, fast-paced, entertaining, sensual, rapier-like in opening wounds and exposing illusions, and painful, yet it is also clichéd, simplistic, and not without exaggeration. The story is told by thirty-five-year-old Judd, who has just had his life turned upside down. The picture of him standing at his bedroom door, holding a lit birthday cake, watching his boss, an obnoxious radio personality, and his wife engage in oblivious, loud, gasping love-making portends what is to come: scenes that are beyond probable, arousing, and sad.

For a week, relatives, neighbors, friends, and friends of friends descend on the Foxman home where the past must be rehashed supposedly to bring closure, of course, the more embarrassing the conversations, the better. Judd and his siblings, the older Paul and Wendy, both married, and the much younger, carefree Phillip have issues that have remained suppressed for years. Some reconciliation takes take place, though not without gratuitous violence in some cases, but the book is primarily concerned with Judd’s rather stumbling attempts to regain a foothold on life.

At first Judd is painted as quite lucky in acquiring the lithe, athletic, pretty Jen to be his wife some ten years prior. However, the sympathy card seems a bit overplayed as it comes to light that Judd was not without his experiences in high school and actually was involved with two women in one day during this mourning period. Actually, many of the characters seem rather embellished. But those characters along with quick, flippant remarks, rapid scene shifts, and frequent couplings contribute to the book’s appeal.

The high rate of violence, infidelity, and sex portrayed in a span of a week really does not take away from the incisiveness of the book. Little escapes the author’s sharp insights and wit concerning relationships, people, and customs – life in general. But it all goes down easily – no long philosophical monologues. The book really is unique in its ability to combine hilarity and insightful comments concerning day-to-day affairs, despite its being a little over the top on the realism scale.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780452296367

Author:

Tropper, Jonathan

Publisher:

Plume Books

Subject:

General

Subject:

General Fiction

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2010

Edition Description:

Mass Market

Publication Date:

20100731

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

from 12

Language:

English

Pages:

352

Dimensions:

8.00x5.25x.81 in. .59 lbs.

Age Level:

17-17