I could not wait until Jonathan Tropper‘s fifth book came out this summer. I discovered him about this time last year when I read “The Book of Joe.” I liked that book, but wanted to like it more. Appropriately, I felt the same way about “This is Where I Leave You.”
I think it’s a shame that this book has garnered Tropper the bulk of his national attention because I think it pales in comparison to “How to Talk to a Widower” or “Plan B.” I hope people who finished the book wanting more go check out his back catalog like I did.
None of this is to say that I didn’t enjoy “Leave You.” In fact, it’s a wonderful book that only falls short in my eyes because it tries too hard. Each Tropper book contains an misguided sexual encounter and a fight. This one lays them on thick as a grieving – and I use the term loosely – family sits shiva for seven days.
The shiva plot device really just seemed like that, a device to expose how absurd the Foxman family can be. I didn’t believe that they would all stay there for an entire week just because their mother convinced them that their father wanted them to. Not with scandal unfolding around them at every turn.
They still made me laugh, however, which is a constant with Tropper’s books. If you have siblings, you will understand the rivalry and pettiness and genuine love that hides behind all those things. They really do stick together just when they need to the most.