It’s not easy to find a book that is absurd, hilarious, smart, tender and true—not to mention impossible to put down. But Jonathan Tropper has managed to write one, as he proves with This Is Where I Leave You (available in paperback 7/6).
Protagonist Judd Foxman is in the midst of what you might call a spate of bad luck: He walks in on his wife in flagrante with his boss in Judd’s marital bed, thus ending his marriage and his job in one fell swoop (the situation also involves flaming birthday cake and eventual paramedic attention); and he’s been summoned to his childhood home after the death of his father. As Judd is put in close quarters with his eccentric siblings and mother, he gets mixed up in their complicated histories, all the while trying to figure out his next move. The result is a comic masterpiece of a novel that’s almost too enjoyable: The characters Tropper has created become so familiar and dear that when you reach the end, you’ll find yourself disappointed—that there’s not more to relish.
This post is from Observer Short List—an email of three favorite things from people you want to know. Sign up to receive OSL here.
