Quick Read

I slept most of the day, and then finished up Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You. I'm sorry if the suspense was killing you, but I couldn't put the book down to do a blog post. I picked it up and couldn't put it down. 

This is a story of a seemingly dysfunctional family's reunion after many years. The reason for the reunion is because their father lost his battle with cancer. When the father dies, the family returns to their family home to "sit shiva," which I learned from google is how people of the Jewish faith mourn passed loved ones. The whole family remains under one roof for seven days while friends and neighbors come to pay their respects. The narrator, Judd Foxman, is not only mourning his father's death but also the end of his marriage. After a painful loss of an unborn child, he walks in on his wife and his boss who were having a year long affair. Drama unfolds as past events are brought up, secrets are revealed, and extremely inappropriate relationships are had. 

I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't 300 pages to build up to one big event, like some books are. The story remained interesting through each chapter. The author has a way with words that makes even a boring detail seem interesting. He also had a way to make very difficult life-altering situations seem funny. I also haven't read a book in a while that is narrated by a man. It was a nice change to pace to be in the mind of a man as opposed to a female main character. 

This book was rated as "One of the Best Books of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Philidelphia Inquirer, NPR Morning Edition, and Library Journal in 2009. It is definitely worth the read, and I am hoping for a movie. Throughout the entire book I kept trying to think of actors that could play the parts. For the mother in the book, I kept thinking of Stifler's mom from American Pie. If you read it, you'll know what I mean. 

Now, I move onto Her Fearful Symmetry.

-Jacq