This Is Where I Leave You

Synopsis
A dysfunctional family sits shiva for their patriarch. Hilarity ensues.

My thoughts
"Read it—or take it as a gift—when you next go on a dreaded family vacation," says the Washington Post review of This Is Where I Leave You. So that's what my brother did—even though our family vacations are anything but dreaded. We teased him mercilessly about it, and then his fiance read it and then I read it and my brother never even got to crack it open. It's quick and enjoyable and it kept me entertained right through the end.

"'Dad's dead,' Wendy says offhandedly, like it's happened before, like it happens every day." That's how the book begins, and it's typical of Jonathan Tropper's easy, conversational style. It's like the cute slacker boy you went to high school with—casually provocative, keenly observant, and slyly witty. One of his funniest lines concerned toddlers in what he termed the "E.T. stage"—when they shuffle around banging into things and muttering unintelligibly to themselves. (One of my friends calls it the Milton-from-Office-Space phase, and they're both hilariously accurate descriptions.) Tropper specializes in over-the-top guy humor and slapstick comedy. It works well, but his constant quest to one-up himself culminates in an unsatisfying ending. It gets to be too much and the story kind of gets away from him.

The Foxman family, the quirky group at the center of the book, is endearing if not relatable. The only sibling who isn't fully realized is Wendy, the sister. I was shocked that Tina Fey signed on to play such a stereotypical one-dimensional harpy in the film adaptation. I haven't seen the whole movie, but I hope they gave her more to do than Tropper did in the book.

One of my friends let me borrow her copy of How to Date a Widower, which I liked better than This Is Where I Leave You, and I snagged another Tropper book from the same friend's bookshelf when she was cleaning it out so I'll definitely read more of his stuff.

Bottom line
Definitely worth a read. But see Death at a Funeral (either the British or American version) instead of the mediocre film adaptation.

Fine print
This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
Genre: comedy, fiction
Similar authors: Tom Perrotta, Nick Hornby, Helen Fielding, Sophie Kinsella
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from my brother