I have two friends who are voracious readers. You've heard me talk about them many times as they are the two gals who recommend to me some of the best books, books I wind up sharing with you here. Today's book puts another tally mark on their impeccable track record.
About three weeks ago I finished "There Is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper. Not only had the dynamic duo suggested it (and loaned me a copy), but in the praise for the book on the inside cover, The New York Times said, "In a wry domestic tone nicely akin to Tom Perrotta's . . ." Similar to Tom Perrotta? I'm in. (If you don't know Tom Perrotta, he's the author of "Little Children").
Since I've been called out before for spoiling elements of a book's plot:
SPOILER ALERT!
"This Is Where I Leave You" is the story of Judd Foxman, a middle aged man who learns that his father passed away and that his wife is cheating on him all in the same week. Judd's father's dying wish was for all his children to come home and sit shiva for him (the Jewish mourning tradition) and so the book rewinds and fast forwards to tell the backstory of each sibling and show the tension between all of them during present day.
There's the oldest son, Paul, destined to be a baseball star but wound up living in his hometown running his dad's store. Then there's Wendy, the only girl, in a miserable marriage. There's Judd (mentioned before) and his younger brother, Phillip, the family screw up.
I don't want to ruin any more of the plot because the book is fantastic, so instead, I'll give you some excerpts to get a taste for it.
On the way Judd looks at his wife upon discovering her in bed with another man:
"I looked at Jen, sitting naked on the floor, her back up against her night table, knees pulled up against her flattened breasts as she sobbed into her hands, and I felt the urge to get on my knees and pull her into my arms, the way I would have under pretty much any other circumstances. And I actually felt myself moving forward toward her, but then stopped. It had been only a minute or so since I'd walked through the bedroom door, and my brain had not yet adjusted to this suddenly transformed world where I no longer comforted Jen because I hated her."
On the parade of older woman coming to the house for the shiva:
"For the record, there are other visitors, a handful of pleasant-faced, middle-aged women, long-standing friends of my mother, attractive women in the early stages of disrepair, fighting to keep age at bay with facials, compression undergarments, and aggressively fashionable shirts bought off the rack at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. They run on treadmills, these women, work out with personal trainers and play tennis at the club, but still their hips widen, their legs thicken, their breasts sag. Genetics help some more than others, but they are all like melting ice cream bars, slowly sliding down the stick as they come apart."
God, I love that simile.
Tropper's writing, like Tom Perrotta's, in painfully truthful. He expertly peels away protective outer layers to reveal the secrets at the core of the Foxman family.
The story was so compelling, it is becoming a movie. The film will debut on September 12th. Tropper wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by Shawn Levy, who directed Date Night and Night at the Museum. The film stars Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Jane Fonda, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant and Rose Byrne. Talk about an A list cast!
Entertainment Weekly describes the story as, "A bittersweet comedy about troubled siblings who reunite for their father's funeral - it's like a group hug crossed with a dramatic battle royal."
Do yourself a favor and read this amazingly honest book before the movie hits theaters in September. You'll cringe, you'll cry and you'll laugh out loud.
Now that I've finished this, I am about 120 pages into "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt.
What are you reading?
*Image courtesy of Goodreads.
