"This Is Where I Leave You" Jonathan Tropper

“And I just want to tell you, at some point it doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong. At some point, being angry is just another bad habit, like smoking, and you keep poisoning yourself without thinking about it.”

― Jonathan Tropper, This is Where I Leave You

You know the story:  a death in a dysfunctional family brings everyone together, hidden emotions erupt, secrets are discovered, and differences resolved...or not.  It is the same story we know from page and screen.  But...

Tropper tells it very well.

Told from the perspective of Judd Foxman.  His father has just died, his wife is sleeping with his boss, and he has just found out that he has to sit Shiva for 7 days with his three siblings and their spouses, girlfriends and children.  And of course, his family only knows how to express their emotions by throwing punches.

I enjoyed listening to Judd trying to figure out his life.  He loves women, not in a sleazy-wants-to-sleep-with-anything-in-a-skirt way, but rather he cares for them.  But his life is shattered when he catches his wife and boss together in bed (and that scene, told solely from his viewpoint, was hilarious and heartbreaking).  He is back home where he has to face his older, hateful brother, his best friend whose is still in love with his sister, his sister who loves her children and her husband, and his mother who still dresses like she is 25.  Late to the funeral, but still there through the Shiva, is the black sheep youngest son who has brought his life coach along to sleep with.

Messy things bubble to the surface, and Judd spends the entire book reflecting on what he is going to do with his life.

I see that they have made a movie of this, and I watched the trailer.  There are some great lines in the book, but much of the uproarious humor is due to the situations being told through Judd's eyes and in his words, and that is not how the movie is done.  Even in the trailer I could tell that there are many lines that have been added that just did not feel true to the book for me.  I also wonder if they put the best punch lines in the trailer, like they often do, whether there is anything really funny in the movie at all.

By the necessity of the story, much of the book felt like I was reading "The Big Chill" set in Kingston, New York, at a Shiva.  I liked that.  However, I don't think I'll read anything else of Tropper's work.  This type of upper-middle-class family drama is something I can only handle in moderation.