The Last Book I Read 1
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
First things first, let me tell you that when it comes to books I love a domestic drama. I like realistic stories that expose the frailty of the human condition and where characters and their flaws are laid bare. I realise that this genre often walks a fine line between chick lit and modern literature, but my pretentiousness always ensures I stay firmly on the latter side.The last book I read is all of that last paragraph. I’d seen it mentioned in various places and just reading the description I knew it was my dream book - at the time I was going through a reading slump where I just wasn’t finding anything fulfilling. This Is Where I Leave You was the perfect tonic.It is one of those books that you can’t put down, but that you hate to read too fast because you don’t want it to end.
The Blurb
“Judd Foxman has the life he always thought he’d have. Good job, loving wife and a perfect house in the suburbs. That is, until he arrives home to find his wife in bed with his boss.To prove things can always get worse, Judd is summoned back to his childhood home - along with the rest of his highly dysfunctional family - to mourn for his recently deceased father. Seven days, all together, back in the family home where no one got along the fist time around…”
What I Thought
One thing I kept thinking when reading was that I definitely understand men better. You spend all your time in the unfiltered and frank mind of the narrator, Judd, which provides an incredibly honest ‘man’s eye view’ of the world. Pretty enlightening, to say the least.I loved the completely unsympathetic characterisation of this dysfunctional family, and the believably ludicrous and wit-filled scenarios they got into. I loved slowly unpeeling the family histories and seeing the roots of the characters’ neuroses. Now that I’ve finished reading I kinda miss Judd’s mental mother.Above all, the complexities of love/lust/hate/hurt, and how they affect real people’s lives rather than literary characters lives, was excellently drawn and engrossing to follow.
Try If You Like
Unreliable narrators, dysfunction, witty writing, small town American settings, complex emotions and relationships.