#CBR5 Review #44: This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
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There’s something a little “Six Feet Under” about the
premise of this book: a son whose life is in disarray returns home after the
death of his father, only to have to deal with the rest of his dysfunctional
family that wants nothing to do with one another. I thought I could get behind
something like this, and while the writing is solid and some real, complicated
emotions are examined, This is Where I Leave
You left me a bit irritated.
Judd Foxman’s life is a mess, what with recently discovering
that his wife had been cheating on him with his boss, forcing Judd out of their
house and into a dank basement with no job, no friends, and no idea what to do
with himself. Now, to top this all off, Judd learns that his father has just
passed away, and that his dying wish was for his family to all sit Shiva for
him: this is a Jewish mourning ritual that requires Judd and his 3 somewhat
estranged siblings to all congregate at their childhood home for an entire
week. The Foxman clan isn’t exactly one that gets along well, and shortly after
reuniting, all of their old issues surface and tensions are raised. And
although Judd may have started out thinking that his life was the worst of the
lot, he soon comes to see that if he looks close enough at the lives of his
family, they may not be all that put-together either.
Writing characters that are arguably “not very good people”,
yet still have them remain likable is a difficult task; many of Jonathan
Tropper’s main figures teeter gravely on the line between being “flawed” and
being simply aggravating in this novel. Unfortunately, try as I might, I just
couldn’t get behind a lot of them, and found myself not connecting or even
liking a lot of the characters in this book.
That being said, despite the fact that I couldn’t stand the
people that this novel centered on, the mood of it really struck a chord with
me; the uncertainty in the face of death, how to act and how to feel, and how
to go on with your life after certain things happen to you, or after you’ve
found yourself in a place that you never thought you’d be. There is a lack of
resolution to a lot of these ideas as well, especially with the open-ended
nature of the novel’s conclusion, and I think that this is one of the strongest
things about This is Where I Leave You:
the idea that we cannot know where to go for sure, all we can know is that
though it might be difficult, there are always choices and options for us, even
if we feel like there is nothing we can do.
[Be sure to check out more reviews on the Cannonball Read group blog]
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