synopsis of this is where i leave you jonathan tropper

Some twists and gags are a bit far-fetched-smoking a joint in temple, the brothers cause the sprinklers to turn on-and the author’s need for each character to reach a meaningful epiphany feels forced. Over the course of the shiva, the brothers give each other black eyes, Judd realizes his adulterous wife is pregnant, and his mother begins an affair with the woman who lives across the street.

Presiding over the shiva is family friend Boner, a young rabbi trying to make Judaism cool by wearing Armani suits and diamond studs. This family includes: Inappropriate Mom, a bestselling author on child rearing, who favors too-revealing blouses Phillip, the baby of the family, who dates a cougar therapist Wendy, the oldest sister, who’s raising three kids in a sexless marriage and Paul, the oldest brother, who lost his college baseball scholarship after a Rottweiler incident. Even though his father was not religious, Mort’s dying wish was that his family would reunite to sit shiva for a full week. This forces his marriage to end “the way things do: with paramedics and cheesecake.”Īlone and resentful, newly single Judd returns to his childhood home in Knob’s End, New York. Just before his father’s death, Judd came home with a birthday cake for his wife, only to find her “lying spread-eagle on the bed, with some guy’s wide, doughy ass hovering above her.” The fact that “some guy” is Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss doesn’t stop Judd from attacking with “a chocolate-strawberry cheesecake with thirty-three burning candles.” Narrating this mess of mourning is Judd Foxman, a sad sack with a great comic voice.

In his latest novel, This is Where I Leave You (paperback: Plume, July 2010), Jonathan Tropper mines the hilarity from dysfunction in a belated coming-of-age story.Īfter patriarch Mort Foxman passes away, the Foxman clan is forced to sit through what might be the craziest shiva of all time.

Synopsis of this is where i leave you jonathan tropper