Jonathan Tropper Dutton 2009, 339 pages, $25.95 (hardcover)
So many novels about dysfunctional families are depressing and often beg the question, “Do I know someone like this?”
Not so is Jonathan Tropper’s latest novel, “This is Where I Leave You.” What makes this novel special is that this family’s “dysfunction” is treated in a “normal” way, with the foibles of family life insightful, hilarious and completely believable.
The novel begins with the death of Judd Foxman’s father, Mort. Judd, the novel’s narrator, learns that, as a dying request, his father, an atheist, has asked that the Foxman family sit shiva for seven days.
Judd, along with his two brothers and sister and their respective spouses and children, arrive at the suburban home for the funeral and seven days of grieving. There is Wendy, married to a man whose main interest is making money; Paul and his wife, Alice, struggling with infertility; and Phillip, young brother and perpetual screw-up.; and their mother, Hillary, a psychologist who ironically wrote a best-seller, “Cradle and All: A Mother’s Guide to Enlightened Parenting.”
To make matters worse, Judd has recently become separated from his wife, Jen, after he discovered that she was having an affair with his shock-jock radio boss.
The novel takes place over the course of seven days. Throughout the novel, Mr. Tropper makes witty observations about everything from formal shiva rituals to relationships.
In between the humor, there are some dead-on observations of life: “You have to look at what you have right in front of you, at what it could be, and stop measuring it against what you’ve lost. I know this to be wise and true, just as I know that pretty much no one can do it.”
The only disappointment is a surprise twist at the end, which I didn’t think was necessary to move the story along. Overall, however, this is a humorous read, one that offers insights on life that many readers will find parallel their own experiences.
Finalists for the 2007 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, administered the Jewish Book Council, have been announced. The $100,000 prize, the largest of its kind in the Jewish literary world, honors an emerging author in the field of Jewish literature who has written a book of exceptional literary merit that stimulates an interest in Jewish themes.
Finalists are: Ilana M. Blumberg for "Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books"; Eric L. Goldstein for "The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity"; Lucette Lagnado for "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World"; Michael Makovsky for "Churchill's Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft"; and Haim Watzman for "A Crack in the Earth: A Journey Up Israel's Rift Valley."
The inaugural Rohr Prize, awarded in 2006, went to Tamar Yellin for "The Genizah at the House of Shepher.”
2006 Jewish Book Winners
The National Jewish Book Association announced its 2006 award winners and finalists in a variety of categories. The winners are:
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