This Is Where I Leave You

Jonathan Tropper explores the intricacies of family, siblings, and relationships in his mesmerizing novel This Is Where I Leave You (now a major motion picture). The four Foxman siblings, Paul, Judd, Wendy, and Phillip, find out their ailing father has passed away and his dying wish was they all sit shiva in his memory. The idea of seven days under one roof has everyone on edge. The siblings have rarely spent more than a couple hours together since becoming adults. Between work, personal life issues, and building their own families, no one has bothered to work out the problems they have successfully ignored since moving out of their parent's home years ago.

Each sibling is dealing with their own life crisis while now also dealing with a mother they all aren't sure how to handle; a mother who prides herself on her physical enhancements, her career as a shrink, and her exceptionally honest and straight-forward shoot-from-the-hip commentary. The reader is taken through the days as shiva passes and the siblings begin to work out their differences. We see their fights, their darkest secrets revealed, and the past encounters that made them who they are. Although the story is told from Judd's perspective, I appreciated Tropper's ability to develop each character as an integral part of the story.

Tropper does a phenomenal job weaving a witty and hilarious story with one that is completely realistic. Family is an incredibly relatable subject. And he manages to make it funny while at the same time coaxing the reader into feeling the same sadness the characters feel. The ending ties everything up in an appealing fashion without the fluff many would expect from a novel with a similar plot. This Is Where I Leave You is a light-hearted read that hits on some very serious topics we all face in life.