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This Is Where I Leave You

by Jonathan Tropper

Published: 2009-08-06
Hardcover : 352 pages

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Recommended to book clubs by 22 of 26 members

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Introduction

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.

As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it’s a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd’s father died: She’s pregnant.

This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not.

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Editorial Review

Amazon Best of the Month, August 2009: Jonathan Tropper writes compulsively readable, laugh-out-loud funny novels, and his fifth book, This Is Where I Leave You is his best yet. Judd Foxman is oscillating between a sea of self-pity and a "snake pit of fury and resentment" in the aftermath of the explosion of his marriage, which ended "the way these things do: with paramedics and cheesecake." Foxman is jobless (after finding his wife in bed with his boss) and renting out the basement of a "crappy house" when he is called home to sit shiva for his father--who, incidentally, was an atheist. This of course means seven days in his parent's house with his exquisitely dysfunctional family, including his mom, a sexy, "I've-still-got-it" shrink fond of making horrifying TMI statements; his older sister, Wendy, and her distracted hubby and three kids; his snarky older brother, Paul, and his wife; and his youngest brother, Phillip, the "Paul McCartney of our family: better-looking than the rest of us, always facing a different direction in pictures, and occasionally rumored to be dead." Tropper is wickedly funny, a master of the cutting one-liner that makes you both cringe and crack up. But what elevates his novels and makes him a truly splendid writer is his ability to create fantastically flawed, real characters who stay with you long after the book is over. Simultaneously hilarious and hopeful, This Is Where I Leave You is as much about a family's reckoning as it is about one man's attempt to get it together. The affectionate, warts-and-all portrayal of the Foxmans will have fans wishing for a sequel (and clamoring for all things Tropper). --Daphne Durham

Excerpt

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Discussion Questions

Suggested by Members

Discuss the theme of infidelity in this book.

by Melina (see profile) 04/01/14

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Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 22 of 26 members.

Discussion starters

by Burgo49 (see profile) 01/02/15

Recommend using the LitLovers book discussion questions. I printed out the questions and handed them out randomly to the members so that everyone could answer at least one question.

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"Sibling rivalry at its best"by Julie O. (see profile) 06/17/16

Some members of our book club said they laughed out loud. Novel is written from man's point of view. Fast, easy read. Good discussion of characters and situations. Movie version on DVD.

by Chris B. (see profile) 06/29/15

by Kate L. (see profile) 01/21/15

"Lots of discussion to be had!"by Mandy B. (see profile) 01/02/15

First off, I was disappointed in this book after reading it, but the discussions we had during our book club helped me look at it in a brand new light so I ended up actually liking it! This book allows... (read more)

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