How to Talk to a Widower

By: Jonathan Tropper

Narrated by: Eric Ruben

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Doug Parker is a widower at age 29, and in his quiet suburban town, that makes him something of a celebrity - the object of sympathy, curiosity, and, in some cases, unbridled desire. But Doug has other things on his mind.

First, there's his 16-year-old stepson, Russ - a once-sweet kid who now is getting into increasingly serious trouble on a daily basis. Then there are Doug's sisters: his bossy twin, Claire, who's just left her husband and moved in with Doug, determined to rouse him from his grieving stupor. And Debbie, who's engaged to Doug's ex-best friend and maniacally determined to pull off the perfect wedding at any cost.

Soon Doug's entire nuclear family is in his face. And when he starts dipping his toes into the shark-infested waters of the second-time-around dating scene, it isn't long before his new life is spinning hopelessly out of control, cutting a harrowing and often hilarious swath of sexual missteps and escalating chaos across the suburban landscape.

Funny, sexy, and smart, How to Talk to a Widower is a novel about finding your way, even when you have no idea where it is you want to go.

©2007 Jonathan Tropper (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Alternately flippant and sad, Tropper's book is a smart comedy of inappropriate behavior at an inopportune time." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Tropper has the twentysomething guy thing down to a science. His prose is funny and insightful, his characters quirky and just a bit off-balance but decent enough to take to our hearts." ( Booklist)

Crappy narrator

Narrator sounds like he has a tennis ball in his mouth. It's very off putting and the ultra thick sounds of his voice, to me, are even disgusting. It's amazing to me that bad narrators are still hired. Good god producers show some discernment, some savvy. Pathetic.

So funny I laughed out loud like a crazy person

This book was such a pleasure. It is refreshingly funny and also sad at times. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

The Characters Have Character

Jonathan Tropper created such memorable characters, I can't seem to shake them and I'm hopeful he'll write about them again. The book was wonderful -- he captured how annihilating losing a spouse can be. There are some very poignant moments. The family was a stitch as well as a heart breaker.

I have read Tropper's books and find them hysterical and thought-provoking. I listened to one other of Tropper's which was narrated by Scott Brick. He is a very talented and popular narrator. However, in my opinion, he does not have comedic timing. Eric Ruben, on the other hand, is terrific and I found myself laughing out loud many times. He was excellent. He really added to the book and I'm hopeful that future books by this author will be read by Ruben or others rather than using Brick.

This is a book I will listen to again and encourage you to spend the credit.

Moving Story Told with Humor and Understanding

Barely able to hold himself together after the death of his wife, 29-year-old Doug finds himself responsible for his 16 year old stepson who badly needs a functional authority figure in his life. Well-written with real, sympathetic characters.

Fun book about a heart breaking time.

Forget about learning how to talk to a widower. Just get comfy, and get ready to hear the few ups and a lot of downs in this funny tale of the life after. This book includes true to life dating fiascoes with plenty of side kicks to keep this widower from drowning in his year old depression. The widower's family has all the quirks necessary to make your family look better. Spoiler Alert: The hero of the book turns out to be a teenager. Who would have thunk it?
As a widow I can not relate to most of his grief but then everybody's grief is different. However, we see eye to eye on many and for that reason I love this book.

Good story...by the end

Last couple of chapters were good. First half of the book dragged as protagonist wallowed in his misery. Yeah, we get it... His wife is gone and so is he. Didn't need to take so many pages to make that point.

Interesting Read

If you could sum up How to Talk to a Widower in three words, what would they be?

An eye opener. (due to the references and suggestions on how someone might consider not communicating with a person who has gone through such a devistating loss.)

What other book might you compare How to Talk to a Widower to and why?

This book reminded me a little of the book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey but I feel How to Talk to a Widower was a much better read. Even the narrator is similar but his dry youthful voice that drones on was somewhat more tolerable with this book - considering the character's remorse. At first I thought his narrating would be the death of me but I gave it a chance and ended up enjoying it during the later part of the novel. (besides, the last book I read was The Outlander and anything seemed good after that melodramatic drivelling harlequin romance novel)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I enjoyed the examples where Doug wrote magazine articles describing his interaction with people relating to his grief. I appreciated the insight on the subject.

Any additional comments?

This is an easy read and a good story - sad obviously but quite funny at times as well. I appreciated the sarcastic wit.

Hilarious!

I bought this after listening to This is Where I Leave You, and I was not disappointed! Same humor, same real life situations. Great listen!

Do not buy the audible version!!!!

The speaker of this book was shockingly bad. Couldn't focus on how much i liked the story since my attention was so focused on how bad the speaker was at discerning different characters. They even used a (male?) robot voice to cover the female voices in the book. Not only that, but he clearly did not have a 'radio voice', was not enjoyable to listen to. I would recomend opting for the paperback/kindle version. Cute story though, enjoyed it after purchasing a different mode of reading.

Funny and touching at the same time!

Jonathon Tropper is really funny. The book made me laugh out loud multiple times because he is so funny, witty, and sardonic. He's also very insightful, and his writing is heartfelt. So one moment I could be laughing out loud, and the next I might be crying :)

I have only read one other J. Tropper book, The Book of Joe. I think I liked that one just a little better then this. I did feel like the plot of How to Talk to a Widower went on a bit too long about the travails of widowhood, whereas the plot of The Book of Joe had more dramatic push to it, somehow. Maybe that's just me.