This Is Where I Leave You

By: Jonathan Tropper

Narrated by: Ramon De Ocampo

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

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 14-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.

©2009 Jonathan Tropper (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic Reviews

"The affectionate, warts-and-all portrayal of the Foxmans will have fans wishing for a sequel (and clamoring for all things Tropper)." (Amazon.com review)
"Tropper strikes an excellent balance between the family history and its present-day fallout, proving his ability to create touchingly human characters and a deliciously page-turning story." ( Publishers Weekly)

Greatly entertaining, not for all audiences.

My boyfriend and I listened to this on a road trip last week. We both thoroughly enjoyed the book. The crude humor was perfect for the two of us and we each laughed out loud more times I could count. However, I would not recommend this book to my mother, way to much real life for her or any one who is a conservative listener. So know yourself and what to expect. If you know ahead of time that the book has incredibly graphic sex scenes, mild drug use, homosexuality, etc., and you are okay with these topics then you will enjoy it. If any of those things bother you, then I would recommend staying away because you will be offended.

Humorous, but Flat

Sarcastic humor pervades this and all Jonathan Tropper novels. Judd's having a bit of a rough patch. His wife is having an affair (no spoiler, happens in first chapter), his father's passed, and he has to spend 7 days sitting "Shiva" with his dysfunctional family. Navigating current affairs and reliving past issues, Judd shares observations in raw, candid speech about sex and his future.

The characters and situations are comical, but lacking development. A funny anecdote is not supported by bridging one scenario to another. Good idea, laughed several times. Bought this from a $4.95 sale and enjoyed for an easy amusing listen. Had I paid full price or a credit, would have been a little miffed.

I guess you have to be under 40 to enjoy this book

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

And I'm not, so I didn't. I probably should just stay away from books that portray people so much younger than I am! The characters came across as self-involved and shallow, casually adulterous, disrespectful and very poor at parenting (even though the matriarch was a renowned specialist in the parenting field). The description of the story sounded interesting, but there were no characters that I could relate to - or even LIKE!

Would you recommend This Is Where I Leave You to your friends? Why or why not?

No. A group of self-absorbed adult children who don't seem to care much for each other spending a week together "mourning" their father, under some duress from their "newly-bisexual" mother just didn't float my boat! I don't think my peers would particularly relate to the story or characters either.

What does Ramon de Ocampo bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration was fine, but not remarkable. The fact that he read it TO me made it possible for me to do something worthwhile as I "read" the book, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

Was This Is Where I Leave You worth the listening time?

Nope

Any additional comments?

I'm just glad it was on sale: I didn't waste a credit on it, and only a small amount of money!

A Metrosexual Picaresque

I gleefully scarfed up this book, thinking it would consist of hilarious tales of dysfunction, as a family sits "shiva", the traditional Jewish mourning period lasting seven days after a loved one's death.

True, it is a hilarious read, but it begins and ends with humor, contains all those witty and fey escapades that characterize this genre, and somewhat loosely follows the author's attempts at trying to get a life. But I was expecting so much more, like Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" - more depth of character, more maladaptive attitudes and behaviors creating untenable situations, as the characters attempt to gracelessly play the hands they were dealt.

I agree with the reviewer in staying away from "witty" books, as most of them tend toward the shallow and consist of nothing more than a random series of parties, gossip, trendy music and fashion and especially the rogue random relationship. What do these people do when they are not partying or talking about partying? This author has a lot more going on than the usual "party boy" book, and I found myself wanting to write down a lot of the one-liners, to borrow and save for later use.

I'll still give this one a 4 though, as I caught myself laughing out loud several times, and the narrator seemed to strike the perfect balance between too much drama and too little expression. I realize how difficult the narrator's job can be, and it's difficult to please everyone - it's a fine line that must be traversed. An example comes to mind - "Comfort Food" by Kate Jacobs, whose book when self-read (now that's an odd expression) feels very warm, touchy-feely and, in typical Kate Jacobs tradition, as nurturing as its title. But Barbrara Rosenblat gave it a read that was full of irony, sarcasm and biting wit. Who knew the reader had such power?

So, back to "This Is Where I Leave You", which I will leave with an all thumbs up!

Very Enjoyable "Guy Lit"

I don't usually read "guy lit", but this book got some great reviews. I knew a movie was coming out this fall and the previews made me curious about the book. I am very glad I read it. Although the premise was a little unbelievable and none of the characters seemed to question their mother about it, the author took a unique event and made it into a homecoming, a reunion and a healing for a family that was splintered and falling apart. There are lots of stories centered around families coming together for a funeral. But the type of funeral involved in this book allowed the author to spread the angst, humor, misunderstanding and forgiveness over several days.

I thought the ending was appropriate, although probably not the ending a woman author would have chosen. And I thought most of the main characters were portrayed sympathetically. I wish the author had spent a little more time on some of the secondary characters though.

Tropper's writing style is quick, to the point and not overly wordy. I really appreciated that. The narration was excellent. I will look for more books read by de Ocampo and I will read Tropper's other books as well. I really recommend this one.

booooooring. and bitter. and not remotely funny.

I chose this title because one reviewer suggested it was much like David Sedaris whose writing I can't get enough of. The narrator read it like David Sedaris, but there was little humour in this book. It was very bitter and very sexual (nobody's sexuality goes unexplored, and he gives a very VERY vivid account of catching his wife in bed with his boss - in the book it must go on for pages! there's more than one repetition of how deep up his boss' a** his wife's knuckles are. oi vey! my daughter sometimes listens to my audiobooks, these should come with a bit of a warning!)
en tous cas... this was not worth the credit I wasted on it. It was not even remotely funny. Just sad.

Disappointed - not worth the time wasted.

Reading the intro to this book I thought it would be about sibling and family dynamics on the death of their father. While that was partly the case, the gist of the story was the immature and shallow sex life of one character with wandering references to the sex life of the others. Yes, there were funny parts, and yes, there were some profoundly sad parts. But overall, if I wanted to know about the misdirected libido of someone who refuses to grow up, I would look for books of that genre.

Its absurdity is exhausting

I’d heard this described as “dicklit” so I wanted to try it after reading a number of “chicklit” books to compare. It is horrendous, a poor man’s John Irving, with every person and scene exaggerated to the point of absurdity. A two-year-old doesn’t just disrupt a dinner party by carrying his kiddie potty into the room, he has to throw it so the turd lands on the table beside his father’s plate like a side dish. A two-year-old could do this? Really? Or the main character doesn’t just walk in on his wife having sex with another man, she has to be engaged in a sex act they have never done — and it turns out to be with his boss, and he shoves a chocolate birthday cake up the guy’s butt. But is this enough? No. The candles on the cake have to set fire to some sort of sexual enhancement cream the guy has on his testicles. And it’s like this over and over. It’s exhausting. Every character is a jerk, and they are constantly fighting or insulting each other. Admittedly, some of it’s funny, but jesus… If this is a highlight of “dicklit,” count me out. Grade: C

Excellent narration, though.

Made me laugh out loud

Funny. Irreverent. A blast to listen to. The main character is full of surprises, high praise because so many heroes/heroines are predictable. Really a great book about everything from infidelity to crazy families (like most families) to parental loss and grief. So true to life, if life were narrated by a very funny yet plaintive guy who thinks and does some outrageous things, like shoving a birthday cake with candles...well, read it and find out.

TOO MUC INFORMATION

I try to find something about a main character to admire or empasize with. But, in this story, I felt nothing but disgust and loathing for him. Having walked in on his wife in their marital bed, vigourously engaged in the arms of his boss, naturally was devastating. But, farther into the story, I began to feel empathy for the wife. The main character was so busy describing how perfecect he thought his relationship was with his wife, it became clear that he hadn't a clue as to if she was just as pleased with their relationship. She married into an extremely dysfunctional family, who each were content to distance themselves from each other for various reasons. With the death of their father, each of the syblings, grudgingly agreed to participate in a seven-day ceremony which forced them to be together. The author went out of his way, in my opinion, to shock the readers by describing the most intimate and sometimes, disgusting sexual topics in every paragraph. Nevertheless, I didn't give up on the story. And, as I suspected, even at the end, I was blessed with yet, another shocker.