What We're Reading: Rita

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.

I've been a Tropper fan for years and enjoyed all of his four previous novels. This is his best yet and one of my favorite books of 2009. The main character, Judd Foxman, returns to his childhood home to fulfill his recently deceased father's last request to sit seven days of shiva with his (very dysfunctional) family. But a death in the family is only the most recent in a series of misfortunes in Judd's life. He's living in a tiny basement apartment after separating from his wife. The separation occured after Judd found her in bed with his boss, and his reaction to that discovery has also left him unemployed. Judd is not the most mature guy, and he's obviously not in the best psychological shape when he's forced into seven days of confinement with an outrageous mother and a collection of siblings with "issues" - all of whom are mourning a much loved patriarch. Of course, this being a Jonathan Tropper novel, there is plenty of humor involved, although much of it is black, and there are also a number of cringe-worthy moments. One of this author's strongest gifts is his ability to make the reader care about his characters, even when their behavior is less than honorable. Ultimately this is a funny but serious look at a flawed group of kin that asks what, if anything, connects a family.