Posts tagged Jonathan Tropper

Actual Book

Should I read it? Yes, if you’re in you’re between the ages of 28 and 42. In fact, you should read all of Jonathan Tropper’s novels if you’re in that age range.  Plan B is a quick read with engaging characters and my only disappointment is that I’ve now read all of Tropper’s books and have to wait until he releases a new one.  

AUDIOBOOK read by Eric Ruben

Well, I think this wraps up my binge on Jonathan Tropper books.  I’ve listened to all of them except one as it’s not available at my library on audiobook.  I’ll just have to wait until I have some time to read an actual book to pick that one up.  Like the other Tropper books I’ve read, How to Talk to a Widower is well written with plenty of funny passages, but a deeper storyline that explores the main character’s growth.  Given the book’s context, a man trying to get over his wife’s death, this story is darker than the other Tropper books, but not overly so.  I’ve enjoyed all of these books and look forward to future books by this very talented writer.

AUDIOBOOK read by Scott Brick

This is my third Tropper book in the last 9 months, and they’re starting to run together a little.  Everything Changes follows a similar story path to The Book of Joe and This is Where I Leave You as all three focus on a a main character in his 30s whose life is going through dramatic change.  In Everything Changes, Zack King has a job he hates, might have cancer, and is in love with the widow of his dead best friend even though he’s engaged to another woman.  To top it all off, his deadbeat dad shows up and throws the whole family for a spin.  Like the previous books, Tropper does a masterful job of telling the story of an imperfect man who learns how to make the transition from selfish boy to less-selfish man.  And, like the others I’ve read, I very much enjoyed this narrative and found myself attached to a number of the characters.  The book is both funny and sad and has just enough of both to make it truly engaging.  To top it off, the audiobook is read by the fantastic Scott Brick, who is one of my all-time favorites.  

AUDIOBOOK read by Scott Brick

Late last year, I listened to Tropper’s This is Where I Leave You and thoroughly enjoyed it.  When that happens, I usually go in search of other books by the author to see if it’s a trend or an anomaly.  After reading The Book of Joe, I think I can say it’s a trend.  Joe is a writer in his early thirties whose first best-selling novel was a fictionalized autobiography that painted a lot of people from his home town in a bad light.  When his dad has a stroke, Joe returns to his home town for the first time in 17 years and has to deal with the hatred found there as well as a number of complicated relationships from his past.  At times, the book is laugh out loud funny and at times it is tear-wrenchingly sad.  Much like This is Where I Leave You, this is not a feel-good book with a guaranteed happy ending.  The writing is fantastic and you feel yourself drawn into a number of the characters as they deal with their hangups and issues.  I also enjoyed the flashbacks to high school and often found myself drifting back into my own memories of those years.  As for the audiobook, Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators and he doesn’t disappoint here.  He’s so good in fact, that I may have to track down some of the other books that he’s narrated much like I do with authors.