Review: This is Where I Leave You

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Jo recommended this to me - and it's a current movie starring Jason Bateman. I liked it a lot - it's about a family whose patriarch dies and his dying wish is that the family sits shiva for him - that is, stays together in the house for a week as is Jewish custom.

The family of grown adults, however, are pretty dysfunctional - particularly as a clan. The main character's marriage is falling apart because of infidelity. He has three siblings: one struggling with infertility and bitterness, one whose marriage is helplessly unhappy, and one who is dating someone highly inappropriate. Their mother has secrets of her own. Still, they spend the week together and just barely manage not to kill each other.

The story was well-written and fun to read. Best of all, the ending was good. Lately, too many books I've read have tidy endings, and this one doesn't. This ending is a resolution, but it isn't tidy. Which, given the characters, seems very believable. My only criticism is that parts of the book felt too obviously like they were being written for a movie script. Which....maybe they were.



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