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This is a real fireball of a book. Not since Philip Roth's early works have I read an author that strikes such a sharp equipoise of comedy and tragedy. I had twenty different kinds of laughter while reading this--inward grins, hardy howls--even gasping intakes of breath, while simultaneously my heart was melting. The narrative zips along at roughly the speed of light, but the exquisite irony, megawatt metaphors and the urbane satire that saturate every page incited me to read it out loud. I was on a break at work when I started the novel. And I was so blown away by the images, the juxtapositions, the deadpan timing, and the heartbreaking hilarity that I pulled a friend outside and read the first two chapters out loud. We were captivated. And by the next break we had kidnapped another colleague so I could read it once again. By the end of the day I had read 100 pages to several co-workers while spontaneously acting out the scenes for our progressive amusement. Judd Foxman, the self-deprecating, slightly out-of-shape protagonist, is in marital purgatory--in-between marriage and divorce. His atheist father has just died after a suspect deathbed request--that his family sit shiva for him. In the Jewish religion, this means seven days of mourning. The story takes place primarily at the Foxman house over the course of the entire shiva, and the book is divided into the seven days of the week to cover each day. However, it is non-linear; told from Judd's point of view, the narrative goes back and forth in time with crystal clarity. The high points of Judd's childhood and those of his siblings are revealed gradually with a potency and power that informs the trajectory of the present-day events. The author is an elegantly economic writer--no wasted words, every sentence brimming with droll wit, and the timing is impeccable. I am tempted to quote him here, but I don't think that I would stop at just one. Or three. Or thirty. His sentences are more than just one-liners (although there is a plethora of them). They build unerringly on each other. The prose is visually and audibly robust, penetrating as well as cinematic. Jonathan Tropper wrote with a fierce, philosophical, and piercing pen about love and loss. Whether he is chronicling death, promiscuous sex, prosthetic dreams, vicious canines, or the violence of love, he does it with a buoyant, crushing heart.

2022-10-29 03:25