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This is where I leave you
503 pages
A hilariously chaotic and deeply tender portrait of a dysfunctional family forced to sit in the same room with their grief and each other.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being trapped in a house with your most exhausting, hilarious, and deeply damaged relatives. It moves at a brisk, dialogue-fueled clip, propelled by sharp banter and the inevitable collisions of long-held resentments. The tone is relentlessly wry and cynical, yet it masks a surprisingly tender underbelly that sneaks up on you when you least expect it. You will find yourself laughing out loud at the sheer absurdity of the family dynamics, only to be gut-punched by a quiet moment of profound grief or vulnerability. The prose is sharp, observant, and effortlessly readable, making the claustrophobic atmosphere of a family mourning period feel both universally relatable and uniquely chaotic. It is the perfect read for anyone who appreciates the messy, bittersweet reality of adult siblings trying to figure out who they are when their lives fall apart.
- Mood
- chaotic
- claustrophobic
- bittersweet
- Tone
- wry
- cynical
- darkly comedic
- tender
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- messy family dynamics · arrested development · grief and mourning · marital betrayal
- The writing
- Sharp, witty, and dialogue-driven, balancing laugh-out-loud observational humor with sudden gut-punches of vulnerability.
- The arc
- From numb, cynical detachment and overwhelming chaos to a messy, tentative acceptance of life's imperfections.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love dysfunctional family comedies that make them laugh out loud while secretly breaking their hearts.
Content notes
- grief
- death of a parent
- infidelity
- infertility
- miscarriage
About the book
Jonathan Tropper joins Dutton with the book his fans in the trade have been waiting for him to write: an uproarious, sophisticated, and deeply moving breakout novel.Those who have already discovered Jonathan Tropper have called his novels "hilarious, but emotion-packed,"1 "fantastically funny,"2 "surprisingly moving,"3 and "utterly magnificent."4 With his Dutton debut, Tropper has delivered a novel of true sophistication, at once light of touch and with a real sense of humor, without sacrificing a depth of character and raw emotion reminiscent of the early work of John Irving and Michael Chabon. This Is Where I Leave You opens with the death of Judd Foxman's father, an event that marks the first time in a decade that the entire Foxman family—including Judd's mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in the same house for an extended period...
Description from Open Library.
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