this is where i leave you by jonathan tropper

The chapters are split into the seven days of shiva and are laced with flashback scenes from significant moments in Judd’s life. Anger and resentment are cumulative.’), which is funny because their mother is an (inappropriately dressed – read slutty) incredibly liberal and outspoken celebrity psychologist. We have the oldest brother, Paul, who Judd gets along fine with ‘as long as we don’t spend any time together’ sister Wendy: incredibly cynical and jaded mother of three with a husband who’s too busy bothering about hedge funds and himself to actively participate in the mourning of his father-in-law, and Paul, the youngest of the bunch, who has cemented his place as the family fuck up (‘you’d have to wake up pretty early in the morning to find a drug he hasn’t done or a model he hasn’t fucked.) They are ’emotionally inarticulate’ with major communication issues (‘In my family, we don’t so much as air our grievances as wallow in them. So the Foxmans are a funny bunch, with ‘a patented inability to express emotion during watershed events.’ From the very first ‘ass-numbing day of greeting visitors at crotch level’ we quickly learn that they simply do not get along, and perhaps ‘should all just face reality and stop taking meals together’. I know that’s a pretty big claim to make, but I’d like someone to prove me wrong and introduce me to a writer who’s funnier than he is. The humour is of a dark black variety and I just could not get enough. The dialogue and comic timing are just perfect I don’t think there’s anyone else who can do it like him. Jonathan Tropper is a casually brilliant author and this is a book that I simply did not want to end. This is, hands down, a major contender for my favourite book of 2012 (read it last month, don’t know what took me forever to write this review).

Is this not one of the funniest opening paragraphs to a book?

This is where i leave you by jonathan tropper