Review - "This is Where I Leave You"

I didn't have high hopes for this novel until I saw the preview for the movie.  This is the second novel I've read by Jonathan Tropper.  The first was Plan B, a simple and trite novel that was about nothing in particular.  This is Where I Leave You was MUCH better.  

The story opens with the main character, Judd, receiving a call from his sister announcing the death of their father.  This is days after Judd has discovered his wife in bed with his boss, so needless to say, this isn't a great time for him.  At the funeral, the family finds out that their father's last wish was for his wife and children to sit shiva - mourn for 7 days under the same roof.  Now, this family takes disfunction to a crazy level.  The oldest brother, Paul, is married to Judd's ex-girlfriend, and they are fruitlessly trying to get pregnant.  Judd's older sister is married to a distant, work-obssessed jerk and is in love with her childhood boyfriend.  The youngest brother is a complete mess but also completely sweet. Their mother is a famous psychologist who is extremely in touch with her sexuality.  And...none of them can stand being in the same room with each other.

This book is enjoyable not just because of the story, but because of the extreme honesty with which it was written.  Judd goes through so much throughout the story, and the reader feels every emotion and each conflicting feeling.  The best part about it is that the author captures the feelings behind a sibling relationship.  The way that no matter how much you want to strangle your crazy brothers and sisters, they are the people who know you best and will always have your back.  Stories about sibling relationships always make me incredibly emotional, in the best way.  Tropper captures the best and the worst parts of of these relationships - the obligations, the constant bailouts, the bad decisions you advised them against, but also the inside jokes, the memories, and the laughs you can produce with just a look.  I really enjoyed this book - it is a great reminder to enjoy the moments you have with your family...and to keep those moments limited so that they don't irritate the crap out of you.  

On a side note - I saw the movie the other day, it stays very true to the novel and Jason Bateman is adorable, so I recommend it as well.  

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Review - Dark Places (Gillian Flynn)

Gillian Flynn has gained quite a following over the past few years, myself included.  I am writing this post as the world's biggest fan of Gone Girl.  The book enraptured me more than any other in recent memory.  But, this is not a review about Gone Girl - mostly because everyone else in the world has already ready it.  

Dark Places is Ms. Flynn's second novel.  The premise is around a small town Missouri family whose lives take a turn when the mother and 2 sisters are violently killed in their home.  The story is told from the view of the youngest daughter, Libby, 25 years later.  Libby had survived the massacre as a young girl  and was instrumental in developing the case against her brother as the murderer.  More than two decades later, she comes across a group of "fans" of the case who believe wholeheartedly that her brother was innocent, leading her to second guess her testimony.  The story goes on from there, unraveling the details of the murder.

The whole story is very reminiscent of In Cold Blood, with the imagery of the small town family murders and the apparent lack of motive.  However, there's a whole troubled child/satanic influence part of the book that throws it way into left field.  It's interesting, no doubt, but Dark Places is definitely an appropriate title for the novel.  The story touches on themes of poverty, abuse, and desperate measures.  What I find interesting is that there are really no likable characters in the entire book, save a nerdy side character who doesn't get enough of the storyline.  Despite that, the story holds its own and delves into some intense situations and intriguing suspense.  By the end of the novel I felt reasonably entertained but it definitely left me wanting more depth in character development and story.  

3 out of 5 stars.

Review - "Outlander"

Oh Outlander.  How I wanted to love you.

So, Outlander fans have been coming out of the woodwork over the past several months, mostly due to the television adaptation on Starz that started this summer.  I had heard so much about these books and how they would change my life, so I started the first one a few weeks ago.  Several weeks ago.  What feels like an entire lifetime ago.

The story is great, it really is.  It's hard to define the genre - it's a combination of adventure, romance (sex), science fiction and historical fiction.  The book is incredibly long and could stand to be about 300 pages shorter with a lot less repetitive detail, but I can see how it will translate into a great TV show.

The premise is about a woman, Claire Randall, who lives in post WWII England and is currently vacationing in Inverness, Scotland with her husband, Frank.  She mysteriously transports through time through a stone structure back to the mid 1730s, where she meets one of her husband's ancestors as well as a group of Scots in the clan MacKenzie who take her as prisoner.  Claire was a nurse during the war and impresses the group with her healing skills, earning their respect and a place in the MacKenzie castle, albeit against her wishes.  To protect her against the impending Redcoats, she is persuaded to marry Jamie Fraser...and now we get to the main reason why anyone with a drop of estrogen chooses to read this book.

Jamie is the perfect man.  There is no other way to describe him.  He is handsome, muscular, sexy, sweet, thoughtful, a virgin.  I don't know that the last part is necessary to make up the perfect man, but it is enticing.  The romance/sex in this novel is over the top, but it serves its purpose and does keep the reader interested throughout.

Halfway through this novel, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on how this blog post would go.  It is thought provoking to think of how one would cope with transporting through time and how much loyalty you would have to a husband who had not been born yet (I'm assuming very little if I were faced with Jamie Fraser).  However, it just kept going and going to the point where I was just flipping through the final chapters so that I could say that I finished it.

All that to say, I give the book 2.5 stars for beating a dead horse, but I highly recommend starting the TV show.  Hopefully the show will engage its audience more than the book does.

~SP