- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Delacorte Press (July 17 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385338902
- ISBN-13: 978-0385338905
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.5 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #543,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
A portrait of a modern guy in crisis, Tropper's third novel (Everything Changes; The Book of Joe) follows Doug Parker, whose life is frozen into place at 29 when Hailey, his wife of two years, is killed in a plane crash. Unable to leave the tony suburban house they once shared, he spends his days reliving their brief marriage from the moment he found her sobbing in his office over troubles with her first husband. At the same time, Doug's magazine column about grieving for his wife has made him irresistible to the media (book deals, television spots and the like are proffered) and to a wide array of women who find him "slim, sad and beautiful." Though stepson Russ is getting in trouble at school and Doug's pregnant twin sister, Claire, moves in, no amount of crying to strippers can keep Doug from the temptations of his best friend's wife or Russ's guidance counselor. Alternately flippant and sad, Tropper's book is a smart comedy of inappropriate behavior at an inopportune time. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Mixing pathos and comedy in equal measure, Tropper (Everything Changes, 2005) tells the story of "slim, sad, and beautiful" Doug Parker. A year after his wife Hailey's death in a plane crash, 29-year-old widower Doug is still grieving heavily and has abandoned all pretense at civility and discretion. When people ask him how he's doing, he makes the mistake of actually telling them the truth, which inevitably includes a catalog of his antidepressant medications and his ongoing nightmares. Yet people keep making demands on him: his sweet, emotionally bereft stepson wants Doug to adopt him; Doug's twin sister, Claire, wants to set him up on a series of blind dates; and his agent is pressuring him to write a book as a spin-off of his wildly popular magazine column on mourning, but Doug refuses to become the "poster boy for young widowers." With superb comic timing, Tropper keeps the sappiness at bay by juxtaposing tender scenes that often feature Doug's reminiscences about meeting and marrying his wife with very funny, often vitriolic dialogue. Wilkinson, Joanne
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sentimental, Touching, and Laugh Out Loud Funny,
By
This review is from: How to Talk to a Widower: A Novel (Paperback)
How to Talk to a Widower was equal parts hilarious, sentimental and touching. I loved it all, laughing out loud frequently during Doug's escapades, and grew emotional during his memories and depiction of life without his wife.I couldn't wait to see how he'd extract himself out of situations and was routing for him to pull his life together as the story moved along at a rapid pace. I was absorbed after a few short pages and whipped through this novel in a few days and although told through narrative incorporated with flashbacks, his articles, emails, and an odd description of a date, it still managed to flow smoothly. Even the flashbacks didn't seem too intrusive (although I'm still not a huge fan of them). The ensemble cast was quirky, realistically flawed and impeccably well defined. I loved the father's character and observing their relationship held some of my favourite moments in this well crafted tale. Having been the first Jonathan Tropper novel I've read, I will definitely seek his books out in the future as well as any of his past publications. If they're anything like How to Talk to a Widower, I can't wait to read them all!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Make me into a movie please!,
This review is from: How to Talk to a Widower (Hardcover)
The tone of this book alternates between the comical and the poignant to portray a young man's struggles to come to terms with the grief of losing his wife. The author added a few quirky details to make it interesting: the main character is only 29 and has a twin sister; his wife was 10 years older; she left behind a teenaged son; etc. There is clever writing here but most of it seems to be carefully written in a style that would be easily adapted into a movie screenplay as if that is the author's real intention. Rather than being written as a study of grief and its effect on family relationships, it seems to have been written to attract the attention of a major Hollywood studio. Which is fine if you like that sort of thing. Personally, I prefer books that are written as books first.
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a really engaging novel.,
This review is from: How to Talk to a Widower (Hardcover)
I really got caught up in Doug's emotions over Hailey and found myself totally empathising with him for his loss. I think the descriptions of loss and grief were very accute and really brings home the strength of it to the reader.However, the book was also really funny in places. It has a rather black humour in places and a rather wry humour in places but it definitely worked well with the more serious undertone of the book. Although some of the situations that occur in the book are a bit corny and maybe a bit fantastical, its still a great book and a great read. One I would highly recommend! If you're looking for another great read try The Fates by Tino Georgiou.
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