I made the decision to put my random selection process into operation to choose this book, as I wanted something un-delicate that I could read while out and about, and Tree of Codes just didn’t cut it. I’ll read it next, for sure. This is Where I Leave You is another book I bought during my stint at Waterstone’s. It was a total impulse buy, and one I have kind of not wanted to read for various reasons. I had a feeling that I might have picked the wrong book.
The story follows Judd, whose marriage has recently fallen apart after walking in on his wife having sex with his boss. His father has also just passed away, and he and his family have to sit shiva for the week following his death, as is the Jewish tradition.
There were a few moments that made me laugh out loud, but all in all, I would have to class this as a kind of male chick-lit. The self-deprecating narrator, the ‘wacky’ family, the only slightly dark moments in the narrator’s past, his objectification of women – all kind of bland and predictable. You kind of feel sorry for him, but when he yet again goes through a scenario of what he would like to do in bed with the woman he’s talking to, you stop feeling much sympathy. He seems kind of like a less edgy Bunny Munro. A bit of a failure, a non-alpha male bemoaning his non-alpha maleness. Snore.
The writing itself is good, but the story and the characters were a little too weak for my taste. As I said, there are some genuinely funny moments, and also some really tender moments. On the whole, it just didn’t keep my interest that well. Maybe I’m just not that interested in the traumatic lives of 30-something men, after having read about a string of them over the last few weeks. I think I need to take a break from them.
I really don't have much to say about this one. It was okay. Below average. Certainly not terrible.
Next time: Tree of Codes and Street of Crocodiles, for real this time.
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