It seems lately as though every book I’ve read has become or is becoming a movie. I don’t know that I’m ahead of the times so much as able to pick acclaimed books that would make great movies, but either way, I’m not complaining. At least not for now- so far, they’ve all been pretty good.
I read one of Jonathan Tropper’s other books, This Is Where I Leave You, at some point last spring and was hooked- it’s an amazing concept and pretty flawlessly executed. A generally non-religious father has one last request of his family, which is to sit shiva. Any good Jew will tell you that shiva is basically the best catered and saddest party you’ll ever go to. Perhaps it’s because I grew up understanding it as a concept, but I feel as though shiva is an actual representation of the essence of Judaism- give up all of your luxuries and basic comforts (and complain about it, naturally) while gorging yourself on an obscene amount of food. How Jewish is that?
Shiva aside, that book is fantastic and absolutely worth a read immediately. It is equal parts hilarious and deep and wonderfully illustrates complications of a family flung apart suddenly brought together under sad and forced circumstances. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you know the drill. And soon, you can see it brought to life with the greatest movie casting I have perhaps ever seen! Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Ben Schwartz, Connie Britton, Kathryn Hahn, Rose Byrne, Jane Fonda, Timothy Olyphant- there’s not a single misstep in the casting (I, of course, say this pre-viewing- they just happen to be some of my favorite actors). There’d been a previous iteration with Zac Efron and some others signed on, but I’m thrilled with how the casting has turned out. The trailer looks particularly promising- absolutely read the book before seeing the movie. CANNOT wait for this one, especially as I am still riding the high of a very well done book-to-movie The Fault in Our Stars.
(Note: just watched the trailer again for the thousandth time. Jason Bateman is KILLING it. Kathryn Hahn as Alice is also a stroke of genius. She is PERFECT for the role. Not crazy about the accent on Tina Fey, but I’m fairly certain that will be made up for in spades by Connie Britton’s facial expressions. Cannot overstate how excited I am.)
In any case, it’s clear I went into this book already a Jonathan Tropper fan. I’d read one of his other books a few months ago and wasn’t as huge a fan of it as I was of This Is Where I Leave You, but it’s an admittedly super high bar. I decided to give him another try with Plan B and am glad to say I was slightly less disappointed!
This book tells the story of a group of friends from college, one of whom became a famous actor, which comes with less perks than one might imagine. The main character is Ben, the kind of introspective 30 year old you might expect Zach Braff to have written/play in the movie (fingers crossed). He’s self deprecating and a bit self hating and not at all a bad vehicle for the book. His friends are slightly more interesting but much less developed as characters. I will say that if I was basing it just on this book, I feel like I’ll be able to handle 30 just fine when the time comes, because I don’t think it’s possible to be less well-adjusted than these five characters. That said, the premise of getting the five of them together in the same cabin for an undetermined amount of time lends itself to some alternately funny and tender moments- the book has some great elements.
There were a bunch of moments of strong connection to the content and the feelings of the character, which I’ve made clear is the most important part for me in a book- that sense that you’re really invested in what happens to the characters. Even though it’s fairly obvious where the book is headed from the beginning, it’s always nice to feel as though there are a few lines that make a lot of sense in and out of context.
The short version of the review is that this book is pretty good, and it certainly wasn’t a waste of time to read it, but it is hardly the most compelling book I’ve ever read. If you only have time for one Tropper book, this isn’t the one to pick.
You’ll like this if: you want to imagine what it would be like to be friends with a movie star who has a drug problem. Also, if you like pretty well written books with pretty predictable endings and some pretty whiny characters. (Fairly certain we can start calling this the Tropper genre- after three books, it kind of seems to be his thing.)
Happy reading!
carlyreads 