Jonathan Tropper

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A mixture of mourning and mockery...Surprisingly moving.
- Entertainment Weekly

There's a touch of Nick Hornby in this winning tale about a man raising his stepson after his wife dies. - People Magazine

Hilarous, but emotion-packed...Part of Widower's charm is that there's no hapilly ever after, no Cinderella-catches-the-fella ending...- USA Today


Jonathan Tropper is a genius. He has yet again written a brilliant, funny, and incredibly poignant book. He is, without question, one of my favorite writers today. -
Jane Green, author of Swapping Lives.

A wise-cracking, darkly comic tale, yet beneath its raucous plot lies a heartfelt meditation on love and loss. -The Daily Mail (UK)

With superb comic timing, Tropper keeps the sappiness at bay by juxtaposing tender scenes with very funny, often vitriolic dialogue. -Booklist


Tropper's book is a smart comedy of inappropriate behavior at an inopportune time. -Publishers Weekly


Tropper's Latest is a resigned yet hopeful examination of grief with a side of human absurdity ...warm and modestly knowing, with a wisecracking slacker hero. -Kirkus Reviews


“Beautifully crafted.” “Fantastically funny.” “Compulsively readable.” Jonathan Tropper has earned wild acclaim—and comparisons to Nick Hornby and Tom Perrotta—for his biting humor and insightful portrayals of families in crisis and men behaving badly. Now the acclaimed author of The Book of Joe and Everything Changes tackles love, lust, and loss in the suburbs—in a stunning novel that is by turns heartfelt and riotously funny.

Doug Parker is a widower at age twenty-nine, and in his quiet suburban town that makes him something of a celebrity—the object of sympathy, curiosity, and, in some cases, unbridled desire. But Doug has other things on his mind. First there’s his sixteen-year-old stepson, Russ: a once-sweet kid who now gets into increasingly serious trouble on a daily basis. Then there are Doug’s sisters: his bossy twin, Claire, who’s just left her husband and moved in with Doug, determined to rouse him from his grieving stupor. And Debbie, who’s engaged to Doug’s ex–best friend and maniacally determined to pull off the perfect wedding at any cost.

Soon Doug’s entire nuclear family is in his face. And when he starts dipping his toes into the shark-infested waters of the second-time-around dating scene, it isn’t long before his new life is spinning hopelessly out of control, cutting a harrowing and often hilarious swath of sexual missteps and escalating chaos across the suburban landscape.

Funny, sexy, and smart, How to Talk to a Widower is a novel about finding your way, even when you have no idea where it is you want to go.

2007
Bantam Dell