This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper

I found this book through Goodreads recommendations and I also saw it on a best of the year list somewhere so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  And to be honest, I have a somewhat mixed review.  This book is funny at times and I love the sarcastic tone the main character has (and for good reason).  The narrator of the story, Judd, has just arrived to his family home to sit shiva in respect of his dead father, along with his mother and three other siblings, along with their spouses/significant others and children.  Judd arrives alone because his wife has just left him.  It's like a soap opera in book form.  An example of his sarcasm is, "A good speech is like a woman's skirt: short enough to hold your attention, long enough to cover the subject."  This is the type of line that I saw frequently. Little jabs and comparisons to things that just made the reader in me smile a bit.  The bad was just that it was a bit too unrealistic.  The family did not seem realistic--too much craziness in one family.  Although maybe that is how some families are...

Despite the sarcasm and unbelievable events that take place over the seven day span of the book, Tropper also offers a lot of lines that are memorable.  One of my personal favorites was, "You never know when it will be the last time you'll see your father, or kiss your wife, or play with your little brother, but there's always a last time.  If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."  This idea is something I've been thinking about more and more as I get older.   I've had friends who have experienced major tragedies, such as a friend from high school who became a widow with a one year old son when her husband died in a car accident on Valentine's Day of this year.   She had no idea that morning that it would be the last time she saw him.  Or what about the people who sent loved ones off on the Malaysian flight that's been missing for over a month?  Who could have known that they would probably never see their loved ones again?  I try to always tell and show my family how much I love them for this reason.  I particularly like the second part of the quote above.  It's wise to say that, "If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving."  I see this in little parenting things with my own children.  The older two are six and four and I honestly don't remember the last time I rocked each of them to sleep, but I'm trying to cherish those moments with my youngest (who turns 1 on…sniff, sniff) because I know these moments won't last forever.