Title: How To Talk To A Widower
Author: Jonathan Tropper
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Orion
Publication Date: 28 June 2007
Paperback: 352 pages
Rating: 4/10
Summary (Goodreads)
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 is getting into increasingly serious trouble on a daily basis. Then there are Doug’s sisters: his bossy twin, Clair, who’s just left he 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 manically 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.
Review:
I read this book as it was recommended on Oprah Winfry’s Book Club. It is a fairly easy read and the language is modern and plain. It is a portrait of a man called Doug Parker whose life is thrown into turmoil when his wife is killed in a plane crash.
You go through his feelings of loss, his apprehension of the dating scene and his inability to be a step-father to the teenager his wife left behind. I found the character to be uninteresting and a little wimpy, and even though I understood his sorrow at the beginning of the book, felt a growing impatience as the story moved on. There were humorous moments in this book but they didn’t out weigh the long passages of self pity.
The ending didn’t leave me feeling inspired or uplifted, in fact I felt relieved that I had finished the book and could swiftly move on to another.
This book was purchased by me.
