Jonathan Tropper’s new novel, like his previous novel How to Talk to a Widower, is a wonderfully funny/sad story about family and relationships, with believably flawed and realistic characters. Judd Foxman’s marriage has just fallen apart when he receives news that his father has passed away. His father’s last request was that his family sit Shiva for him–a Jewish period of 7 days of mourning. Judd cannot fathom his dysfunctional family being forced to spend time together for 7 whole days. The family spends the week re-hashing old histories and resentments and forging new relationships and understandings of themselves and each other. This is Where I Leave You is both laugh-out-loud funny and bittersweet and I enjoyed all of the character interactions. Tropper writes with insight and emotion and illustrates the connections between family members that last a lifetime.