Trouble

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Gary Schmidt does an incredible job with character development, and he is one of those writers that can take a small phrase and so clearly set the scene and make you visualize what’s happening. He especially does a great job with the scenes with the dog—it is obvious that the author knows and likes dogs, and those scenes were both heartbreaking, and hysterical! In addition to Henry, the characters of Henry’s friend Sanborn (who shows up to climb Katahdin and support his friend--despite Henry’s attempt to go it alone) and of “the enemy” Chay are superbly done. Sanborn and Henry have one of those deep male friendships disguised by constant insults and even fights—the kind of fights where neither gets mad no matter who wins. And Chay has layers that are revealed a small bit at a time. He goes from The Bad Guy of the story to just…human. That was what I knew for sure, that this was the only way to get someone to listen to a woman—to tell her story through a man; Trojan horse yourself into a man, and people would give a shit about you. Gary Schmidt is probably my favorite children's writer after the venerable Katherine Paterson. I love both of them as phenomenal people, and admire them both madly as writers. So that's a disclaimer of sorts. That said--I didn't love TROUBLE as much as LIZZIE BRIGHT, and I didn't work on this book, so don't have quite the affection for it that I do for THE WEDNESDAY WARS. And I do see a few wee little problems in the narrative. BUT, they hardly matter b/c I think the heart of this book rises far above the narrative itself. Non Pratt also made the two voices distinct and full of life. Considering the POVs switched every few paragraphs it was both necessary and welcome.

Livers behaved in some erratic ways, sure, all organs do. But the liver was unique in the way that it healed. It was full of forgiveness. It understood that you needed a few chances before you got your life right. And it wouldn’t just forgive you, it would practically forget. It would allow you to start over in a way that he could not imagine was true in any other avenue of life. We should all be like the liver. (14%) Truth was seeping through the seams.... while exploring marriage, divorce, friendships, dating, sexing, colleagues, children, siblings, money, narcissism, assholes, annoyances, anger, selfishness, entitlement, play dates, yoga clothes, beef lo mein, women of a certain age, ramblings, points of view from several characters, communication challenges, all in the context of being a touchy & controversial novel.

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But Toby's new life--liver specialist by day, kids every other weekend, rabid somewhat anonymous sex at night--is interrupted when his ex-wife suddenly disappears. Either on a vision quest or a nervous breakdown, Toby doesn't know--she won't answer his texts or calls.

Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel, “Fleishman is in Trouble” has been advertised as a perfect beach read. I’m not entirely sure how marketers determine what qualifies as a beach read, but this is no light, frothy, confection of a book and not much time is spent at the beach. In fact, Brodesser-Akner recently questioned why her book was being marketed as a beach read. “I am confused as to why our taste for what we like would change in the location we read it, or the season.” So if the book is not a beach read, what is it? The story is incredibly layered, with almost every plot point taking on a permutation of gender inequality: the one-woman “off-off-off-off-off-Broadway” show that gives Rachel her big break as an agent; Toby’s dating-app sexting escapades; his female patient’s previously overlooked medical condition; an incident involving Rachel & Toby’s tween daughter at sleepaway camp; and more. The layers—each one potent and endlessly discussable in its own right—are so crammed in together there’s no space for anything to breathe, and the novel densifies under their weight.

Customer reviews

The book piles on further down the oppressive white man path when we come across a ‘‘print’’ of an Indian slave ship. (A super unlikely coincidence in a series of unlikely events.) From the Captains face we are to infer some specifics about history and the print has “captured’’ this, implying it’s a photo? (Not possible but we are inferring a lot from what is described as if it were a photo.) Or are we to assume the artists was close to these events? What we do learn is that hero’s daddy’s money is dirty, as all old money must be.