One Last Thing Before I Go (edition 2012)

Jonathan Tropper is an amazing writer. Even though I don't particularly care for the plots of his books, I read for the writing, because it's that good. For an example, in this part the main character is being dragged to a stranger's funeral with his rabbi father:

"Ruben [the rabbi] finishes speaking and nods to the funeral director, who moves forward and flips a switch, and the coffin slowly begins to descend into the grave. The only sound is the small motor of the coffin-lowering device, and that shouldn't be what Mrs. Zeiring hears as her son is taken away from her. Someone should sing, Silver thinks, and then someone does -- a low, somewhat hoarse man's voice singing 'Amazing Grace' quietly but with great sincerity. Ruben's eyes grow wide, and almost in the same instant that it occurs to Silver that 'Amazing Grace' is not sung at Jewish funerals, he recognizes the singing voice as his own."

Overall a great story, even if his parents call him by his last name. I agree with the publisher that it is laugh out loud one paragraph and moved to tears the next.
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One Last Thing Before I Go takes its cues from protagonist Drew Silver, both are funny, poignant, sad, and a bit fucked up.
There is a certain pattern which felt repetitive as I got to the end. Consciously I was trying to let the story unfurl, but it was hard to not anticipate the turn. You expect each time he does something that he is going to either faint or blurt something out, and he does, pretty much every time.
However it takes a while to really become distracting and overall the characters are likable and fun and it has a lot of heart. Also, the ending is pretty strong if a bit safe. ( )

Washed-up drummer, dead-beat dad Silver decides to die. The next week or two forces him to interact with his family, especially his 18 yr old daughter.

Tropper has a way with dialogue -- the chapters that are solely dialogue are some of my favourites. It's pithy and emotional and so much gets said in so few words. If he and [a:Aaron Sorkin|225509|Aaron Sorkin|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1247937179p2/225509.jpg] got together, wow.

All the characters are characters, they are interesting and complex. There's heartache and laughter in the wit of the writing. The emotions described are so real. Much of the narrative is very perceptive and profound, too. Even about little things, but certainly about the big things. The dynamics of a family are spot-on.

My favourite thing about the writing is that it is told in third person omniscient, but almost seems first person. Artful and effective!

One complaint: When she's trying on her wedding dress, Denise remembers the chair where her mom sat when Denise tried on a dress for her first wedding, watching her, both of them teary because Dad had died a few years earlier. But in the scene where everyone's at Elaine and Ruben's house for the intervention, the narrative says that Elaine was like a mother to Denise because Denise's mother died when she was 13 of breast cancer. And at Denise's wedding, Silver notes her father.
Where was the eagle eye of the editor in this???
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the first one I've read of Jonathan Tropper's work, and I'm looking forwards to reading the rest of his novels. The main character, Silver, is a bit of a sad sack and lost soul, and now he knows that he's also about to lose his life as well. Sounds like it should be a depressing novel, right? But it's not. There is humor throughout the book, even when characters find themselves in painful situations. The author does a great job making you care about each of the characters. I found myself rooting for Silver throughout the book, yearning for him to repair relationships and engage in new ones. It's a very quick read, and a wonderful one at that! ( )

Nobody writes comedic tragedies quite like Jonathan Tropper. He gives his characters these horribly depressing situations to live through (in this book, aging rock star Silver has messed up his life and his relationship with his family and then gets the news that he could die at any second), but the books are so funny that I think of them as humorous books rather than sad ones. As Silver struggles to come to terms with his ex-wife’s remarriage, his teenage daughter’s pregnancy and the realities of his life and limited future, Tropper treads on ground that will simultaneously break your heart but make you snort out loud with laughter. I don’t quite know Tropper pulls off this balancing act but he does and I just love it. ( )