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The Book of Joe: A Novel by Jonathan Tropper
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The Book of Joe: A Novel (original 2004; edition 2005)

by Jonathan Tropper

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1,0543919,211 (3.84)13
Fiction. Literature. HTML:Right after high school, Joe Goffman left sleepy Bush Falls, Connecticut and never looked back. Then he wrote a novel savaging everything in town, a novel that became a national bestseller and a huge hit movie. Fifteen years later, Joe is struggling to avoid the sophomore slump with his next novel when he gets a call: his father's had a stroke, so it's back to Bush Falls for the town's most famous pariah. His brother avoids him, his former classmates beat him up, and the members of the book club just hurl their copies of Bush Falls at his house. But with the help of some old friends, Joe discovers that coming home isn't all badâ??and that maybe the best things in life are second chances.
Fans of Nick Hornby and Jennifer Weiner will love this book, by turns howling funny, fiercely intelligent, and achingly poignant. As evidenced by The Book of Joe's success in both the foreign and movie markets, Jonathan Tropper has created a compelling, incredibly resonant sto
… (more)
Member:mcclemen
Title:The Book of Joe: A Novel
Authors:Jonathan Tropper
Info:Bantam (2005), Edition: 0, Paperback, 338 pages
Collections:To read
Rating:
Tags:None

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The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper (2004)

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» See also 13 mentions

English (35)  French (2)  Dutch (1)  German (1)  All languages (39)
Showing 1-5 of 35 (next | show all)
Memorable plot, though not without Questions:

1. If Everyone in this small Bush town knows Everything that happens,
why did No One move on Sean's attempted murder of Joe?

2. The only truly awkward and improbable plot twist is yet another Sean Encounter,
this time at The Falls where Sammy died.

3. Problems with Joe -= why does the rich man give NOTHING to any charity or set up his own?
= Given his ongoing physical weakness, notably in his inability to protect Sammy from Sean and Mouse,
why does he never, ever take up a Martial Art to learn to defend himself and earn much needed credibility
with both his older brother and his father...?

Jared, Wayne, and Owen ended up being favored characters. ( )
  m.belljackson | May 10, 2023 |
I read this after his new one, How to Talk to a Widower. It was another funny, quick read that flash backed to the mid-eighties which I could really relate to, especially all of the Bruce Springsteen references (I'm a big Bruce fan). ( )
  baruthcook | Aug 26, 2020 |
This book reminds me of running down a steep hill. At some point the momentum just carries you no matter what crazy things you are tripping and jumping over. I usually hate any kind of book(or movie for that matter) that feels like it is an industry book. Usually, I won't read a fiction book about a writer because it just all feels far too insidery and unimaginative. This is an exception to that rule. I really liked the characters in this book and even as events got more and more over the top I felt like Tropper kept me invested in the characters and their feelings. Its a fast read - and probably not for everyone but I really enjoyed it. ( )
  alanna1122 | Feb 5, 2019 |
The ending definitely feels like a movie ending. I'm not certain whether or not that's a good thing, it was an enjoyable read, so I guess I'll go with good.

There's a lot of interesting introspection in this book, about going home, and what happens when you've left a burning mess when you left, years before.

It's hard to go home again, it's been said that you can never really go home again, so it's interesting to see how this story unfolds. I don't quite understand his nonchalance when people come to confront him, he seems very passive, he observes more than interacts with the world much of the time. Maybe that's a trait of some authors?

The interactions with his former love, and enemies are well-done, it seems plausible, without being too difficult or too easy. ( )
1 vote Pepperwings | Jun 8, 2018 |
Joe Goffman, who fled his hometown of Bush Falls after graduating high school and has not been back since, has returned after his father suffers a stroke. Joe is infamous in his hometown. He has hit the big time, so to speak, after writing a best-selling book based on Bush Falls, which in turn was optioned into a movie. Unfortunately, the residents of Bush Falls don't look so favorably on him, so his homecoming is less than ideal.

I am gradually making my way through Jonathan Tropper's books, and I do have to say that Tropper is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. I love his sense of humor and the witty banter between his characters. While this one was probably not my favorite of his thus far, and I'm starting to see somewhat of a pattern with his stories, I still really enjoyed this one. My only regret was that I listened to the abridged audiobook. It was a good abridgment as far as abridgments go, but I think I would've enjoyed an unedited, unabridged version even more. ( )
  indygo88 | Feb 10, 2018 |
Showing 1-5 of 35 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
Now a life of leisure and a pirate's treasure
Don't make much for tragedy
But it's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin
And can't stand the company

--"Better Days," Bruce Springsteen
It's a town full of losers
I'm pulling out of here to win

--"Thunder Road," Bruce Springsteen
Dedication
For my daughter, Emma Yetta Tropper, whose laughter and love renew me on a daily basis, and in memory of the great lady whose name she bears, Yetta Tropper, who never found a room she couldn't light up simply by entering.
First words
Just a few scant months after my mother's suicide, I walked into the garage, looking for my baseball glove, and discovered Cindy Posner on her knees, animatedly performing fellatio on my older brother, Brad.
Quotations
Time doesn’t heal as much as it burns things in the undergrowth of your brain, where they lie in wait to ambush you when you least expect it
"Things happen. Small things and large things and things just keep changing you, little by little, until there’s no trace of who you used to be. If I get lost, this journal will be like a record of who I was, a trail of bread crumbs to find my way back."
The things that matter don’t change. The distance between you and them just gets progressively bigger.  I’m here to tell you; that at the end of the day, which is where I currently reside, nothing else matters but the things that truly matter. This is nothing you didn’t know before, but even though you know it, it doesn’t mean you really know it.  Because if you really knew it, you’d act on it, man. Shit, if I could go back now…
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Literature. HTML:Right after high school, Joe Goffman left sleepy Bush Falls, Connecticut and never looked back. Then he wrote a novel savaging everything in town, a novel that became a national bestseller and a huge hit movie. Fifteen years later, Joe is struggling to avoid the sophomore slump with his next novel when he gets a call: his father's had a stroke, so it's back to Bush Falls for the town's most famous pariah. His brother avoids him, his former classmates beat him up, and the members of the book club just hurl their copies of Bush Falls at his house. But with the help of some old friends, Joe discovers that coming home isn't all badâ??and that maybe the best things in life are second chances.
Fans of Nick Hornby and Jennifer Weiner will love this book, by turns howling funny, fiercely intelligent, and achingly poignant. As evidenced by The Book of Joe's success in both the foreign and movie markets, Jonathan Tropper has created a compelling, incredibly resonant sto

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