The Book of Joe

Rating:
Summary: Somewhere between Perrotta and Chabon...
Review: The Book of Joe manages to be both hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. I picked it up because Plan B, Tropper's first novel, had been such a fun read, and was fankly surprised by how much I started caring about the characters. Joe Goffman returns to the town he trashed in his bestselling novel, and the reaction of the town, his family, old friends and his old girlfriend are what drive this compelling story. The book is being adapted for the screen by Warner Brothers, and if they can capture the essence of this book, I think, they'll have a major hit on their hands. Tropper writes with a clear and very funny voice, and then, all of a sudden, you come across a sentence so perfect, almost poetic, that you find yourself rereading the entire paragraph. His voice perfectly captures the irony and pathos of a thirty-something man trying to make sense out of lost loves and age old wounds. At times I laughed out loud, and at times I had tears in my eyes. If you like anyone from Nick Hornby to Michael Chabon to John Irving to Tom Perrotta, you will love The Book of Joe.

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: The Book of Joe was a great book to read. It has all of the elements of a novel that make you wish the book was longer. While enjoying the reading, you will lament that there are fewer and fewer pages left to read as you progress through the book. The characters are well developed; very early on in the book the reader feels as part of the story, easily identifying with the people and places in the book. The writing style and main character remind me of Nick Hornby novels which I greatly enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: Book of Joe
Review: This is a very heartwarming story, that manages to stay "real" in the sense that it covers the most emotional events in life without degenerating into over-sentimentality. The novel is classic 30-something fiction -- following the classic story arch that you've seen in many different models ranging from the insipid (Sweet Home Alabama) to dark comedy (Grosse Point Blank). The somewhat intellectual misfit bolts from small town that he is, he believes, too good for, with not inconsiderable amount of baggage, only to return and find that he was not as grown up as he thought and that you can leave but home never quite leaves you.

There are many interesting twists on the story here; mostly that the protagonist has written a best selling novel about the place he left, in which he torches it with a heavy and at times fair but at others unfair hand. The relationships explored are classic ones, as Joe returns to face his dying father, brother, old girlfried, old coach, first Mrs. Robinson adolescent crush, best friend, and high school bully. Add in a new character -- his brother's son -- to form a new relationship that serves as a the catalyst for the inevitable redemption that follows. The action, and pacing is sort of organized hub-and-spoke style, with Joe as the hub, and these other characters at the end of spokes. In other words, the book is about Joe's evolving relationship with each of these characters -- the "spokes" if you will. But the novel, smartly, also explores relationships of the other characters with each other, as seen through Joe's eyes. His brother and his son; his old coach and his brother; his ex and his best friend. It is these secondary complementary relationships -- the across-the-spokes ones, to keep the metaphor going -- that add a really nice extra layer of texture to this novel.

Joe is exceptionally likeable, and that makes it all work. Not without flaws, but able to understand that point, and seriously desirous of change; it's tough not to root for him. Happily, as noted above, the novel also does not disintegrate into sappiness or easy resolutions, and the novel's final line (spoiler) "maybe," is perfect, in the sense that Tropper merely gives youa hint that things might just work out for Joe, without giving up resolutions too easily or departing from what he's spent 350 pages working at -- convincing his protagonist that successful relationships take work.

There are some things to be critical about. (Hopefully my five stars will make clear that I think these detract from the overall enjoyability of this book only slightly.) First, one of the relationships that seems to motivate much of Joe's thinking and action -- his relationship with the Coach/patriarch of the small town -- is not sufficiently well developed. Joe hates him for a particular event for which the coach deserved to be hated, but of all the Joe relationships in the book, this seems to be one of the ones that is least ripe for extended discussion. But, in fact, it turns out to be the only one that's really resolved before the end of the book. (Other than two that are resolved by death.) The big showdown scene with the coach seems not quite to fit. Second, the book does not *always* avoid over sentimentality. One important scene went over the top for me. Joe brings his AIDS inflicted best friend to play basketball on the last night of his life to the gym where his father also suffered the stroke that killed him. After finding himself on the "exact spot" where his father died, Joe notices that his hands are smudged with ink from the signatures on the basketball signed by the members of his father's glory-days basketball team, and then later that night watches the ink wash down the drain of the shower as he showers with his ex-girlfriend with whom he's about finally to re-consumate his relationship after many years. Tropper hits you over the head not just with the ink metaphor but with a mini-diatribe on the fragility-of-memories message that the washed away ink represents. It was a little too much for me. Third, Joe's perhaps biggest sin from his past relates to his turning his back on a friend, whom he'd made an implicit pact (in the form of accepting overt sexual flirtations from the friend's mother) to protect. Joe doesn't pay enough for this sin, in my opinion, and the events with the mother seem not to fit quite right.

A final word for Bruce Springsteen fans. Springsteen plays a central role in the novel -- his words appear frequently, and even where they do not, fans of his music will see situations and characters from his music (many, very thinly veiled) everywhere in the novel. Joe himself is something of a Springsteen fan, although he admits that his Bruce poster that still hangs in his childhood bedroom was mostly for "credibility." The problem is that Springsteen doesn't fit here. While many of the songs and ideas invoked are from the earnest, irony-free zone that Springsteen fosters, Joe, his childhood friends, and his new friend (his nephew) are more sarcastic, post-modern, ironics. While Joe finds some superficial comparison in Springsteen characters -- pulling out of town full of losers -- that's where the comparison ends. What becomes patently clear about halfway through the novel is that while Tropper himself is undoubtedly a very big Springsteen fan, in this novel with this character, he's trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

Rating:
Summary: A truckload of sarcasm and humor!
Review: When best selling author Joe Goffman returns to his hometown due to his father's stroke, he ends up getting much more than he expected. It seems that his book, a thinly veiled fictional account of his growing up in the town, had caused a bit of an uproar when it was released. Fortunately for Joe, he was still living in New York City, where his greatest worries were feeling guilty for driving his Mercedes, psycho ex-girlfriends who call just to tell him how much of a jerk he is, and getting advice from his best and only friend Owen, his literary agent.

Joe's return to Hope Falls is anything but dull. While his father's physical condition worsens, he begins to get to know his jock brother Brad and Brad's family a bit better. Joe forms a special bond with Brad's son Jared, a somewhat rebellious teenager who has a penchant for paintball and marijuana. Joe even gets re-acquainted with Carly, his high-school sweetheart and only woman he's ever loved and his best friend Wayne who is dying from AIDS. To top it off, Joel is presented with the opportunity to live out a childhood fantasy with one of his best friend's mom.

Meanwhile, Joe must deal with the wrath of those who were affected by his writing, including an ex-con, a policeman, and the local basketball coach who practically owns the town. When the coach's wife greets Joe with a milkshake poured over his head, he knows he's in trouble. Even the book club gets in on the act by personally dumping their copies of his book on the front lawn. It seems that everyone wants a piece of him.

The Book of Joe is a touching coming-of-age story told with a smidgen of emotion and a truckload of sarcasm and humor. Jonathan Tropper (Plan B) has created a first person narrative that dances back and forth through time, from his Springsteen-inspired teen years, to his unpredictable present, never missing a beat. The Book of Joe is currently in development at Warner Brothers Studios. Let's just hope the movie is as good as the book.