Bereft hipster stuck in suburbia struggles to rejoin the world of
the living after losing his wife in a plane crash.In a full-on
retreat from human contact, 29-year-old Doug Parker passes the year
following the death of his wife of two years in a numb Jack
Daniel's - fueled haze. An anomaly in the upper-middle-class town
of New Radford, the freelance writer only moved there to be with
Hailey, a divorcee ten years his senior. Doug copes with the loss
through his popular monthly "How to Talk to a Widower" magazine
column, while fending off the advances of the local womenfolk, who
yearn to ease his pain. Both hyper-aware of his unique situation,
yet filled with self-loathing, he struggles mightily with the
realization that his career success, comfortable home and affluence
(via a fat airline settlement) all stem from Hailey's death. He
also has to deal with conflicted feelings for Hailey's son Russ, a
sensitive but troubled teenager who is in worse shape than Doug.
Feeling unwelcome in the home of his womanizing dad, Jim, Russ
dabbles in drugs and gets into fights. He needs a stable male
figure in his life - a role Doug hardly feels qualified to take on.
Meanwhile, Doug's bossy twin sister Claire suddenly moves in with
him after her marriage falters, taking it upon herself to get her
brother dating again, demanding that he begin to say "yes" to life.
Doug goes out on a series of comically unsuccessful dates, while
flirting with Russ's foxy guidance counselor Brooke. He also
succumbs to the hottest of his desperate housewives, Laney Potter,
setting off a chain of events culminating at the wedding of his
baby sister Debbie, a brittle overachiever. With strong, impossibly
beautiful female characters and naughty, unworthy men, Tropper's
latest (Everything Changes, 2005, etc.) is a resigned yet hopeful
examination of grief with a side of human absurdity.Warm and
modestly knowing, with a wisecracking slacker hero. (Kirkus
Reviews)
When Doug Parker married Hailey-beautiful, smart and ten years
older-he left his carefree Manhattan life behind to live with her
and her teenaged son, Russ, in a quiet Westchester community. Three
years later, Hailey has been dead for a year, and Doug, a widower
at 29, just wants to drown himself in self-pity and Jack Daniels.
But his family has other ideas...Russ is furious with Doug for not
adopting him after Hailey died, and has fallen in with a bad crowd.
Claire, Doug's irrepressible and pregnant twin sister, has just
left her husband and moved in uninvited, determined to turn his
life around. Then there's Debbie, their younger sister, engaged to
Doug's ex-best friend and maniacally determined to pull off the
perfect wedding at any cost. Soon, Doug finds himself trying to
forge a relationship with Russ, reconnecting with his own eccentric
nuclear family, and reluctantly dipping his toes into the
shark-infested waters of the second-time-around dating scene. It
isn't long before his new life is spinning hopelessly out of
control, cutting a harrowing and hilarious swath of sexual missteps
and escalating violence across the suburban landscape. Funny, sad,
sexy, and smart, HOW TO TALK TO A WIDOWER is a novel about finding
your way, even when you have no idea where it is you want to go.
General
Imprint: |
Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
April 2007 |
Authors: |
Jonathan Tropper
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 153 x 31mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Unsewn / adhesive bound
|
Pages: |
352 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-7528-8575-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-7528-8575-8 |
Barcode: |
9780752885759 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!