Jonathan Tropper’s novel The Book of Joe dazzled critics and readers alike with its heartfelt blend of humor and pathos. Now Tropper brings all that–and more–to an irresistible new novel. In Everything Changes, Tropper delivers a touching, wickedly funny new tale about love, loss, and the perils of a well-planned life. EVERYTHING CHANGES To all appearances, Zachary King is a man with luck on his side. A steady, well-paying job, a rent-free Manhattan apartment, and Hope, his stunning, blue-blooded fiancée: smart, sexy, and completely out of his league. But as the wedding day looms, Zack finds himself haunted by the memory of his best friend, Rael, killed in a car wreck two years earlier–and by his increasingly complicated feelings for Tamara, the beautiful widow Rael left behind. Then Norm–Zack’s freewheeling, Viagra-popping father–resurfaces after a twenty-year absence, looking to make amends. Norm’s overbearing, often outrageous efforts to reestablish ties with his sons infuriate Zack, and yet, despite twenty years of bad blood, he finds something compelling in his father’s maniacal determination to transform his own life. Inspired by Norm, Zack boldly attempts to make some changes of his own, and the results are instantly calamitous. Soon fists are flying, his love life is a shambles, and his once carefully structured existence is spinning hopelessly out of control. Charged with intelligence and razor sharp wit, Everything Changes is at once hilarious, moving, sexy, and wise–a work of transcendent storytelling from an exciting new talent.
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"Erectile dysfunction of the soul. I actually thought about ending my review at that. But I can't ignore the other ha ha moments in this quirky character driven work that is a genre in and of itself to me much like the movie Garden State and another book I dug, The Loosemeat Sandwich King of Hammtramck. Flawed and devolved, the King family weaves love for one another and harbored animosity into a tapestry of one crazy predicament after another. Zack, the oldest and most put together like a melting snowfort in a heat wave, suffers from PTSD and cold feet. Pete, the middle child is, as described in the book, "retarded", but is more likely a functioning autistic adult. Matt, the rebellious punk rocker, is the most deeply affected by the absence of Norm, their father who abandoned them years ago but makes an unannounced grand re-entrance into their lives. Calamity ensues. Benny Hill music plays in my head. Enjoy."
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Dave (4 out of 5 stars)