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    The Book of Joe: A Novel
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    The Book of Joe: A Novel
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    The Book of Joe: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    The Book of Joe: A Novel

    Written by Jonathan Tropper

    Narrated by Tom Cavanagh

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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 bad-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 story.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 30, 2004
    ISBN9780739311387
    Unavailable
    The Book of Joe: A Novel
    Author

    Jonathan Tropper

    Jonathan Tropper is the author of This Is Where I Leave You, How to Talk to a Widower, Everything Changes, and The Book of Joe. He lives with his family in Westchester, New York, where he teaches writing at Manhattanville College.

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    Reviews for The Book of Joe

    4/5

    350 ratings26 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I liked the dialogue -- and there was lots of it. Funny, smart and quick. For me, it wasn't particularly memorable. It was a nice read but I was happy to move on to something else when I was done.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 5/5
      The ending made me happy. So if you're worried while reading this, know that there is goodness yet to come.

      This was humorous and inspiring. I can't ask much more from a book. I was frustrated at times with Joe because it seemed he ought to know better.

      But Joe dishes some classic lines.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book. The only reason I bought it was because my son is called Joe he is 3 and a half. This is the story of Joe Goffman who writes a book which is loosely based on his life story. He moves to New York becomes a big success but all the people in his home town of Bush Falls are angry with him.He returns home after an absense of 17 years as his estranged father has had a stroke. Joe gets into fights but he also gets to know his brother an nephew. Joe's father dies. Joe sticks around as he gets back in touch with his ex Carly and his old mate Wayne who is dying of aids. Good story with some quite good touching scenes.
    • 4/5
      BEWARE: This book was originally published under the title of Bush Falls.

      He's a prodigy of alienation. Now a successful writer, having written a book about his home town, Bush Falls, that savaged the place, Joe receives a call from his sister-in-law that his father has had a stroke (he was at the top of the key, had just released the ball, and came down unconscious. Basketball aficionados present noted the ball swished.) Joe's brother, Brad, ex-sports star, and their father never had much time for Joe. His mother had committed suicide, a manic depressive, for whom the piles of pills didn't work, so Joe wrote a book about his town, never dreaming it would be published which has made him personna non grata, but it made him rich. Now finds he is obligated to go back home for his father's illness.

      So as with Tropper's other books, in the first few pages a similar scene is set: death, sex, familial dysfunction, alienation. Tropper's books all have similar themes and characters: a stepson/nephew/child. dying parent, dead parent, sibling, a main character alienated from his family. That does not mean they are redundant; each is different in its own way and each equally appealing and often funny and poignant. I like them all. Note, however, that this book is much darker than the others.

      Listened to the audiobook read by Scott Brick who provides excellent narration.
    • 4/5
      It's really weird that I ended up enjoying this book so much because I basically predicted everything that would happen within the first chapter or two. Yet by the end of it, I still cried a little bit and could relate to quite a few characters in the book. I guess that is the part that matters in the end.
    • 4/5
      The book of Joe is the story of Joe Goffman, an author who writes a book that thinly veils the residents of his hometown. He never expects to be back, but circumstances have led him home. I found this book to be funny and poignant. It was recommended by Books on the Nightstand. Good read!
    • 4/5
      I really loved this book! It was filled with the type of self deprecating humor I love. Also,very real,honest emotions expressed by a typical,sometimes cluless 34 year old guy!There were a few scenes where I had to "suspend reality" and I wondered if they were done with a future movie in mind! Despite this it was a vey enjoyable read.
    • 5/5
      Wow - from an author who never fails to make me laugh I was shocked at how many times I was moved to tears in this book...I loved it! Can't wait to see the movie, as it lends itself to a screenplay so well. The characters are touching and authentic. My absolute favorite by Tropper!
    • 3/5
      * NO SPOILERS WERE USED IN THE WRITING OF THIS REVIEW *After a rocky start with too many cultural references (which I find annoying because they don't age well), I did end up getting sucked into this book. The writing is crisp and modern, with some unexpectedly striking descriptions.However, the plot is too predictably heart-warming for my taste, offering no intellectual challenges whatsoever.This may be a good easy-reading or vacation choice along the lines of a Jodi Picoult or Michael Cunningham novel; entertaining, but with very little true substance.
    • 4/5
      A book club member selected this, and it didn't sound terribly interesting. I loved it. Joe is a mess and doesn't get too much better during the course of the novel, but the characters are vivid and often funny, sometimes heartbreaking. A very different type of book from what I usually read, I found it refreshing and didn't want to put it down.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to rate this book higher because I was very engaged for the first two thirds of the book. It was familiar though I can't tell if that is because I was able to relate to the characters or because the whole "estranged son returns to mend fences thing" has been done. A LOT. Regardless, I was hooked and couldn't put the book down until the end. And then I was so disppointed that the ending was so quick and cliche. The more I thought about it, the more that the characters because superficial caricatures, shallow literary devices. Now if the author was going for that as a statement about our own inability to really feel deeply in this day and age, then he's awesome and I'll re-rate. But I didn't get that impression. I'm going to read his other book that just came out and see if that makes a difference.
    • 4/5
      I have to admit, I wasn't sure about this one at first. I mean it's about a guy who writes a novel about his home town and then returns 17 years later. When I heard that, I thought it must be cheesy, right? Actually, no. The way it played out was quite unexpected. I recommend reading it yourself.
    • 4/5
      Great plot. I can see this as a movie. Entertaining. Whomever said you can never go home again, was absolutely correct according to this book! Great read!
    • 5/5
      You can't judge a book by it's blurb, and this book is a perfect example why. The blurb made it sound like a quirky funny light read, but there's really so much more to the story. It was also very touching and insightful. I really liked how he wrote about his high school years. It made me very nostalgic. Beautiful right to the very end. I highly recommend it. I just finished it tonight, and I've already passed it on. It made my top 10 of 2007.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book even when I could forsee the occasional plot turn - It was a fast great read, I laughed twice as much as I cried, and I occasionally felt like I was reading an Irving novel with the delicious plot twists, irony and prose. I earmarked over 20 pages to revisit because they so perfectly captured a subtle reality about life, love and coming of age - the author has a unique voice and I want to be his new best friend. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      This is the story of Joe who was not really accepted in high school, so after he left home he wrote a novel which is a thinly disguised tell-all about his hometown and the people in it. But when Joe is in his 30s, he must go home after his father has a stroke. I think this book is totally great. I experienced so many emotions reading this book, from laughter to tears. The story is told with flashbacks to Joe's last year in high school and what made him hate his town so much. It is beautifully written, easy to read and with a great deal of humor.
    • 5/5
      Outstanding! Definetly one of my top 10 favorites. Excellent wit, laughed out loud & brought a tear to my eye. The author is a genius.
    • 5/5
      Again, great cover. Read a good review in EW, and liked the premise. Read the book and loved it -- passed it around to a bunch of people at work, and even was able to have the author come to our book group -- and then again when his next book came out. He's a very talented writer and a great guy. Read this book!
    • 5/5
      Amazing. One of the best books I have read.
    • 3/5
      This book is about Joe Goffman, who left sleepy Bush Falls, Connecticut after high school 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’s father has a stroke, so it's back to Bush Falls for the town's most famous pariah. This book turned out to be more of a drama than the comedy I expected, but I enjoyed it a lot anyway and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
    • 3/5
      Joe Grossman is going home. Not that Bush Falls is likely to give him a warm welcome. His incendiary best-selling novel, and the big budget film based on it, have pretty much guaranteed that the seventeen years and the two and a half hour driving distance between Bush Falls and Joe’s apartment in Manhattan is still not long enough or far enough for Joe to be away from home. But a dying father has called him home.It doesn’t help that Joe’s current writing has not been going well. His agent is less than thrilled with the manuscript he’s just submitted and more than hints that the difficult second novel often produces sub-standard efforts. He too thinks Joe needs to go back to Bush Falls and confront whatever demons are preventing him from writing the way he did with his first novel, the one in which he got even with the town for the horrible events that took place during his senior year in high school.Jonathan Tropper set ups numerous opportunities for comic set pieces, verbal gunfire, and awkwardness to the nth degree. But the surprising thing is how this comic novel turns on itself to become a poignant examination of death, dying, love and remorse. It borders on being insightful and profound, and if it doesn’t quite get there (the incessant drive for the zinger is an inherently constraining, conservative impulse) it at least suggests that Tropper might have the potential for some real show stoppers down the line. Which is recommendation enough for me.
    • 4/5
      Brief Description: Joe Goffman left his small Connecticut town of Bush Falls after high school and never went back—except in his creative life when he wrote a novel called Bush Falls that is a thinly disguised account of his life growing up in the town. The book was a bestseller and was made into a movie. It also pissed off a lot of people in Bush Falls who didn’t appreciate the way that Joe depicted them. Now Joe’s father is on his death bed, and Joe must return to the Bush Falls and face the consequences of his book, his abandonment of the people he left behind and the choices he made in the past. He’s also forced to confront the writer’s block he’s faced since Bush Falls was published.My Thoughts: I’ve been wanting to read another Tropper book ever since falling in love with This Is Where I Leave You. Although I didn’t think The Book of Joe was as strong as This Is Where I Leave You, it deals with many of the same themes: loss of a parent, reconciling with the past, family dysfunction and regret. Tropper is a master of putting his protagnoists in horrible uncomfortable situations and having them twist and turn (often very amusingly) until they are able to grow and mature and finally deal with all the crap they’ve ignored for too long. I enjoy how Tropper is really writing tragedies but gives them a comedic edge that keeps you laughing. It is difficult to straddle this line, but Tropper does it skillfully. I’m definitely going to continue reading his books.
    • 3/5
      Started out well, about a guy who goes back to the town where everyone hates him because he wrote a novel about it. But it degenerated into stereotype - the two gay guys die, one from suicide and one from AIDS; and our hero gets the girl, his first high school love.