One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper – 324 pages
Book Blurb:
Silver has begun to accept that life isn’t going to turn out as he expected. The exwife he’s remained friends with is about to marry a terrific guy Silver can’t quite bring himself to hate. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter has just confided in him that she’s pregnantβbecause he’s the one she cares least about letting down. As the wedding looms and the pregnancy sinks in, this broken family struggles, bonds, and wrestles with each member’s individual anxieties. Lives begin anew, change radically, or, in Silver’s caseβas he discovers that he could die at any moment without an operation he refuses to haveβmay be about to end in an instant.
My Review: 4 stars
Jonathan Tropper does it again! He is so good at creating character driven novels and getting deep into their psyche. With raw wit he shares a sad story about Silver (we never learn why he doesnβt use his first name) and how his loneliness since his divorce has landed him at a worn down apartment building filled with other divorced men. These men have such a vast vacancy in their lives and we learn how they cope and in some cases, try and recover and move on. Denise, the ex wife was an insightful, important character who had happily moved on. Silverβs daughter Casey was a perfectly portrayed 18 year old and through her, we watch Silver become alive while in reality heβs literally dying. Fast, entertaining read.
Quotes I liked:
The dull, defeated expression that had become his default in recent years disappeared, and sheβd seen, well, her Silver.β
– βShe rolls onto her side to watch him sleep. His face loses something in slumber, and he looks unfamiliar to her, like a word repeated endlessly until its syllables disintegrate into meaningless sounds.β
– βWe donβt stop loving people just because we hate them, but we donβt stop hating them either.β
– βBut more often than not, Silve seems to get a pass just for being Silver. She chafes at the injustice of his having acquired favored-nation status simply by being an irresponsible asshole of a father…β
Now even younger children can follow the little green caterpillar as he eats his way to becoming a beautiful butterfly in this sturdy board book Great for early development Children will enjoy this delightful tale Ages 2 to 5
Review:Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb was an intimate introduction to Frank Sinatra and his lifelong love, Ava Gardner. Admittedly, I knew next to nothing about the man or the woman behind their star status. I for sure have heard Frankβs music as my parents were, and still are, fans of his songs.The good news is that by writing in the first person from Frankβs POV and Avaβs POV, the reader is introduced to them in an accessible way. It didnβt matter if youβve been a lifelong fan or not familiar with either of them, we all start the book as equals.I was shocked at the at how fast their relationship could go from cold to hot. The way they could both love and fight with such passion and acrimony was crazy. Yet they always, well almost always, came back to one another.Learning about how they were raised, the struggles they went through, and the allowances given to men (not women) were all addressed throughout the book. Depression, alcoholism, addiction, and infidelity were commonplace in star-studded Hollywood.Fans of movies and old Hollywood will adore this book and folks like me, who knew little to none about Frank and Ava will enjoy it too!Heather Webb, Author @msheatherwebb @williammorrowbooks π What's your favorite song? π#newreview#bookreader#bookreview#goodbookfairybookreview #tbr #AddtoTBR#goodbookfairy... See MoreSee Less