How to Talk to a Widower

Front Cover
Bantam Books, 2008 - Fiction - 380 pages
"Beautifully crafted", "Fantastically funny." "Compulsively readable." Jonathan Tropper has earned wild acclaim—-and comparisons to Nick Hornby and Tom Perrotta—for his biting humor and insightful portrayals of families in crisis and men behaving badly. Now the acclaimed author ofThe Book of JoeandEverything Changestackles love, lust, and lost in the suburbs—in a stunning novel that is by turns heartfelt and riotously funny. Doug Parker is a widower at age twenty-nine, and in his quiet suburban town, that makes him something of a celebrity—the object of sympathy, curiosity, and, in some cases, unbridled desire. But Doug has other things on his mind. First there's his sixteen year-old stepson, Russ: a once-sweet kid who now is getting into increasingly serious trouble on a daily basis. Then there are Doug's sisters: his bossy twin, Clair, who's just left he husband and moved in with Doug, determined to rouse him from his Grieving stupor. And Debbie, who's engaged to Doug's ex-best friend and manically determined to pull off the perfect wedding at any cost. Soon Doug's entire nuclear family is in his face. And when he starts 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 often hilarious swath of sexual missteps and escalating chaos across the suburban landscape. From the Hardcover edition.
 

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
10
Section 3
19
Section 4
29
Section 5
39
Section 6
52
Section 7
59
Section 8
71
Section 21
207
Section 22
212
Section 23
220
Section 24
226
Section 25
238
Section 26
245
Section 27
258
Section 28
264

Section 9
88
Section 10
95
Section 11
108
Section 12
131
Section 13
134
Section 14
141
Section 15
151
Section 16
158
Section 17
165
Section 18
178
Section 19
190
Section 20
199
Section 29
273
Section 30
290
Section 31
302
Section 32
309
Section 33
314
Section 34
330
Section 35
340
Section 36
347
Section 37
359
Section 38
368
Section 39
381
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

Jonathan Tropper is the author of How to Talk to a Widower, Everything Changes, The Book of Joe, Plan B, and One Last Thing Before I Go. He adapted his novel, This Is Where I Leave You, into a feature film starring Jason Bateman and Tina Fey. He is an executive producer and co-creator of the Cinemax series Banshee. He teaches writing at Manhattanville College.

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