I imagine readers thoughts are all over the place from disappointment to greatness and everything in between. Henry Smith is a student at a college prep school whose parents are well-off. Because of his love for his son, Henry's father attempts to protect Henry from life, often spending money to that effect, but of course, this doesn't stop life from afflicting Henry. One day, Franklin, Henry's older brother, gets hit by a car and hospitalized. The novel's action begins when Franklin arises from his coma, looks Henry straight in the eyes, mutters a single word, "Katahdin," and then dies. At some point, earlier than later, a divorcee might face any number of self-revelations, such as: that meaningful love is elusive;

How had his father guessed? 'Remember you were Cambodian before you were American.' And so he had taken his dog to teach him what he had to learn. He beat her. He made him watch. He starved her. He made him watch. 'Learn how to be strong,' he said. Then he took her away. 'She is drowned,' he said when he returned. 'Learn to be cold inside.' Brodesser-Akner is not the first author to split a book about marriage into two parts, or to explore the unknowability of one’s spouse, or to subvert a man’s chronicle by means of a woman’s. “ Fates and Furies,” by Lauren Groff, modified the golden tale of Lotto, a successful playwright and a complacent husband, with the spikier one of Mathilde, his angry, secretive wife. This conceit works best when you don’t see it coming. It requires the reader to fall under the hero’s spell, to view him as an Everyman with relatable urges and complaints. Toby compels our empathy, but something glib and superficial about his sections can strain the connection. He’s a sharp critic of the forever rich, as opposed to the precariously or hepatologist-salary rich, and he notices every Botox injection. A well-heeled patient projects “processed uptownness.”

Customer reviews

Gary Schmidt does an incredible job with character development, and he is one of those writers that can take a small phrase and so clearly set the scene and make you visualize what’s happening. He especially does a great job with the scenes with the dog—it is obvious that the author knows and likes dogs, and those scenes were both heartbreaking, and hysterical! In addition to Henry, the characters of Henry’s friend Sanborn (who shows up to climb Katahdin and support his friend--despite Henry’s attempt to go it alone) and of “the enemy” Chay are superbly done. Sanborn and Henry have one of those deep male friendships disguised by constant insults and even fights—the kind of fights where neither gets mad no matter who wins. And Chay has layers that are revealed a small bit at a time. He goes from The Bad Guy of the story to just…human.

Brodesser-Akner has Rachel silently dropping the two children off at their father’s apartment and then disappearing for several weeks. Toby is infuriated that he can’t get ahold of Rachel. They have joint custody and he has enjoyed his time without the children to pursue his new-found sexual freedom [the classic mid-life crisis cliché]. He has to take personal days to take care of them—which negatively impacts his professional life. [Sound familiar working women?] Here is a portrait of modern love and marriage that is blisteringly funny, wincingly painful, and - ultimately - both heartbreaking and humane. Fleishman Is in Trouble reminds me of the great novels of the 1960s and 1970s - just the sort of thing that Philip Roth or John Updike might have produced in their prime (except, of course, that the author understands women). Taffy Brodesser-Akner can write the pants off any novelist out there. She's a star, and this book is a work of utter perfection'- Elizabeth Gilbert There's Aaron. Silent and loner Aaron who thinks that by getting close to Hannah and her friends, he can forget the things that happened in his old school. Now, when Aaron found out that Hannah is pregnant, he decided to tell everyone that it's his. And why is that? Because he's stupid! Lol just kidding. But anyway, this is where my conflicting feelings starts. Trouble is an extremely fun, wonderfully British and compassionate novel with a serious side. I started to read Trouble shortly before attending the Walker Blogger Night, just to see what it was like, and before I knew it, I was dropping my current book and taking it to work with me. If you enjoy young adul Smart and sassy but also dark and scabrous, fans of Maria Semple will love Fleishman Is in Troubl e too.' - Red OnlineOne day a couple of years in, she realises “that she was not the most perfect person to be married to Jonathan Bell – even though she was married to him and liked him very much.” She breaks this to him not long after he’s had thyroid surgery – she “told Jonathan her news”, is the way Ford describes their conversation; the information is all in her control. Yet the reader knows he will not react too badly; the story is, for the most part, an elegant meditation on the currents of adult relationships, and how far any of us can escape our histories. It is the strongest piece in this uneven book, yet there is still a laziness of observation which also mars, for the most part, the other tales.