![]() ![]() The death-themed comedy has a long history, of course. Judd and his three siblings gather in their family home with their mother, Hillary, a neighbor named Linda, and Linda’s son Horry, who dated Judd’s sister Wendy back in high school, before he was beaten badly in a fight and developed a permanent neurological condition that makes him dependent on his mother. Judd receives a call from his sister informing him that their father has died and that his final request was that the family – a secular brood if ever there was one – sit shiva for him. ![]() The protagonist and first-person narrator is Judd Foxman, who has recently separated from his wife after she slept with his boss. I suppose I’ll start with the fact that the premise of this novel is really quite good. Where to begin in my review of this disaster of a novel? With the nonstop implausible sex and violence? With the children who speak and act like sitcom children rather than the real thing? With the hackneyed displays of emotion? With the clunky transitions in and out of flashbacks? With the prose that sometimes descends into the sorts of sentences that 10 th graders are asked to fix in grammar workbooks? Choices abound. ![]()
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