The Book of Joe (Jonathan Tropper)

From BookList, March 15, 2004

After vilifying his hometown and its residents in his thinly veiled first novel, Joe Goffman got rich. The book was a hit, as was the movie that followed, but his new Mercedes and swank New York digs can't save him from having to go home again. After his father suffers a stroke, Joe returns to Bush Falls, Connecticut--and to the adolescence he's never really outgrown. With his father comatose, his childhood best friend dying of AIDS, the great love of his life intent on ignoring him, and the entire town furious at him for slandering them in his novel, Joe's got plenty to deal with. But in spite of his hero's serious problems, Tropper keeps Joe's narration self-deprecatingly funny throughout. The plot is sometimes annoyingly predictable and, sure, it gets a bit sappy, but most readers will be too amused by Tropper's fantastically funny dialogue to care. And as Joe struggles to reconcile himself to his past, the novel proves surprisingly poignant, even tender. A first-rate tale of a thirtysomething's belated coming-of-age.
JohnGreen.

I enjoyed this book so much. Even though the story was not very original (it reminded me of Peyton Place, a book I read when I was 14), the description of smalltown USA was so realistic. I shouldn't say smalltown USA, small towns anywhere are the same. Everybody knows and minds everybody's business. I laughed a lot, e.g. when Joe decides to hang out with his nephew, and trespasses into an abandoned company campus to play paintball. I was very moved when Joe realizes his father was very proud of him, and even hung a poster of the Bush Falls movie on his bedroom door. And his friendship with Wayne is just beautiful.

Comments

[Nuku_Hiva95]

Je n'ai pas lu Peyton Place à 14 ans. Mais bon, j'ai dû passer une partie de l'année à essayer de lire Le portrait de Dorian Gray et l'autre partie à m'en remettre. J'avais eu tellement de mal à comprendre mais j'avais adoré. Ma passion pour Oscar Wilde date de cette époque même si je ne le lisais qu'en français. Merci à un ex-correspondant anglais (David) de m'avoir offert les oeuvres complètes en anglais il y a 20 ans.
Bien des années après, je vais enfin relire The Picture of Dorian Gray.

[Jackie Brown]

The similarities are more with Grace Metalious, who exposed the dirty secrets of a New England town in Peyton Place, and Return to Peyton Place where Allison Mackenzie returns to Peyton Place (hence the title) after writing a bestseller exposing the dirty secrets of a New England town.

[InColdBlog]

I've also read Peyton Place when I was a teenager! I even watched the TV series.
I find it funny you found similarities between the two stories.

[Nuku_Hiva95]

J'ai bien envie de le lire. Même si Peyton Place...