BookPeople Review: ONE LAST THING BEFORE I GO

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper
Reviewed by Spencer

Hilarious. Sad. Empathetic. Crazy. There are a lot of ways to describe Jonathan Tropper’s new novel, but really it’s just a fun read that will appeal to anyone who is searching for the meaning of life. Which should be all of us. Drew Silver, who is called Silver for the rest of the book, is a divorcee, a former one-hit-wonder rock star, a bad father, a bad husband, a bad friend, yet somehow makes everyone love him all the more. As if his life wasn’t complicated and messed up enough, he develops a tear in his aorta that is life-threatening unless surgically repaired. But Silver, being the life-long screw up that he is, isn’t sure that he wants to have the surgery that will save his life. His daughter, who is eighteen and off to Yale at the end of summer, gets pregnant by the neighbors’ son. He is in love with a girl with whom he has never spoken and who plays acoustic sets at the local bookstore café. The highlight of his day is when he ogles college-aged girls lounging around the pool near his apartment, The Versailles, a place where divorced men go to become fat and depressed. But through it all comes a story of hope, of love, of reconciliation, and the notion that no matter how screwed up a life gets, it’s still worth living. So pick up the book, and start living!