I couldn’t tell you what compelled me to get this book out of the library, but I am glad I did. Tropper might just be one of my new favorite authors. His prose was so smart and so visual that there were sentences that just wowed me. And there was something like that on almost every page. This is just a good writer, someone who gets it.

Silver, our protagonist, is just a selfish a-hole. Always has been, and maybe always will be. He’s been a lousy dad and husband, and is therefore divorced and estranged from his daughter, living in an apartment with other divorced men in a sort of sad little club. His ex-wife is days away from getting married, when his 18-year-old daughter shows up and announces to him that she is pregnant. Shortly after that, he suffers a stroke and learns that his days are numbered unless he gets surgery to repair a tear in his heart.

He selfishly decides NOT to get the surgery, and due to the stroke, he seems to suffer from the lack of an internal edit button when it comes to the things he says. So he spills the beans about his daughter’s pregnancy to his wife, who freaks out, and also tells her he’s still in love with her. As the book progresses, his honestly and lack of filter continues to upset his family and cause drama all around him.

Because he knows he is dying, he lives life with a lack of regret, but also a lack of awareness of consequences. His intentions may be good, but his execution is horrible, almost comically bad.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about this book and its author. I was thoroughly impressed and will definitely be picking up Tropper’s other work.