Jonathan Tropper Entertains Crowd at Book Revue

A large audience attended an event at the Book Revue to hear author Jonathan Tropper talk about his New York Times' best-seller "This is Where I Leave You" on Tuesday night. Tropper kept the audience laughing while recounting his experience writing the story and after reading an excerpt, he answered questions and signed copies of the book and his other works.

In explaining his idea behind "This is Where I Leave You," Tropper told the audience of more than 60 people, "I wanted to write a book about a guy who was, for the most part, stripped of everything he felt made him a man." The book follows the main character, Judd Foxman, who while still reeling from learning of his wife's affair with his boss, his father dies and he is forced to return home and sit shiva with his tactless, sarcastic, and dysfunctional family.

Tropper read an excerpt of the book's first chapter, in order to give the crowd an introduction to Foxman and his family. He apologized in advance for his boring reading style, saying "I'm not an actor, I'm a writer. And the reason I'm a writer and not an actor, if not obvious, will soon become obvious."

He also told the crowd he was tired of talking about the book, having gone on a tour following the book's initial release last year, and shared a story about a fan in Dallas who "chastised" him for referring to a character by the wrong name. Tropper's witty commentary delighted the audience, who found him to be a funny and engaging speaker.

"He was very funny and very honest," said Mike Strom of Plainview, who said Tuesday's event was his first time at the Book Revue for a book signing. "I liked it. He's the first author I really wanted to see. The book's a really funny outtake on sitting shiva, and I wanted to hear him talk about it."

Many audience members came to the event having not read the book yet. Lindenhurst resident Mary Rizzo said she was drawn to Tropper's story after reading reviews of the book. "It sounded interesting," she said. "I think the book is going to be a lot of fun."

Christine Gerraputa of Smithtown agreed. "I always come here for book signings and he looked like somebody who would be really interesting."

After reading from "This is Where I Leave You," Tropper answered questions from the audience. When asked about his current projects, Tropper said he is currently pitching a dark series to HBO with Alan Ball, a writer and director from the HBO drama True Blood. He is also adapting a Steve Martin novel, "The Pleasure of My Company," into a film script, and teaches a fiction workshop at Manhattanville College.

As for his own book, Tropper said "This is Where I Leave You" is currently in production to be turned into a movie by Warner Brothers. One audience member remarked that while reading the book, he could see it being made into a movie. According to Tropper, others agree, with one of his followers on Twitter having already cast the entire movie on their own.

"This is Where I Leave You" was released last year, with the paperback version hitting stores two weeks ago. It's currently 18th on the New York Times' best-seller list for paperback trade fiction, and is a popular title at local bookstores, including the Book Revue.

"We have a lot of book group members frequent our store, and it's a natural choice for those kinds of discussion," said Julianne Wernersbach, the Book Revue's publicist. "It's been doing particularly well here."

Wernersbach said she was very pleased with Tuesday's turnout. "We definitely had a bigger crowd than we expected. It's great to have over 60 people here on a Tuesday night in the middle of the summer. This was terrific, he was wonderful and really easy to host."

Tropper also said he had a great time at the Book Revue. "You always end up with a better experience at independent book stores," he said. "We had a great crowd."