Everything Changes
Jonathan Tropper, 2005
Random House
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385337427
Summary
Jonathan Tropper’s novel The Book of Joe dazzled critics and readers alike with its heartfelt blend of humor and pathos. Now Tropper brings all that—and more—to an irresistible new novel. In Everything Changes, Tropper delivers a touching, wickedly funny new tale about love, loss, and the perils of a well-planned life.
To all appearances, Zachary King is a man with luck on his side. A steady, well-paying job, a rent-free Manhattan apartment, and Hope, his stunning, blue-blooded fiancée: smart, sexy, and completely out of his league. But as the wedding day looms, Zack finds himself haunted by the memory of his best friend, Rael, killed in a car wreck two years earlier—and by his increasingly complicated feelings for Tamara, the beautiful widow Rael left behind.
Then Norm—Zack’s freewheeling, Viagra-popping father—resurfaces after a twenty-year absence, looking to make amends. Norm’s overbearing, often outrageous efforts to reestablish ties with his sons infuriate Zack, and yet, despite twenty years of bad blood, he finds something compelling in his father’s maniacal determination to transform his own life. Inspired by Norm, Zack boldly attempts to make some changes of his own, and the results are instantly calamitous. Soon fists are flying, his love life is a shambles, and his once carefully structured existence is spinning hopelessly out of control.
Charged with intelligence and razor sharp wit, Everything Changes is at once hilarious, moving, sexy, and wise—a work of transcendent storytelling from an exciting new talent. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Where—Riverdale, New York, USA
• Education—N/A
• Currently—lives in Westchester, New York
Jonathan Tropper is also the author of Everything Changes, This is Where I Leave You, How to Talk to a Widower, The Book of Joe, and Plan B. He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, and their children in Westchester, New York, where he teaches writing at Manhattanville College.
How To Talk To A Widower, was the 2007 selection for the Richard and Judy Show in the United Kingdom. Everything Changes was a Booksense selection. Three of Tropper's books are currently being adapted into movies. Tropper is also currently working on a television series How to Talk to a Widower which was optioned by Paramount Pictures, and Everything Changes and The Book of Joe are also in development as feature films. (Adapted from the publisher and Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
The arrival of a long-lost absent father forces a Manhattan man to come to terms with an ongoing romantic triangle in Tropper's latest, a funny, sensitive and occasionally over-the-top comic novel that revolves around the calamitous life of 32-year-old Zack King. King's a horrible job as a corporate drone for a supply company is balanced by his impending marriage to Hope, his gorgeous, successful fianc e. But chaos comes with the arrival of his wacky divorced father, Norm, who left Zack and his two brothers after his wife used graphic pictures of his infidelity as the backdrop for the family Christmas cards. Norm makes himself an unwelcome guest as Zack tries to deal with a potentially devastating health problem and a job crisis that makes him realize how much he hates his life. But the real problem is Zack's growing attraction to Tamara, the beautiful, recently widowed single mother who was married to Zack's friend Rael until a car accident took Rael's life and left Zack alive during an ill-fated road trip to Atlantic City. Viagra-popping Norm becomes increasingly cartoonish as the novel unfolds, and the triangle material is boilerplate, but pithy observations on love, marriage and corporate life give the book a graceful charm. Tropper continues to display a fine feel for romantic comedy in this enjoyable follow-up to The Book of Joe.
Publishers Weekly
Tropper, author of Plan B (2000) and The Book of Joe (2004), offers up the story of Zachary King, a man in his early thirties facing a possible health crisis and major life changes.... By turns funny and moving, Tropper's warm, winning tale will appeal to both male and female readers and may draw comparisons to Nick Hornby and John Scott Shepherd. —Kristine Huntley
Booklist
Girlfriend problems, workplace problems, deadbeat dad problems, even a cancer scare: The sky is falling on the hapless protagonist of Tropper's third (The Book of Joe, 2004, etc.). A very minor earthquake rattles windows in Manhattan, and Zack instinctively reaches out for Tamara before remembering he's in bed with Hope. The author signals us right off the bat that Tamara is Zack's soulmate, though it takes 300-plus pages for true love to win out. There are, in fact, good reasons for 32-year-old Zack's ambivalence. While both women are gorgeous (and feebly differentiated), Tamara is the widow of Zack's best friend, Rael, who died in a car crash that Zack survived. So he's now cast in the role of sympathetic friend to Tamara and her small daughter, Sophie, whereas with Hope there are no complications. That's why the smart, sophisticated Upper East Sider is Zack's fiancee, and the engagement party is just days away. Zack sees himself as the middleman, unable to turn Hope loose or declare himself to Tamara. In his job, which he hates, he really is a middleman, brokering deals between vendors and manufacturers. Add to the mix Zack's father, Norm, who shows up after many years' absence and a bitter divorce from wife Lela. Here again, Zack is ambivalent, raging at his old man's fecklessness but moved despite himself by Dad's sentimental warmth. All this, and then Zack rushes to the urologist after seeing blood in his urine. Tropper seems conflicted too. Should he go for bittersweet realism or for laughs? There are lots of Viagra jokes and three slapstick brawls—the last one at the engagement party, when Hope's father goes ballistic after catching Zack and Tamara smooching. Then Tropper pulls a rabbit out of the hat in the form of an adorable five-year-old, for a shamelessly weepy finale. Touching and true descriptions of Zack's broken family, including a lovely vignette of his retarded brother; the rest is fluff.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Everything Changes begins with an earthquake, in New York City no less. How does Zach interpret this event? What does it lead you to expect from the novel?
2. Several times, Zach refers to himself as the man in the middle-among friends, in his family, and especially at work. To what extent is this true? To what extent is he also expected to be the man in charge?
3. When Norm arrives for his surprise reunion, the first thing Zach notices is his father's bulge. What was your reaction to this theme of virility in comic proportions? How do the novel's characters view their own sexiness, including Pete (who wanted the Mustang to be his chick magnet)?
4. Zach's health scare gives him a quick lesson in urology, and mortality. What else does his experience with Dr. Sanderson teach him about himself, physically and emotionally?
5. In chapter Seven Zach recalls the wreck that took Rael's life. How do you picture Zach before the accident? In what way does it seem to have changed him? Were Rael and Tamara a good match?
6. In your opinion, what is the novel's turning point? What spurs Zach to face his true self? Can it be attributed to one event, or was it a gradual process that would have happened no matter what?
7. Chapters Ten and Eleven give us a glimpse of Matt as a performer, while Zach is botching a one-night stand with Jesse. What do Matt and Zach have in common at that point in their lives, besides being brothers?
8. How do Lela's sons perceive her? How does she compare to the other women in their lives?
9. Discuss the choices Jonathan Tropper made in crafting a storytelling voice for Zach. How does he weave new plot twists with Zach's memories? What is the effect of the passages that begin "this is what happens" and are written in the second person?
10. How does Zach's family compare to Hope's in ways that extend beyond material wealth? Does her overzealous father share any personality traits with Norm? Do Vivian and Lela have similar burdens to bear?
11. Zach shirks responsibility and fools around with other women. Does this mean he is following in his father's footsteps?
12. Zach and his family take on a number of bullies in the novel: bosses, snobs, a country club that Norm believes to be anti-Semitic, rude doctors, and Satch, who sold the car to Pete. How many of these battles do they win? How do they define victory?
13. Though Tamara didn't initially want children, she is devoted to her daughter. What is Sophie's role in Zach's life? How does her presence shape the narrative?
14. What stays the same in Everything Changes? What are the constants in Zach's life?
15. What did Norm mean at the end of chapter Thirty-nine when he writes, "If all it took was the love in my heart, I'd be father of the year"? Was Henry the only reason he came back to his family? Could anything have made him stay? Could anyone have made him honest?
16. Why were Tamara and Zach so hesitant to acknowledge their attraction? Was it simply an issue of timing, or were they both afraid of something deeper?
17. What do you predict for Henry's new life with Zach? What will Henry's role be among his three colorful brothers?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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