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Plan B: A Novel
The heartwarming debut novel by the New York Times bestselling author of This is Where I Leave You and One Last Thing Before I Go.
Turning thirty was never supposed to be like this. Ten years ago, Ben, Lindsey, Chuck, Alison, and Jack graduated from New York University and went out into the world, fresh-faced and full of dreams for the future. But now Ben's getting a divorce; Lindsey's unemployed; Alison and Chuck seem stuck in ruts of their own making; and Jack is getting more publicity for his cocaine addiction than his multimillion-dollar Hollywood successes.
Suddenly, turning thirty-- past the age their parents were when they were born, older than every current star athlete or pop music sensation-- seems to be both more meaningful and less than they'd imagined ten years ago.
Plan B , Jonathan Tropper's wonderful debut novel, is about more than friendship, love, celebrity, addiction, kidnapping, or even turning thirty-- it's a heartfelt comic riff on what it means to be an adult against your will, to be single when you thought you'd have a family, to discover you are not, in fact, immortal, and to learn that Star Wars is as good a life lesson today as it was when you were six years old.
Turning thirty was never supposed to be like this. Ten years ago, Ben, Lindsey, Chuck, Alison, and Jack graduated from New York University and went out into the world, fresh-faced and full of dreams for the future. But now Ben's getting a divorce; Lindsey's unemployed; Alison and Chuck seem stuck in ruts of their own making; and Jack is getting more publicity for his cocaine addiction than his multimillion-dollar Hollywood successes.
Suddenly, turning thirty-- past the age their parents were when they were born, older than every current star athlete or pop music sensation-- seems to be both more meaningful and less than they'd imagined ten years ago.
Plan B , Jonathan Tropper's wonderful debut novel, is about more than friendship, love, celebrity, addiction, kidnapping, or even turning thirty-- it's a heartfelt comic riff on what it means to be an adult against your will, to be single when you thought you'd have a family, to discover you are not, in fact, immortal, and to learn that Star Wars is as good a life lesson today as it was when you were six years old.
368 pages, Paperback
First published February 5, 2000
145 people are currently reading
4053 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Tropper
18 books3,213 followersJonathan Tropper is the author of Everything Changes, The Book of Joe , which was a Booksense selection, 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 optioned by Paramount Pictures, and Everything Changes and The Book of Joe are also in development as feature films.
-Information from www.jonathantropper.com
-Information from www.jonathantropper.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 626 reviews
May 4, 2015
2.5 Stars. Gosh I hate giving this book a negative review, but after reading 6 other JT books, I just don't feel this one was in the same league. I didn't much care for the characters who acted kind of juvenile for age 30 and found no laugh out loud moments as is customary for me. Am so glad I did not read this debut novel first as I may not have discovered Tropper as one of my favorite authors. Look forward to future books!
April 9, 2019
3.5 Stars rounded to 4. Not my favorite Tropper book but still good because he's such a great writer.
May 18, 2019
Again, I am not going to get into the plot because you can get that from reading somebody else's review and frankly, it makes me feel like I'm writing a fifth grade book report. Suffice it to say, I love Tropper's writing and have read and liked every single book he has witten. His characters are often funny, often eccentric or both, but always real, his stories are gripping, and his style is lighthearted one moment, poignant the next. "Plan B" is no exception. Tropper and Tom Perrotta have similiar styles so if you like Tom, you'll like Jonathan. To the best of my knowledge, Tropper hasn't written a novel in a while--- I believe he is concentrating on writing screenplays these days. If you see him around tell him I wish he would go back to books.
June 12, 2021
Oh, Jonathan Tropper, how I've missed you.
It's been way too long since I read Jonathan Tropper. Tropper's one of those authors who consistently has me laughing out loud and enjoying myself through each of his books. While his characters all tend to be similar (over-analytical, self-critical, white, upper middle-class), it doesn't really matter because I love how Tropper brings them to life in awkward and hilarious situations. And he is - bar none - the master of dialogue.
Yes, Plan B is a little formulaic. Yes, its protagonist is a guy who wants to be a writer and ends up getting his inspiration from the events in this book. Yes, it's a first novel about college friends reuniting to figure out where they're going several years down the road. But it's quirky and wise and somewhat sentimental (which I like) and the characters are great - not pretentious and unlikable, like another book with similar themes which I just finished called The Futures. This book has actual depth and actual relationships and while the characters are self-pitying, yes, well... weren't we all a little bit as we eased over the hump of 30?
His characters in future books are a little more bogged down (marriage, mortgage, minivan, 1.5 kids) and I liked how his characters here were less jaded. This book is set in 1998 - another big bonus for me as the nostalgia factor was jacked up. I could totally see this book being turned into a movie starring the cast of I Know What You Did Last Summer or Dawson's Creek.
Some of my favorite bits:
"What we need is a Vulcan pinch," I said.
"Are they referencing Star Trek again?" Alison asked.
"They are," said Lindsey.
"Why do they always have to do that?"
"Because they have penises."
Chuck had somehow missed the stage where we all outgrew salutations like 'dude' and 'eat me', and he clung to those anachronisms tenaciously, as if they might somehow slow down the balding process.
By the way, Chuck has some great one-liners sprinkled throughout. My favorite, when Ben brings home a deformed, runt-of-the-litter pumpkin on Halloween eve: "Where'd you get that pumpkin, Chernobyl?"
And his cultural references are bang-on. I love his little insights into Baywatch and how you can tell the villain is the bad guy because he's the only one without a tan. That made me giggle.
It's been way too long since I read Jonathan Tropper. Tropper's one of those authors who consistently has me laughing out loud and enjoying myself through each of his books. While his characters all tend to be similar (over-analytical, self-critical, white, upper middle-class), it doesn't really matter because I love how Tropper brings them to life in awkward and hilarious situations. And he is - bar none - the master of dialogue.
Yes, Plan B is a little formulaic. Yes, its protagonist is a guy who wants to be a writer and ends up getting his inspiration from the events in this book. Yes, it's a first novel about college friends reuniting to figure out where they're going several years down the road. But it's quirky and wise and somewhat sentimental (which I like) and the characters are great - not pretentious and unlikable, like another book with similar themes which I just finished called The Futures. This book has actual depth and actual relationships and while the characters are self-pitying, yes, well... weren't we all a little bit as we eased over the hump of 30?
His characters in future books are a little more bogged down (marriage, mortgage, minivan, 1.5 kids) and I liked how his characters here were less jaded. This book is set in 1998 - another big bonus for me as the nostalgia factor was jacked up. I could totally see this book being turned into a movie starring the cast of I Know What You Did Last Summer or Dawson's Creek.
Some of my favorite bits:
"What we need is a Vulcan pinch," I said.
"Are they referencing Star Trek again?" Alison asked.
"They are," said Lindsey.
"Why do they always have to do that?"
"Because they have penises."
Chuck had somehow missed the stage where we all outgrew salutations like 'dude' and 'eat me', and he clung to those anachronisms tenaciously, as if they might somehow slow down the balding process.
By the way, Chuck has some great one-liners sprinkled throughout. My favorite, when Ben brings home a deformed, runt-of-the-litter pumpkin on Halloween eve: "Where'd you get that pumpkin, Chernobyl?"
And his cultural references are bang-on. I love his little insights into Baywatch and how you can tell the villain is the bad guy because he's the only one without a tan. That made me giggle.
September 21, 2014
I’ve read several of Tropper’s books. He specializes in the dysfunctional family. This one concerns four friends: our narrator, Ben, long in love with Lindsey, but just getting divorced from Sarah; Chuck, the Rogaine-using surgeon who can’t seem to get enough sex; Jack, a movie star with a bad cocaine habit, now estranged from them after they attempted a half-hearted intervention; and Allison, Jack’s sort of girlfriend.
But the worst thing is they’re turning thirty. “If I were a dog I’d be dead. Thirty . . . shit. It’s a nice round number to arrive at if you have it all together. Success, love, a family, the overall sense that you actually belong on the planet. If you have all that, you can wear thirty well. But if you don’t, it feels like you’ve missed the deadline, and suddenly your chances of ever getting it right, of ever achieving true happiness and fulfillment, are fading fast. . . Thirty . . . shit. Crows feet, jowls, love handles. I’ve started to see myself through the eyes of the teenagers I pass on the street, repeatedly shocked by the realization that they see me as older. So many of the things I’ve eaten with impunity for years suddenly give me indigestion. Nothing feels new anymore. Everything I see just reminds me of something else. I know now that there are certain things I’ll never do in my life. A shirt I still think of as new turns out to actually be seven or eight years old. Seasons are quicker, holidays vaguely disturbing. Statistically speaking, I’ve used up more than one third of my life span, the healthiest third. And where are the tradeoffs? Where’s the authority? The wisdom? The confidence that was supposed to have come with adulthood? I’m only experienced enough to know that I’m as clueless as I ever was.”(Man, would I love to be thirty again. My kids all thought thirty was death. Now they’re all approaching or are past forty, it’s a different story.)
Convinced they can only help Jack with drastic measures, they adopt Plan B. They kidnap him to get him out of his addiction. Then things get complicated. They realize their motivations weren’t quite what they professed. On the other hand, “The Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man weren’t just helping Dorothy for the hell of it. They all had their own reasons for wanting to see the Wizard.”
A very sweet book and thoroughly enjoyable. It has suspense, conflict, surprise, and humor. “That guy” Don told us when we greeted him on the porch, “got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn’t watching.” “He definitely has severe delusions of adequacy.”
But the worst thing is they’re turning thirty. “If I were a dog I’d be dead. Thirty . . . shit. It’s a nice round number to arrive at if you have it all together. Success, love, a family, the overall sense that you actually belong on the planet. If you have all that, you can wear thirty well. But if you don’t, it feels like you’ve missed the deadline, and suddenly your chances of ever getting it right, of ever achieving true happiness and fulfillment, are fading fast. . . Thirty . . . shit. Crows feet, jowls, love handles. I’ve started to see myself through the eyes of the teenagers I pass on the street, repeatedly shocked by the realization that they see me as older. So many of the things I’ve eaten with impunity for years suddenly give me indigestion. Nothing feels new anymore. Everything I see just reminds me of something else. I know now that there are certain things I’ll never do in my life. A shirt I still think of as new turns out to actually be seven or eight years old. Seasons are quicker, holidays vaguely disturbing. Statistically speaking, I’ve used up more than one third of my life span, the healthiest third. And where are the tradeoffs? Where’s the authority? The wisdom? The confidence that was supposed to have come with adulthood? I’m only experienced enough to know that I’m as clueless as I ever was.”(Man, would I love to be thirty again. My kids all thought thirty was death. Now they’re all approaching or are past forty, it’s a different story.)
Convinced they can only help Jack with drastic measures, they adopt Plan B. They kidnap him to get him out of his addiction. Then things get complicated. They realize their motivations weren’t quite what they professed. On the other hand, “The Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man weren’t just helping Dorothy for the hell of it. They all had their own reasons for wanting to see the Wizard.”
A very sweet book and thoroughly enjoyable. It has suspense, conflict, surprise, and humor. “That guy” Don told us when we greeted him on the porch, “got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn’t watching.” “He definitely has severe delusions of adequacy.”
April 10, 2015
This is like reading a very funny historical novel in a way. Recent history, but technology changes so quickly it feels like a long time ago. Beepers, VCRs, Baywatch, the cultural references are fun, but what makes this novel enjoyable is the writing. Tropper is great at being sneakily insightful about life while seeming to just be writing an amusing tale of friends who kidnap their drug-addicted movie star friend to force him to detox and give him a chance to get off the cocaine. The happy ending is a little neat, but I liked it anyway and would definitely recommend this book.
January 18, 2010
This is my third Tropper novel, but it was his first and it definitely reads that way. The writing was still great - he writes excellent, hilarious characters - but there was a bit of adjective abuse, particularly in the first chapter (like this horrifically over-written sentence: "The restaurant's dim lighting lent a jaundiced pallor to his already ashen complexion, making him appear gaunt and sickly.") and I'm not really much of a fan of protagonists who are also authors.
Also - it wasn't in present tense! Which was disappointing since apparently I love books written in first person present.
But I still managed to enjoy the book quite a bit. Enough to read it in one sitting!
Here are some highlights (which, for the record, were a HUGE pain in the ass since this was a library book and I had to, you know, stop reading, get a pen and a piece of paper and, like, KEEP TRACK OF IT and shit. It's so much easier just to click the highlight button on my Kindle!)
"It took me a few years to realize that nothing was happening for me. Nothing doesn't happen all at once." (Don't know why but that really struck me as true.)
"On my way home from work that day I actually spent sixty-five bucks on a full-sized Darth Vader mask, the kind that goes completely over your head. There was no rational reason for buying it. I saw it in the window of the Star Magic Shop and just walked in and bought it. It had that delicious smell of new plastic, the smell of childhood." (The protagonist is a huge star wars geek, which just made me love him that much more.)
"There was something undeniably comforting about [Baywatch:], especially at one in the morning when the emptiness of your life was keeping you awake. Endless sunny days, beautiful women, so accessible in their tight red bathing suits, clearly defined moral situations, weekly heroics and long romantic walks on the beach set to eighties-style love songs. Everything life wasn't. Baywatch was how your eyes massaged your brain." (So THAT's why men watch it.)
"...it never occurred to me that she could be experiencing the same combination of disconnection and emptiness closing in on her that I'd been feeling. The sense that time was switching from a jog to a sprint and we weren't even in the race. My heart went out to her, even while my petty misery retroactively welcomed her company. Until you found your way out of the woods, it was reassuring to find other people lost in them with you."
This might not have been Tropper's best work, but I'm only judging him against his own better work. This is still a damn good book by my standards.
Also - it wasn't in present tense! Which was disappointing since apparently I love books written in first person present.
But I still managed to enjoy the book quite a bit. Enough to read it in one sitting!
Here are some highlights (which, for the record, were a HUGE pain in the ass since this was a library book and I had to, you know, stop reading, get a pen and a piece of paper and, like, KEEP TRACK OF IT and shit. It's so much easier just to click the highlight button on my Kindle!)
"It took me a few years to realize that nothing was happening for me. Nothing doesn't happen all at once." (Don't know why but that really struck me as true.)
"On my way home from work that day I actually spent sixty-five bucks on a full-sized Darth Vader mask, the kind that goes completely over your head. There was no rational reason for buying it. I saw it in the window of the Star Magic Shop and just walked in and bought it. It had that delicious smell of new plastic, the smell of childhood." (The protagonist is a huge star wars geek, which just made me love him that much more.)
"There was something undeniably comforting about [Baywatch:], especially at one in the morning when the emptiness of your life was keeping you awake. Endless sunny days, beautiful women, so accessible in their tight red bathing suits, clearly defined moral situations, weekly heroics and long romantic walks on the beach set to eighties-style love songs. Everything life wasn't. Baywatch was how your eyes massaged your brain." (So THAT's why men watch it.)
"...it never occurred to me that she could be experiencing the same combination of disconnection and emptiness closing in on her that I'd been feeling. The sense that time was switching from a jog to a sprint and we weren't even in the race. My heart went out to her, even while my petty misery retroactively welcomed her company. Until you found your way out of the woods, it was reassuring to find other people lost in them with you."
This might not have been Tropper's best work, but I'm only judging him against his own better work. This is still a damn good book by my standards.
October 22, 2013
Like Nick Hornby, reading Jonathan Tropper is sort of like pulling on a comfy sweater or slipping into a warm bath. There's just something about his stories of angsty, pop-culture-obsessed thirtysomethings that resonates with me (even though I'm now an angsty, pop-culture-obsessed fortysomething, and isn't that a sad state of affairs). Even so, I have to admit that his first book is entertaining but underwhelming – a little clumsy in places and definitely too pleased with itself, with just a soupçon of sitcom obviousness to taste. And anyone allergic to the trials and tribulations of privileged white people should start popping Allegra tout de suite. But I loved every minute of it.
Narrator Ben just turned thirty – he's stuck in a dead-end job (writing lists for Esquire), freshly divorced, and still pining for his college girlfriend, Lindsey. Lindsey, of course, is equally rudderless – scared of settling down and unsure what she wants to do with her life. Two of the three other members of their college gang – Chuck (surgeon) and Alison (lawyer) – also wear varying shades of dissatisfaction, and it's into this bouillibaise of ennui and regret that fifth friend Jack (Famous Hollywood Actor™) lands with his burgeoning cocaine addiction.
The friends realize that an intervention is just the thing they need to give their lives purpose, so they spirit Jack away to Alison's parents' home in upstate New York. Like I said, it's a little sitcommy, and that aspect only gets amplified once they begin their "cure." This isn't helped when the small-town police and FBI get involved (the former stereotypically dopey, the latter conveniently sympathetic). But it's still damn funny, and Tropper (even at this early stage of the game) has a knack for creating finely-drawn characters that are sad but never pathetic. It's not a compete success (there are multiple passages and turns of phrase that sound like something I'd write – which I mean as a criticism of Tropper and not as praise for myself), but it's clear that this guy was going to go on to do great things.
Narrator Ben just turned thirty – he's stuck in a dead-end job (writing lists for Esquire), freshly divorced, and still pining for his college girlfriend, Lindsey. Lindsey, of course, is equally rudderless – scared of settling down and unsure what she wants to do with her life. Two of the three other members of their college gang – Chuck (surgeon) and Alison (lawyer) – also wear varying shades of dissatisfaction, and it's into this bouillibaise of ennui and regret that fifth friend Jack (Famous Hollywood Actor™) lands with his burgeoning cocaine addiction.
The friends realize that an intervention is just the thing they need to give their lives purpose, so they spirit Jack away to Alison's parents' home in upstate New York. Like I said, it's a little sitcommy, and that aspect only gets amplified once they begin their "cure." This isn't helped when the small-town police and FBI get involved (the former stereotypically dopey, the latter conveniently sympathetic). But it's still damn funny, and Tropper (even at this early stage of the game) has a knack for creating finely-drawn characters that are sad but never pathetic. It's not a compete success (there are multiple passages and turns of phrase that sound like something I'd write – which I mean as a criticism of Tropper and not as praise for myself), but it's clear that this guy was going to go on to do great things.
March 15, 2011
I'd read other novels by Jonathan Tropper before reading Plan B, which was a good thing because if I'd read this first I would have given up on him. It's very obvious to me that this was his first novel, based on the plot and character development. It was also obvious this was his first time at the rodeo because his publisher didn't give him a good editor as there are some glaring errors in this novel - I'm talking spelling, mistakes in character names, and some logistics that a good editor would have caught (e.g., the movie Jerry Maguire was spelled Jerry McGuire; you cannot buy Tupperware brand products in retail stores).
However, if I'd read this book at the age of 30-32, rather than 40, I might have enjoyed it more. But ten years after hitting 30 I was just annoyed by all the freakin' whining of the narrator about being 30 and oh-my-god-what-do-I-do-now?
I'll keep reading Tropper, knowing that his writing has vastly improved with time. But I wouldn't recommend Plan B to someone new to his work.
However, if I'd read this book at the age of 30-32, rather than 40, I might have enjoyed it more. But ten years after hitting 30 I was just annoyed by all the freakin' whining of the narrator about being 30 and oh-my-god-what-do-I-do-now?
I'll keep reading Tropper, knowing that his writing has vastly improved with time. But I wouldn't recommend Plan B to someone new to his work.
January 10, 2010
There was a time when books were automatically going to be better than their cinematic knock offs. I think it's no coincidence that with the rise of movie making and viewing the opposite is becoming more and more true.
I have noticed that in the last twenty years of writing, books have sounded either like they are trying too hard to be a sitcom or movie because that is mainly what the writer has been exposed to, or that the book is just waiting to be put to movie form, thereby secreting superficial plot lines, pithy turns of phrase and lots of visuals, with little left to the imagination. This is the category Jon Tropper, as of a first read, falls into for me.
Plan B is a combination of Friends the sitcom and some shmaltzy Hallmark special with soft music at the touching parts. It is an at times all out depressing tale of five goofy friends who, while imparted with their token stereotypes, all seem to have one personality - the author's - as they attempt a dramatic intervention on their movie star friend.
The movie star friend has the least identity among all of them, and since he is the center of the drama, I found this particularly weird. And the snappy come backs that were just waiting for a laugh track - while at times entertaining - made it hard to figure this book out, as it also delved into deep existantial angst.
In short, all five friends learn a lesson and get over their own more abstract addictions (which the author makes sure to spell out in case that wasn't clear) and yet another trying to be macho guy and deep at once books makes it way back to the library.
I will just say that it is a fast read, and mildly enjoyable, as opposed to my usual 2 star downers, so I would have even given it three if the narrator wasn't the biggest sissy to darken my literary world.
I have noticed that in the last twenty years of writing, books have sounded either like they are trying too hard to be a sitcom or movie because that is mainly what the writer has been exposed to, or that the book is just waiting to be put to movie form, thereby secreting superficial plot lines, pithy turns of phrase and lots of visuals, with little left to the imagination. This is the category Jon Tropper, as of a first read, falls into for me.
Plan B is a combination of Friends the sitcom and some shmaltzy Hallmark special with soft music at the touching parts. It is an at times all out depressing tale of five goofy friends who, while imparted with their token stereotypes, all seem to have one personality - the author's - as they attempt a dramatic intervention on their movie star friend.
The movie star friend has the least identity among all of them, and since he is the center of the drama, I found this particularly weird. And the snappy come backs that were just waiting for a laugh track - while at times entertaining - made it hard to figure this book out, as it also delved into deep existantial angst.
In short, all five friends learn a lesson and get over their own more abstract addictions (which the author makes sure to spell out in case that wasn't clear) and yet another trying to be macho guy and deep at once books makes it way back to the library.
I will just say that it is a fast read, and mildly enjoyable, as opposed to my usual 2 star downers, so I would have even given it three if the narrator wasn't the biggest sissy to darken my literary world.
July 6, 2013
3.75 Stars. Ben, Lindsey, Jack, Allison and Chuck have been friends since college. On the verge of their 30s, they are each faced with the question of "what am I doing with my life?" The most pressing issue is Jack's growing drug problem, which is going to dealt with by the group as a full-on kidnapping scheme in hopes to get Jack clean.
Although you can tell this is Tropper's first novel (characters aren't quite as complex, story doesn't roll as effortlessly), his promise of brilliance still lurks right below the surface. If you are old enough to remember and love "The Big Chill", then you'll enjoy "Plan B".
Although you can tell this is Tropper's first novel (characters aren't quite as complex, story doesn't roll as effortlessly), his promise of brilliance still lurks right below the surface. If you are old enough to remember and love "The Big Chill", then you'll enjoy "Plan B".
December 17, 2013
And this has finally convinced me not to read anymore Tropper books. I found this bland, boring, and whiny. I found myself skimming over most of the book.
August 26, 2011
I think I would have felt differently about this book if I was younger. The fact that all characters were freaking out that they were turning 30 was a problem for me, since I am over 30. I tried to think back two years ago to when I turned 30 - did I freak out? Was I freaked out about where I was in life? Did I wish I could go back to college?
Sometimes. Mostly so I had less responsibilities. But I was never sad about where I was. I sort of hate when people wallow. A day or two, I fully support. Even longer if it's after a tough break up or something. But constant incessant wining drives me nuts.
I also didn't think it was realistic that if you kidnap someone and the FBI come looking for you, that he would to happen to be 30 and want to sit down and have beers with you. What? No.
Lastly, if you kidnap someone to get rid of their coke addiction, you better have professionals there. I don't know it always just works out where they end up getting clean and being fine. Absurd.
As much as I didn't like this book, it was somewhat entertaining. So I kept reading it.
Overall it was just okay, and I wouldn't recommend it.
Sometimes. Mostly so I had less responsibilities. But I was never sad about where I was. I sort of hate when people wallow. A day or two, I fully support. Even longer if it's after a tough break up or something. But constant incessant wining drives me nuts.
I also didn't think it was realistic that if you kidnap someone and the FBI come looking for you, that he would to happen to be 30 and want to sit down and have beers with you. What? No.
Lastly, if you kidnap someone to get rid of their coke addiction, you better have professionals there. I don't know it always just works out where they end up getting clean and being fine. Absurd.
As much as I didn't like this book, it was somewhat entertaining. So I kept reading it.
Overall it was just okay, and I wouldn't recommend it.
April 9, 2017
Dit boek leest weer als een film, zoals we van Tropper ondertussen gewoon zijn. Ik voelde aan de stijl wel meteen dat dit door een jonge Tropper werd geschreven, hoewel ik aanvankelijk dacht dat dit een meer recent boek was. Ik miste de humor van de wat rijpere Tropper, maar heb toch weer van het verhaal genoten en las de tweede helft in een ruk uit.
October 22, 2018
3.5 stars... Tropper has my literary number... and even though this is his debut and he’s matured a lot, I still enjoyed this book a great deal!
December 1, 2024
I did not enjoy this, but it was a good reminder that anyone can write a book
March 6, 2018
God, I love this author so much. So awesome. Full review to follow
July 30, 2018
Not my favorite by him, but still great! Few authors can lay out the complexity of adult relationships like he can.
March 6, 2024
Enjoyable coming of age for 30-year-olds
This is Jonathan Tropper’s fort novel, and some readers were disappointed with it, but I found it entertaining. A little slow at first but the pace picked up as the characters developed, minor characters showed up and the plot thickened. I’d put this in the category of commercial rather than literary fiction, and enjoyed the story and its ending
This is Jonathan Tropper’s fort novel, and some readers were disappointed with it, but I found it entertaining. A little slow at first but the pace picked up as the characters developed, minor characters showed up and the plot thickened. I’d put this in the category of commercial rather than literary fiction, and enjoyed the story and its ending
October 27, 2021
Plan B är den tredje boken jag läser av Jonathan Tropper, men det är egentligen hans debut från 2000. Av någon anledning översattes den inte förrän så sent som 2014, som nummer fem i översättningslistan. Själv föredrar jag ju att läsa böckerna i den ordning de skrivs, då kan jag följa författarens utveckling. För det händer ju en del där. I alla fall så var det ett tag sedan jag läste honom så därför fick han vara med i min utmaning Vi möts igen.
Det är lätt att jämföra huvudpersonen/berättaren i de tre böcker jag nu har läst. De är väldigt lika varandra, om man tycker att alla män med relationsproblem, men hittar sig själva, är lika varandra. Även böckerna i stort kan tyckas likna varandra, men det är så långt mellan varje bok så det stör mig inte alls.
Plan B är inte Troppers bästa bok, men den är en rejäl dos underhållning. Om vänskap. Om att växa ifrån varandra. Om att hitta tillbaka. Inte till som det var, utan som de nya personer man är.
OBS! Detta är en kraftigt förkortad text. Hela finns på min blogg
Det är lätt att jämföra huvudpersonen/berättaren i de tre böcker jag nu har läst. De är väldigt lika varandra, om man tycker att alla män med relationsproblem, men hittar sig själva, är lika varandra. Även böckerna i stort kan tyckas likna varandra, men det är så långt mellan varje bok så det stör mig inte alls.
Plan B är inte Troppers bästa bok, men den är en rejäl dos underhållning. Om vänskap. Om att växa ifrån varandra. Om att hitta tillbaka. Inte till som det var, utan som de nya personer man är.
OBS! Detta är en kraftigt förkortad text. Hela finns på min blogg
December 3, 2010
Three books in, and it's safe to declare that anything I read of Tropper is a slam dunk for me.
This is his first novel and, while it shows (helllooo adjective abuse!), it's still one of those novels that makes you feel an instant familiarity to its characters, to the storyline, to the ease with which Tropper makes this whole process appear. And by process, I mean, you know, WRITING A NOVEL.
In Plan B, we have five college friends, Ben, Lindsey, Alison, Chuck and Jack — all hitting the milestone of turning 30. It's an age I'm creeping up on in another year myself, so there's good reason for this one to really resonate with me. Most of them aren't where they're supposed to be at this age in life — Ben's getting divorced. Lindsey's unemployed, unwilling to settle down to a man or a career. Chuck is a surgeon in training who can get a girl to bed but can't commit. And then there's Alison, a successful lawyer who's stuck in a rut because she can't get over Jack...who just happens to be the new Brad Pitt of Hollywood with a major coke problem.
The foursome find themselves staging the kind of intervention with Jack that lands them at Alison's parents' lakehouse in upstate NY (if this plot all starts to sound a bit "Big Chill"ish...well, with good reason). It's a bit of cinematic storytelling to discover how this story ends, but one that does so on a happy note. Well worth the time to invest -- which, for most, should be but only a few days.
TOO many great lines in this (it's Tropper after all) but here's a few bits of dialogue that stood out:
"It took me a few years to realize that nothing was happening for me. Nothing doesn't happen all at once."
"I'm 30 years old. Shit. By now I was supposed to have at least one novel published. I was supposed to have a wife and a kid and house somewhere quiet, where you can hear the crickets at night. Somewhere out there is this whole other life that I'm supposed to be leading, and I just can't seem to find it."
"When you're in college you're just so sure that the future is going to unfold exactly how you want it to," Lindsey said. "I know." I thought about it for a second. "The future just isn't what it used to be."
Crow's feet, jowls, love handles. I've started to see myself through the eyes of the teenagers I pass on the street, repeatedly shocked by the realization that they see me as older....I know now that there are certain things I'll never do in my life. A shirt I still think of as new turns out to actually be 7 or 8 years old....I'm only experienced enough to know that I'm as clueless as I ever was.
This is his first novel and, while it shows (helllooo adjective abuse!), it's still one of those novels that makes you feel an instant familiarity to its characters, to the storyline, to the ease with which Tropper makes this whole process appear. And by process, I mean, you know, WRITING A NOVEL.
In Plan B, we have five college friends, Ben, Lindsey, Alison, Chuck and Jack — all hitting the milestone of turning 30. It's an age I'm creeping up on in another year myself, so there's good reason for this one to really resonate with me. Most of them aren't where they're supposed to be at this age in life — Ben's getting divorced. Lindsey's unemployed, unwilling to settle down to a man or a career. Chuck is a surgeon in training who can get a girl to bed but can't commit. And then there's Alison, a successful lawyer who's stuck in a rut because she can't get over Jack...who just happens to be the new Brad Pitt of Hollywood with a major coke problem.
The foursome find themselves staging the kind of intervention with Jack that lands them at Alison's parents' lakehouse in upstate NY (if this plot all starts to sound a bit "Big Chill"ish...well, with good reason). It's a bit of cinematic storytelling to discover how this story ends, but one that does so on a happy note. Well worth the time to invest -- which, for most, should be but only a few days.
TOO many great lines in this (it's Tropper after all) but here's a few bits of dialogue that stood out:
"It took me a few years to realize that nothing was happening for me. Nothing doesn't happen all at once."
"I'm 30 years old. Shit. By now I was supposed to have at least one novel published. I was supposed to have a wife and a kid and house somewhere quiet, where you can hear the crickets at night. Somewhere out there is this whole other life that I'm supposed to be leading, and I just can't seem to find it."
"When you're in college you're just so sure that the future is going to unfold exactly how you want it to," Lindsey said. "I know." I thought about it for a second. "The future just isn't what it used to be."
Crow's feet, jowls, love handles. I've started to see myself through the eyes of the teenagers I pass on the street, repeatedly shocked by the realization that they see me as older....I know now that there are certain things I'll never do in my life. A shirt I still think of as new turns out to actually be 7 or 8 years old....I'm only experienced enough to know that I'm as clueless as I ever was.
August 13, 2011
Loved it!
Okay, there were moments when I found the story far-fetched, and I always have difficulty when history is tampered with (though this wasn't such a big deal - who cares if Julia Roberts and Harrison Ford never made the movies they made in Plan B?), but in the end, it felt great to have read this book. In fact, when I closed the book at the end, I felt better about myself, which is not a feeling I think I've ever gotten from a book before. It was really cool to read about a group of people who are close in age to me (well, they're 30, which is kind of the point of the book, so maybe I should give myself a few more years to make that statement) and have the same oh-crap-where-is-my-life-going feelings that I have ... and for everything to turn out okay in the end. Everyone lives happily ever after in a very believable way, and that's always a nice thing to look forward to in your own life.
Okay, there were moments when I found the story far-fetched, and I always have difficulty when history is tampered with (though this wasn't such a big deal - who cares if Julia Roberts and Harrison Ford never made the movies they made in Plan B?), but in the end, it felt great to have read this book. In fact, when I closed the book at the end, I felt better about myself, which is not a feeling I think I've ever gotten from a book before. It was really cool to read about a group of people who are close in age to me (well, they're 30, which is kind of the point of the book, so maybe I should give myself a few more years to make that statement) and have the same oh-crap-where-is-my-life-going feelings that I have ... and for everything to turn out okay in the end. Everyone lives happily ever after in a very believable way, and that's always a nice thing to look forward to in your own life.
January 6, 2013
Ohmygodsodisappointing.
I love Jonathan Tropper. And I'm not going to hold Plan B against him. It happens.
This was bad. Cheesy one-liners, everything always working out just when it needed to...it was kind of like reading a super-sized episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 (original, duh). I love 90210. Because I know what to expect. I don't expect this hokey BS from Tropper.
There was even a kid that found his way into the plot. Seriously, how many times did Brandon find himself giving some fatherly guidance to a boy in need (I'm back on 90210 now)? Shockingly, Brandon always ended up learning more than the kid. Guess what happens in Plan B?
I do need to talk to somebody about the FBI agent (what the HELL?!). So I may recommend this to someone and forget to tell them how dumb it is, just so I can laugh really hard about FBI Guy with another human being.
Bye.
I love Jonathan Tropper. And I'm not going to hold Plan B against him. It happens.
This was bad. Cheesy one-liners, everything always working out just when it needed to...it was kind of like reading a super-sized episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 (original, duh). I love 90210. Because I know what to expect. I don't expect this hokey BS from Tropper.
There was even a kid that found his way into the plot. Seriously, how many times did Brandon find himself giving some fatherly guidance to a boy in need (I'm back on 90210 now)? Shockingly, Brandon always ended up learning more than the kid. Guess what happens in Plan B?
I do need to talk to somebody about the FBI agent (what the HELL?!). So I may recommend this to someone and forget to tell them how dumb it is, just so I can laugh really hard about FBI Guy with another human being.
Bye.
February 14, 2010
I love this author, and anything he writes. This, his first novel, is no exception. It's about the dreams you have for your life, and what happens when you hit thirty and realize you've accomplished none of them. Perhaps I liked this book so much b/c I could relate to it a litte too well ;) Nonetheless, in typical Tropper fashion, this is a quick, fun read that also leaves you introspective about your own life. I recommend this book to fans of St. Elmo's Fire; the comparisons between this book and that movie can't be ignored. Heck, it even mentions the movie's theme song at one point, plus a miriad of other eighties references. Love it!
April 14, 2010
After reading This Is Where I Leave You, then reading The Book Of Joe, and loving each, I was eager to continue my Jonathan Tropper kick... I ended up reading the other books he's published - How To Talk To A Widower, Everything Changes, and Plan B, and enjoyed his similar style of writing but definitely found these to be less mature and tightly structured than the first two I encountered. As This Is Where I Leave You is his most recent publication, I'm definitely interested in continuing to follow his career, as I think he's getting better and better.
January 21, 2020
Jonathan Tropper, what the hell, dude?! Was this a leftover piece from a creative writing class? It's St. Elmo's Fire in book form.
Had this been any other author it would have been a 1 star rating but I'm biased and can't do that here. Plus, I use Gone Girl as my litmus test and this wasn't nearly as infuriating and there were brief glimpses of brilliance here. The references mentioned throughout the book did not age well and made this feel very dated, e.g. Trump Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City before the bloated tangerine tyrant managed to bankrupt goddamn casinos.
Chapter 38 begins with a detailed bathroom scene where for some ungodly reason Mr. Tropper decided that the reader needed to know the note a dude hits while taking a piss. My sense of humor is on par with that of a 7 year old boy and even this was a bit much for my liking.
If you haven't read anything by Jonathan Tropper, please skip this one and pick any of his other titles. This is in no way reflective of his talent. This is a soap opera and also a love letter to Jay McInerney, which Tropper has mentioned in interviews as being an influence.
Had this been any other author it would have been a 1 star rating but I'm biased and can't do that here. Plus, I use Gone Girl as my litmus test and this wasn't nearly as infuriating and there were brief glimpses of brilliance here. The references mentioned throughout the book did not age well and made this feel very dated, e.g. Trump Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City before the bloated tangerine tyrant managed to bankrupt goddamn casinos.
Chapter 38 begins with a detailed bathroom scene where for some ungodly reason Mr. Tropper decided that the reader needed to know the note a dude hits while taking a piss. My sense of humor is on par with that of a 7 year old boy and even this was a bit much for my liking.
If you haven't read anything by Jonathan Tropper, please skip this one and pick any of his other titles. This is in no way reflective of his talent. This is a soap opera and also a love letter to Jay McInerney, which Tropper has mentioned in interviews as being an influence.
July 20, 2017
Tropper has become a "go-to" treasure for me. Every time I pick up one of his books, I'm reminded of myself or someone I've met. He's hilarious and heartwarming, and can weave characters and stories together that make you feel satisfied when you close the book.
Plan B is the story of a group of friends who have known each other forever and almost without realizing it, they've turned 30 and don't know how it happened. None of them are particularly settled: if their career is set, their personal life isn't. They band together even more securely when one of them is in a crisis. Of course, they all agree on a solution to help; however, nothing turns out exactly as hoped, or, well, planned.
Plan B is the story of a group of friends who have known each other forever and almost without realizing it, they've turned 30 and don't know how it happened. None of them are particularly settled: if their career is set, their personal life isn't. They band together even more securely when one of them is in a crisis. Of course, they all agree on a solution to help; however, nothing turns out exactly as hoped, or, well, planned.
February 15, 2022
Für mich eine Enttäuschung. Seine anderen Werke (7 verdammt lange Tage, Mein fast perfektes Leben) haben mich lauthals zum Lachen gebracht und zum Nachdenken angeregt und mich tief berührt die letzte Seite schließen lassen.
Aber das hier. Mh. Man kam total schwer rein, weil gleich 5 Protagonisten auf einmal dargestellt wurden. Dann ging es hauptsächlich um die Unterstützung des drogenabhängigen Jack...und drum herum passierte so viel anderes, das aber meines Erachtens nicht mit dem Entzug zu tun hatte....und dann verschwindet er und es passiert weiterhin so viel Anderes ....und dann ist er plötzlich wieder da und clean und dann gibt es ein Happy End. Und joa...
Dies war vermutlich mein Jahres-Flop. Schade!
Aber das hier. Mh. Man kam total schwer rein, weil gleich 5 Protagonisten auf einmal dargestellt wurden. Dann ging es hauptsächlich um die Unterstützung des drogenabhängigen Jack...und drum herum passierte so viel anderes, das aber meines Erachtens nicht mit dem Entzug zu tun hatte....und dann verschwindet er und es passiert weiterhin so viel Anderes ....und dann ist er plötzlich wieder da und clean und dann gibt es ein Happy End. Und joa...
Dies war vermutlich mein Jahres-Flop. Schade!
August 12, 2019
Tropper lezen om uit een leesdipje te geraken, het is een tactiek die ik eerder heb toegepast, en ook nu weer werkte het. Al zijn er betere Troppers, ik kan dat, als Tropper-fan, gerust toegeven. In dit debuut was hij minder ‘snijdend’ en gingen sommige passages iets te traag. Desalniettemin: Tropper, love you big time! <3
January 4, 2019
Jonathan Troper är alltid underhållande för stunden.
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