Having stumbled across "How to Talk to a Widower" and being amazed by the deft transition from tragedy to comedy, i read the synopsis of this book with trepidation - only to find to my great relief that it does the book no favours whatsoever.

Tropper's incredible skill at creating ordinary people and drawing the very best out of them whilst allowing them to be real is amazing. I ran through every gamut of emotion with the hero and he managed to make my heart ache whilst making me laugh and I genuinely cared about the characters. As with "Widower" there is the underlying coming to terms with grief and allowing life to go on but it isn't sanctimonious. It's a cracking read that I adored.

Another highly readable book from this excellent author. A really good plot, a lot of humour, a sprinkling of sadness and some fantastic characters - it's got the lot! Zach's dad was particularly memorable as was the housemate Jed and I defy anyone to be unmoved by the description of Zach's last hours with Rael. Highly highly highly recommended.

Really enjoyed 'How to talk to a widower' so thought I'd give this a try. Found the beginning rather slow and was very tempted not to bother reading further but after about 4 of 5 chapters a bit more starts to happen and I had to finish it. It deals with death, grief, guilt and complicated family relationships apparently caused by a father abandoning his three young sons. Much humour with many laugh-out-loud moments but this does not detract from the raw emotion dealt with in the book. A fairly light read with (I thought) a predictable ending. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I completely loved How to Talk to a Widower so was very excited to get my hands on this one. Again, the Author deals with the death of a young person, the devestating effects it has on that person's circle & just how difficult grief can be. The author is brilliant at exploring and explaining the intricacies of family life and loyalty, no matter how undeserved. The ending surprised me but ultimately I loved how it turned out. Can easily imagine this one being turned into a film as well......