Published : 2021 || Format : print || Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El
We all start out so damn sure, thinking we've got the world on a string. If we ever stopped to think about the infinite number of ways we could be undone, we'd never leave our bedrooms.
When Judd Foxman's father dies, his entire family arrives at his childhood home to sit shiva for seven days. It's been years since this family has been together and it is immediately obvious that they cannot really stand each other. Newly separated from his wife, Jen, after finding her in bed with his boss, Judd arrives alone, aware that he is currently the talk of the neighborhood. As he tries to put his life in order, it is thrown into shambles again when Jen comes announcing that she is pregnant. With his baby. A baby they've been waiting for forever.
Eldest brother, Paul, and his wife, Alice, have been trying to have a baby for years - a fact that Alice doesn't let Judd forget seeing as Jen has managed to get pregnant twice. His younger brother, Phillip, who has not managed to hold down a relationship, has brought home his new girlfriend, Tracy, who was his therapist, appearing to be completely in love with her. Wendy, Judd's sister, is married with two kids and by far, seems to be the most logical voice in the house. As this huge family comes together to mourn their father and start warring right from day one, it doesn't appear as if they can last seven days in each others' company.
I watched this movie before reading the book. I don't often do that. But I loved the movie - it's hard not to like Jason Bateman and Tina Fey, so I got the audiobook at Audible and dove right in.
This was a great audiobook to listen to. Judd made for a nice narrator to spend my daily commutes with. His discovery of his wife sleeping with his boss in their bed should have been a traumatic listen, and I did feel sorry for him. But it was hard not to laugh at the imagery he painted. Among his siblings, he felt closest to Wendy.
There are a great many characters who pass through the book as the Foxman family sits shiva. The rabbi, a childhood friend of the Foxman siblings has a colorful past - something that feels inappropriate for a rabbi - a past that the siblings do not hesitate to recall in public. There is an old man who is hoping to get Judd's mother interested in him. Linda Callen, their neighbor, is around at their house so often that it raises some eyebrows.
This is Where I Leave You was an interesting story of family dynamics. The experiences of this family may not be typical of most families but their relationships probably are. I'm a big fan of books set over a very short time period - in this case, seven days may seem to be a really small timeframe to have any impact on years-old relationships. But when the siblings part at the end of the book, there is a nice sense of understanding between them that wasn't present earlier. Obviously, that's not a spoiler since we all knew that's how this book would end. For me, the entertaining aspect was everything in between.
This audiobook is from my personal library.
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