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Author: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Published: June 18, 2019
Book Description: Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost fifteen years separated: weekends and every other holiday with the kids, some residual bitterness, the occasional moment of tension in their co-parenting negotiations. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. He had been working so hard to find equilibrium in his single life. The winds of his optimism, long dormant, had finally begun to pick up. Now this.
As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation. But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place.
A searing, utterly unvarnished debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an insightful, unsettling, often hilarious exploration of a culture trying to navigate the fault lines of an institution that has proven to be worthy of our great wariness and our great hope.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars
Review: Fleishman is in Trouble is the story of Dr. Toby Fleishman a father of two and who is separated from his wife Rachel who at first is trying to navigate this new world of single fatherhood and dating. The story quickly changes dynamics when Rachel leaves their children with Toby for the weekend and does not return. Toby who immensely cares for his children has to figure out where Rachel is, what to do with his kids, work and maybe keep a few scheduled dates.
Akner has a keen sense of humor to tell this story. You can hear this with many of the interviews she has given. She does a wonderful job portraying divorce, the world of dating by apps and everything that goes along with having children in this technological age. Toby really cares, maybe too much about everything that surrounds him. Toby would be a great discussion that could go on for hours in a book club.
This was an enjoyable story, it will tear at the heartstrings at times, make you laugh, and everything in between. Believe all they hype that you have heard on this one. Akner is such a good writer, and I can’t wait to read what else she writes.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.
Obsessed Bookaholic 