Book Club: The Book of Joe
Title: The Book of Joe
Author: Jonathan Tropper
Year of publication: 2003
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Humor
Setting:
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| Photo by julio angel berroa on Unsplash |
Premise:
Right after high school, Joe Goffman left sleepy Bush Falls, Connecticut and never looked back. Then he wrote a novel savaging everything in town, a novel that became a national bestseller and a huge hit movie. Seventeen years later, he gets a call: his father's had a stroke, so it's back to Bush Falls for the town's most famous pariah.
Context:
The Book of Joe was the second book published by Jonathan Tropper.
Characters:
- Joe Goffman
- Carly Diamond
- Wayne Hargrove
- Sammy Haber
- Lucy Haber
- Brad Goffman
- Cindy Posner
- Coach Dugan
- Owen Hobbs
- Sean Tallon
- David "Mouse" Muser
- Jared Goffman
- Arthur Goffman
- Mrs, Hargrove
- Sheila
- Emily Goffman
- Jenny Goffman
Character Map:
Plot Diagram:
Themes/Symbolism:
First Words:
Just a few scant months after my mother's suicide, I walked into the garage, looking for my baseball glove, and discovered Cindy Posner on her knees, animatedly performing fellatio on my older brother, Brad.
Last Words:
"I can live with maybe," I say.
Popularity:
Literary Links:
Bush Falls is the infamous book written by the protagonist, Joe Goffman. The book shares its title with the fictional town Jonathan Tropper used for the setting of The Book of Joe. In 2005, Arrow published a paperback edition of Tropper's The Book of Joe under the title Bush Falls.
Beyond the lines
Adaptations:
There is a film adaptation in the works for The Book of Joe. The producers and screenplay's co-writers are Tropper himself and Ed Burns, who will also direct the movie.
The book offers so many references to Bruce Springsteen's lyrics that it would make sense to pair The Book of Joe with the songs that play a part in the story: Better Days (Lucky Town album), Thunder Road, I'm On Fire, Backstreets (Born to Run album), and Glory Days (Born in the U.S.A. album).
Book vs. Book:
Published many years apart, different in tone, and exploring different time periods, The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper and You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe explore common topics. In both books, a writer becomes successful after publishing a novel whose content angers the people in their hometown. Both fictional writers eventually have to face the resentment and anger their books have uncover and search for hope and redemption.
Tasty Titles:
There is an actual chain of Duchess Restaurants around Connecticut that may serve as a reference for the diner mentioned by Tropper in the book. It is at the Duchess Diner that Joe and Carly have lunch after so many years without seeing each other, where Coach Dugan's wife throws a chocolate milk shake at Joe's face, and where Joe sees his brother Brad embracing Sheila, the waiter with whom he is having an affair.
If you would like to visit any of the Duchess Restaurants locations, here is a link to their website.
"There are only two places worth eating at in Bush Falls. One is the Duchess Diner, right on Stratfield Road..."
Six Word Review:
Contemporary and humorous prodigal son parable
Rambling Words:
Bush Falls, being fictional, do not have a place in the map. I place it somewhere north of Hartford. If you would like to find your own Bush Falls, you can take Tropper's directions from Chapter 4, when he was leaving Manhattan to reencounter his hometown after 17 years.
"All roads lead back to Bush Falls.
I'm not speaking metaphorically. Just about every highway leaving the island of Manhattan to the north can get you there. You can take the Harlem River Drive to the Cross Bronx Expressway, which becomes the New England Thruway, and ride that all the way up to Bush Falls. Or you can take the Henry Hudson Parkway to the Saw Mill to the Cross County to the Hutchinson River Parkway, then get on the Merrit Parkway, which winds its way in a serpentine trail through the southern half of Connecticut. From the Merritt you pick up I-91, which will take you all the way out to Hartford and just pass it to the Falls: more highways, less traffic. Or you can combine the two routes by taking the Merritt and then switching to the Thruway via the 1-287 interchange."
Bookstore on Location:
The Halftime Pub, a location where Joe finds himself in trouble at one time, is said to serve the best steaks in northern Connecticut. I am just mentioning this fact because it is the only clue throughout the book implying where fictional Bush Falls might be located. In northern Connecticut there are two unorthodox bookstores: Nutmeg Books in Torrington and The Book Cellar in Union. I am sure their friendly staff can help you locate a copy of The Book of Joe.
Bibliotherapy:
The Cover Story
Book Candy:
Our Review:
Discussion Questions:
(from Penguin Random House's Reading Guide)
1. Homecoming lies at the heart of the novel. How has this theme played out in your own experience? How prominently does your past shape your current life?
2. The opening sentence of The Book of Joe combines references to sex and death. In what way do these powerful experiences recur together throughout the novel? How does Joe develop an understanding of mortality and sexuality during his adolescence?
3. The 1980s form a colorful backdrop to the novel, especially in terms of pop culture and lyrics. Can time period be considered a character in The Book of Joe? In what other books? If so, how would you define and describe it?
4. The novel’s title echoes the biblical Book of Job. Though Joe himself would probably reject that comparison, does he have much in common with Job?
5. What does The Book of Joe indicate about how communities label and treat outsiders? Why were the Cougars the most highly regarded male figures in Bush Falls for so many generations?
6. Joe readily admits that he embellished actual events in writing Bush Falls—after all, that’s a fiction writer’s prerogative. But his experience parallels the real-life quandaries of many novelists who are criticized when drawing on their own memories to inspire fiction. Was it unethical for Joe to use Bush Falls in the way he did? Why does he have such a hard time replicating the success of Bush Falls with his second novel?
7. What techniques does Jonathan Tropper employ to balance his comedic and somber tones?
8. Discuss the spectrum of parenting offered in The Book of Joe. How does Joe’s family compare to that of his friends? What emotional scars do he and his brother bear from their mother’s suicide? Is Owen a father figure to Joe, and if so, how would you characterize his “fathering?”
9. Referring to his brother’s bar mitzvah, Joe muses that by missing out on his own coming-of-age celebration, he never became a man in the eyes of Judaism. Is Joe in fact any less mature or “less of a man” than his brother?
10. What does Joe’s nephew Jared indicate about the way times have changed in Bush Falls, and in American adolescence in general? Why do you think the author gave Jared such a prominent role in the novel?
11. What ultimately caused Sammy’s death? Is Coach Dugan’s attempt to make amends during Wayne’s funeral warranted—and sufficient?
12. When Joe discovers the hardcover copies of his book, along with a movie poster, prominently displayed in his father’s room, what message was conveyed between father and son?
13. Discuss the novel’s portrayal of second chances. Are Joe and his brother liberated from the pains of their past? What causes Brad’s marriage and career to fall on hard times? How will the Goffman family use its second chances?
14. What does Joe’s Mercedes signify throughout the novel? How do his feelings about the car reflect the personal changes he undergoes?
2. The opening sentence of The Book of Joe combines references to sex and death. In what way do these powerful experiences recur together throughout the novel? How does Joe develop an understanding of mortality and sexuality during his adolescence?
3. The 1980s form a colorful backdrop to the novel, especially in terms of pop culture and lyrics. Can time period be considered a character in The Book of Joe? In what other books? If so, how would you define and describe it?
4. The novel’s title echoes the biblical Book of Job. Though Joe himself would probably reject that comparison, does he have much in common with Job?
5. What does The Book of Joe indicate about how communities label and treat outsiders? Why were the Cougars the most highly regarded male figures in Bush Falls for so many generations?
6. Joe readily admits that he embellished actual events in writing Bush Falls—after all, that’s a fiction writer’s prerogative. But his experience parallels the real-life quandaries of many novelists who are criticized when drawing on their own memories to inspire fiction. Was it unethical for Joe to use Bush Falls in the way he did? Why does he have such a hard time replicating the success of Bush Falls with his second novel?
7. What techniques does Jonathan Tropper employ to balance his comedic and somber tones?
8. Discuss the spectrum of parenting offered in The Book of Joe. How does Joe’s family compare to that of his friends? What emotional scars do he and his brother bear from their mother’s suicide? Is Owen a father figure to Joe, and if so, how would you characterize his “fathering?”
9. Referring to his brother’s bar mitzvah, Joe muses that by missing out on his own coming-of-age celebration, he never became a man in the eyes of Judaism. Is Joe in fact any less mature or “less of a man” than his brother?
10. What does Joe’s nephew Jared indicate about the way times have changed in Bush Falls, and in American adolescence in general? Why do you think the author gave Jared such a prominent role in the novel?
11. What ultimately caused Sammy’s death? Is Coach Dugan’s attempt to make amends during Wayne’s funeral warranted—and sufficient?
12. When Joe discovers the hardcover copies of his book, along with a movie poster, prominently displayed in his father’s room, what message was conveyed between father and son?
13. Discuss the novel’s portrayal of second chances. Are Joe and his brother liberated from the pains of their past? What causes Brad’s marriage and career to fall on hard times? How will the Goffman family use its second chances?
14. What does Joe’s Mercedes signify throughout the novel? How do his feelings about the car reflect the personal changes he undergoes?