34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredibly moving and well written novel, May 31, 2005
This is the novel I've been waiting for Jonathan Tropper to write. I admired his previous novels -- PLAN B and the BOOK OF JOE, which certainly displayed his considerable talents. He sets up great premises for his characters to work through issues. He establishes a breezy pace, writes sharp, funny dialogue and spices it all with witty observations. But there were certain things about those earlier novels that drove me crazy. The narrators and other characters sometimes made cliched observations in the tone of thinking they had stated something original. The writing sometimes belabored the obvious -- making points well after the reader had already gotten it. And the character's cynicism didn't seem earned because it wasn't hard won. While I liked PLAN B nonetheless, I couldn't help but cringe everytime one of the characters whined about how difficult it was to -- YIKES!! - turn 30. I didn't have any of those frustrations reading EVERYTHING CHANGES. In fact, I felt glee on almost every page, while witnessing such a beautifully wrought and masterfully told story. Here Mr. Troppers' prodigious talents are all on full display again. The dialogue is funny and sharp and the pacing is perfect. There are some Hollywood moments -- e.g. a couple of fistfights, but still the observations his narrator, Zack, makes about life and love are profound, insightful -- and original. It's a wonderful story about a man dealing with a no-account father and his torn feelings toward his beautiful fiancee and another woman -- the widow of his late best friend -- who has become the real love of his life. The ending pages, which I won't give away, moved me almost to the point of tears. This novel will enter my own personal pantheon of great books I keep re-reading at various stages of my life. (The HERE AND NOW by Robert Cohen; Tom Perrotta's THE WISHBONES, and Glenn Savan's WHITE PALACE to name a few). Anyone who enjoyed this and would like to read a similar story should consider Marshall Boswell's, ALTERNATIVE ATLANTA, another funny and moving tale of a man struggling over his awkward relationship with his father and battling with his feelings for a forbidden woman.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite simply wonderful, wacky and big-hearted, April 30, 2005
Like millions of other Americans, Zack King has the worst job in the world. The hero of Jonathan Tropper's sparkling new romantic comedy EVERYTHING CHANGES, Zack is a corporate middleman in the big city, a cubicle prisoner, a man upon whom everyone can assess blame. And, like millions of Americans in call centers, financial giants, supply chain corporations, and "Office Space" cube farms, Zack hates his job.
He explains: "...we spend our days making three kinds of phone calls. We call our vendors to hound them about schedules and late deliveries; we call our clients to reassure them that everything is on schedule or to get blamed because it isn't; we call potential clients and kiss the asses of the people who will one day blame us for everything." And if that isn't enough drudgery to occupy a workday in hell, there is Zack's everyman, middleman boss. "The trick with Bill is to say as little as possible. He is notorious for his long-winded lectures on salesmanship, and you never know when a simple pleasantry might trigger a mini Dale Carnegie seminar. ... he believes that there is no problem that can't be solved with a ten-minute PowerPoint presentation."
But the job is the least of Zack's problems. He's falling in love with his late friend's wife, Tamara, and out of love with his own fiancé, Hope; his struggling rock star brother is beginning a downward spiral; his roommate, Jed, the dot.com millionaire, has decided to drop out of life and just watch television; and Zack's estranged father is loose on the streets of New York with a fistful of Viagra. And there may be an even bigger problem. Enter the mysterious stranger: a Nike swoosh-shaped shadow on one of Zack's kidneys that just might be cancer.
Tropper, who wowed readers with THE BOOK OF JOE, treads hysterically familiar territory in EVERYTHING CHANGES with his theme of the neurotic, successful thirty-something leaving the city to return home to try to settle his problems. The author's musical narrative is vastly improved from his previously respectable efforts, his fresh, authoritative voice smoothly and seamlessly taking Zack on his wild journey. It is Tropper's vivid descriptions of office life, in-love-with-the-other-woman imagery, the looming loss of a good friend, Zack's Woody Allen internal dialogue, and his flamboyant vignettes that never fail to delight, keeping EVERYTHING CHANGES at a rapid-fire pace.
Zack, his engagement, his brother, friend, father, and mother, are all at stagnant points in their lives, points that only have the illusion of moving forward. It takes Norm King, the father everyone has learned not to tolerate, to skip into town with his trail of affairs and debts not far behind, to motivate those in Zack's world to face the truth, get up off the couch, evolve, and --- most importantly --- to forgive.
Tropper's latest effort is quite simply wonderful, wacky and big-hearted, Elton John wig and all.
--- Reviewed by Brandon M. Stickney
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything Changes, November 1, 2005
From the first time I picked up a Jonathan Tropper book, I was hooked on this writer. I fell in love with his writing style which is eloquent, humorous, even edgy at times. I love it! I bought the "Book of Joe" when I ran out of books to read. Honestly, I grabbed it because that's my husbands name and I was in a huge hurry. I read a brief review and thought I'd give it a try. I couldn't wait for "Everything Changes" to come out! Again, I was not disappointed. I love Tropper's stylist approach to writing and his sense of humor. Although at times his stories have a few moments that are somewhat "over the top", I think many of us can relate to a lot of the more real moments in his books. Keep writing, but please, don't let fame and fortune ruin your style or send you into "mass production mode" that makes so many writers become less creative and more repetative.
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