Fleishman Is in Trouble: A Novel

This book is so much more than a father going through a divorce who suddenly finds himself with full custody of his children. This book shows you gender roles in marriage, work, society, and friendship and how they can affect the married couple. With that said, this book is somewhat relatable for mothers/wives who have clueless husbands, or husbands who simply have too much on their plate… for example - pay attention to your other half to help prevent them from spiraling out of control, because chances are, you will notice they are spiraling before they can tell what's going on with them, and you can help them or find help before the worst part of the damage is done and to help catch you when you fall. This book shows you that you need someone, whether it is a spouse or friend, but preferably both of those.I loved the writing style of this book and the narration by Allyson Ryan. I can't wait to read Taffy's coming works and see what the future holds for her.THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF: You love a glimpse into a failing marriage with some modern takes and struggles that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat.

Reminiscent of Lauren Groff's brilliant novel "Fates and Furies," this remake is whiny, whiny, whiny, as well as a quite daringly sexy read, but most important it is not as erudite, intelligent, or shocking as Groff's literary masterpiece. In all fairness, author Taffy Brodesser-Akner probably doesn't think of this book as a "Fates and Furies" remake, but because the plot/structure similarities are unmistakably alike it's hard not to compare them.And "Fleishman Is in Trouble" is a poor runner-up.This is the plot set-up: Toby Fleishman, M.D. is a top hepatologist at a top New York City hospital, making a respectable quarter of million dollars a year. But that's not enough for his wife, Rachel, who has her own creative agency representing actors and makes five times what her husband pulls in. This is Manhattan in the 2000s and it's all about money because it takes a lot of it to buy the lifestyle of a tony apartment with the right address, private schools for the children, a house in the Hamptons, and vacations in Europe. She is greatly annoyed that Toby just doesn't care about any of that. Rachel is all about the money and prestige and impressing others. Toby is all about loving the children. Rachel and Toby's love story dissolves. They separate. They work out child custody. But before the divorce is final, Rachel disappears and goes completely incommunicado, leaving Toby (who has recently discovered sexy dating apps and has become weirdly obsessed with them) with the children.The novel has three chapters, all told by the narrator—unnamed for quite some time, which is incredibly confusing, if not actually disconcerting—who is an old friend of Toby's named Libby whom he met in Israel during their junior year abroad and hasn't seen since. Libby is a former magazine writer turned happily married, stay-at-home New Jersey suburban mom. The first chapter is from Toby's point of view. The second chapter is mostly from Toby's point of view with a lot of Libby interjecting her own story, while the third chapter is from all three points of view. After all, every marriage—and its disintegration—has two sides.I am willing to stretch my imagination for every novel I read and give the author a lot of artistic license. But Libby as the narrator is just too much—even for me. Libby is a distant friend, but somehow Libby knows intimate, incredibly personal details about both Toby and Rachel. It is completely, eye-rollingly implausible.And did I mention it is whiny? Oh, so very, very whiny. Uber-privileged, rich white people who have everything in the world kind of whiny.One more thing: The ending is awful. Very, very disappointing.Longlisted for the National Book Award, this is a well-written, satirical novel that is amusing and entertaining, although quite pretentious, but it absolutely does not rise to the level of great literature as its National Book Award nomination would suggest. It is ChickLit. And because of all the whining, it's not even very good ChickLit. Just know you're getting ChickLit and not literature before you buy the book. I have no idea why it's so highly overrated.

I couldn't put this book down, reading it in two sittings where I normally only get to devote 30 minutes at a time (weekends only) to engage in leisure reading. I liked the author's writing style from an unrelated article some several months back but honestly wouldn't have put her name together with this book, nor maybe even have run across the book at all, but for her appearance on a podcast I listen to daily. That one episode- not particularly focused on the book itself- made me immediately order the book, and I wasn't disappointed.Aside from a rare talent for description that digs deep and then surfaces a distilled understanding that makes perfectly clear the underpinnings of the scene, the author equips readers with the ability to follow the characters lock-step in a way that feels personal, revealing, and uniquely participatory. Think: If Bob Ross were to have broken down the unforgiving/unforgivable ennui and tortuous stagnation rewarded to women siloed by gendered expectations of career/partnerhood/motherhood/ambition/sexuality/aggression/fulfillment in the same way he could dismantle, clarify, and reconstitute a landscape into its component parts. Even the delivery of this story, which is accomplished by following the challenges posed to the (sympathetic) male hero, embodies the concepts explored in the book that a woman's story can only be told (accepted?) through the male experience. We like Toby, we root for Toby, and his experience is no less valid or significant... But the unheard story is that of Rachel, whose half of the marital decline is summed up in only a few pages- a footnote to the story of Toby.The point is not that the book focused on Toby and his experience, but is much deeper; would the story, if told exclusively from the position of Rachel, be palatable? As sympathic? Would Rachel also be seen as the hero/victim, or as an ungrateful, dissatisfied, and overly ambitious semi-villain who selfishly placed her material wants over family and a devoted partner? Would this book even be received by readers if it told the story of a driven woman who was forced to balance, somewhat precariously, a career and children and found her life unsatisfactory despite undeniable success, relative wealth/privilege, and a supportive husband? Or would its "acceptance" be another "the future is female" empty gesture at best, at worst a nagging, self-indulgent example of a third wave feminist trope? The author seems to suggest, through the side story of the narrator, that this focus- the lens that transforms the counternarrative of Rachel into a digestable, secondary story- is a deliberately covert way to make this point. And it's effective.The book tells a good story. But more significantly, reading it was therapeutic. All the frenetic, painfully conflicted ways of thinking about paths and paths not taken, the tradeoffs required to aim high (but not too high), to be a partner (but too often more paternalistic than partnered in the uneven negotiation of egos and expectations), and the unwavering guilt of it all... The way these considerations are put on us and put on ourselves, the way even women judge other women- directly or indirectly, these things aren't talked about. Not really.This book presents a kind of comfort in knowing that one's experience and ways of processing and feeling aren't unique. That your variety of madness and disquiet aren't personal. And that if, when you read Toby's story, you both sympathize and instinctively feel the presence of the anti-matter in that universe, that of Rachel's experience, you are not selfish or alone.

Ideally I would give 4.5 stars, but since I really liked it I'll go to five instead of 4. My only issue is the end-it just got too wordy and confusing. The book was great up until then but it got muddled. But overall it is a great read.

Esperemos el contenido esté de igual manera!

As a middle-aged married guy, I was happy to find a story that explored the middle-aged experience: marital dissatisfaction, managing kids, growing tired of being a party bachelor and wanting to belong in a family again, consumed by work responsibilities, and most of all trying to find meaning and purpose in it all. I really appreciated how the author touched on almost every aspect of the experience, told through well-crafted characters.Although the characters did get a little too irate and off-the-hinge at times making them somewhat unlikable, and occasional rants about women being helpless against the soul-crushing patriarchy were a bit off-putting. I suppose it's understandable coming from a New Yorker, but I'd like to hear a young Icelandic writer's point of view.

I decided to read this book because of all the raving reviews of the show, and I always love urban stories.I can see why it could make a good show because there's a good story. Keeping a couple going is a hard job. What I had trouble with was the writing. The novel doesn't have any chapters. It's only divided into three parts, but the first one is the longest. Unfortunately, my life doesn't allow me to read a book from the start until the end. The no-chapter thing would have bothered me that much if the writing style wasn't that relentless. I kept reading Toby Fleishman's complaint repeatedly, and it felt suffocating. At the end of the first part, I went to read another book before coming back so that I could breathe calmly again. I did the same thing after the second part.The other ain't point that bothered me is that I had to wait until the third part, which is at 80% of the book, to get the point of view of Rachel Fleishman. Of course, it could have been a book about the only POV of the husband, but a divorce involves two people. They've been married for fifteen years, having two kids. At some point, they have to try to understand what the other feels.Finally, I didn't like to find out while deep into the book that the narrator was Toby's friend. It felt weird. They'd lost touch for many years; how could she relate these deep feelings he had?Now I'm wondering, is it worth watching the show?

I thought Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner was a fascinating look into the breakdown of a marriage and the emotional connections we have with friends.More than this, it was a look at the flawed individuals within that marriage and how they seemed destined to part, because they never reallyk new the person they were married to. Apportioning blame is easy in these situations, our friendships often force us to take sides when splits take place, but is that because we wear blinkers, or because our loyalties are subject to our own natural byis to our friends? Taffy Brodesser-Akner asks us to look past our initial perceptions of both Toby and Rachael and does so in a way that will flip the readers initial assumptions upside down.I have seen mixed reviews for Fleishman Is In Trouble and I can understand why! The characters are not always likeable, but for me that is what makes the story work, your not necessarily going to like Toby or Rachel, your feelings like mine might fluctuate as you read the novel, but for me they were equal parts fascinating, annoying, loveable and that is why I found them compelling. They never bored me, I enjoyed finding each one equal parts selfish, entertaining, heartbreakingly wounded by events and yet loving and kind. They embodied a multitude of characteristics, making them rounded and human. Toby was capable of unconditional love for his children, yet often found it hard to be so within his adult relationships! Within each was encapsulated the variety and wonder of the human condition in all its marvellous variety. Each character the writer created within Fleishman Is In Trouble could be someone you or I know. Toby and his friends have a capacity to create chaos from seemingly simple acts and they often seem unable to consider other’s needs. So self-involved that they misread the intentions of others, but their capacity for love and ability to change, makes them feel heartachingly real and that is why they will remain within my imagination for years to come.The writing is biting, witty and perceptive. Savage in its portrayal of modern life, the need for a perfect marriage, the unflinching pursuit of career and money as a mark of social standing. It’s unremitting in how it shows Rachel’s almost painful need for acceptance within her children’s parental social circle, as a way of eliminating any possibility they would be perceived as different from their friends. Yet is it her own insecurities that are driving this insatiable hunger for acceptance, at the price of her own well being? Is she the bitch Toby paints her as, or a women forced to fracture her own life, to be acceptable in the ‘male’ world she wants to be a part of and treated as an equal within. The way this leaves her unmoored from the role of mother and wife is painful to read, because Fleishman Is In Trouble asks, why can’t she be both? In 2020 why are women still required to be superwomen, to have both career, social life and family?Fleishman Is In Trouble is clever simply because it works on so many levels, it seems on the surface to be all about Toby’s midlife crisis, his angst at his own lack of career progression! Following his marriages decent into a series of shambolic missteps, he embarks on a miniature and very Toby centric sexual revolution, but this is where the writer plays her trump card and flipped all my perceptions on their head. As it is a perceptive look at the initiation of marriage and the subversive role many women are still judged by, even by those of their own gender. It asks who actually caused the breakdown of the marriage, Rachel or Toby? Is he as perceptive and supportive as he sees himself, is she the angry demanding shrew he paints her as. Or is Toby too wrapped up in his own personal crisis to be able to see his own role in the trouble they find their marriage in. Is either view to simplistic to explain how they now see each other?My feelings about both, their friends and endless sense of crisis changed from page to page, because the writers sassy take on a modern marriage needed me to be willingly to adjust my mindset throughout. I had to reach below the surface and find the pain, the humour and the fragility that was an integral part of who they were and their lives.Fleishman is In Trouble for me surely has to be one the books of the year! For me it was intoxicating and challenging depiction of modern lives, women and marriage. Best of all it is reads like an emotional rollercoaster and that has to be good in my mind.

In some ways this seems very American in its examination of a man who is halfway through a divorce and already navigating the schedule of who has the kids....until his almost ex-wife seemingly disappears and goes off grid. The geographical references and local jokes might have passed this Brit reader by but the human condition and the state of marriage are universal subjects.The jokes and comedic riffs are part Woody Allen; part Seinfeld and in book with a male protagonist inveighing the addled mindset of the new (post almost divorce) dating landscape should the reader be surprised that a female author is so in tune with this male mind? With some wonderful riffs on the minutae of daily life; dealing with the kids and juggling work life balance this has universal themes though the constant references to therapy bring this reader back to the stereotypical American obsession with counselling and seeing your analyst. Pointless to summarise what plot there is without rather obvious spoilers but this is more of a seeming meditation than a novel with anything resembling a really moveable narrative but the jokes and situations work and the prose often sings with quality and resonance.So book about marriage; moving on with ones life; the male condition and the female condition; work and play and a few narrative tricks as well. Humour is often key but there is an aching dark underbelly to this book, in part about how hard we find it to accept love pure and simple and yet how lucky we are that it Is sometimes in our lives. This book also touches on the nature of friendship especially for women and the last section tries to unpick why we humans are seemingly never satisfied with our lot.....and maybe why we should be.....I was often in awe of the prose despite it mostly being an extended riff dealt with in flashback or surmise. A book that will probably need re-reading to double check all those smiles (and grimaces) of recognition. Recommended!!