An interestingly structured and well-paced read. Acerbic to the point of condescension. At times funny, profound, depressing.

This book is awful. I wish it weren't, because I like promoting debut titles, but really - lazy, privileged, sexist, badly plotted, it's the whole package of bad.

Toby Fleishman wants the happy ever after, but finds himself adrift in the meh-at-best world of the newly separated. He’s earnestly looking for company to fill the void after his wife leaves. When not feuding with his ex or tackling unfairness in his job as a hepatologist, he enjoys a healthy string of physical relationships arranged through a hook-up app.

Brodesser-Akner's voice hits the perfect pitch for Toby’s character. She illustrates the complexities of a modern marriage and paints a vivid picture of relatable stressors to any marriage—career demands, trying children, and the lure of success. Keeping the reader’s attention with intimate views of the good, bad, and, at times, ugly-naked, Brodesser-Akner's language is as raw and real as the tenderness between Toby and his children. Toby may not have a strong game plan for dating, but his devotion to his children can’t be questioned.

Brodesser-Akner draws us onto Toby’s team with humor and tenderness, and once we’re firmly planted, she mixes it up with a close-up of his estranged wife, proving no matter how flat you make it, there are always two sides to a pancake.

Fleishman Is in Trouble is a funny, acerbic book about midlife crises and how people struggle through them. It is all about marriage and how they break and how they stick. Marriage is on the minds of the main characters. Toby and Rebecca Fleishman’s marriage is dissolving. Seth, Toby’s college friend and perpetual bachelor, is getting married. The occasional first-person narrator, the third of this college trio is wondering if she missed out by friend-zoning Toby. She’s feeling tempted but not sure what is tempting her.

Toby and Rachel Fleishman are both in trouble and so is their marriage. They are ready to sign the papers. Toby is enjoying the sexual freedom of gig-economy relationships that begin and end with an app. He’s also enjoying his role as the feminist man, not seeking to maximize his career so his wife’s career can flourish, taking the lead role with the house and children. When Rebecca disappears, his feminism begins to crack at the seams. Rebecca is really in trouble, falling apart along with her marriage, wondering about her choices.

There’s a first-person narrator who breaks in from time to time, the female third in a trio of college friends that included Toby and Seth, the perpetual bachelor. She’s also feeling some crisis in her marriage while Seth is getting engaged, finally.

I really enjoyed Fleishman Is in Trouble while I was reading it, but every time I put it down, struggled to want to pick it back up. It’s an odd thing, the prose was so delightful, but perhaps the story just wasn’t enough to grab my attention. I don’t need a complex plot, but I think I need more than this. It’s a story about marriage, what it requires, why it fails, why people seek the wrong things in marriage. I guess I would have liked it more if I liked the people more.

I received an e-galley of Fleishman Is in Trouble from the publisher through NetGalley.

Fleishman Is in Trouble at Penguin Random House
Taffy Brodesser-Akner author site

Brilliant, thoughtful structure, easy to read, a masterclass in multi-layered perspective. I would have loved to review this one for a publication, but everyone seemed to already have a reviewer lined up.

This sharp, snickering satire about a divorce-in-progress between an Upper East Side physician and his talent agent wife will make you so glad you’re no longer 40. Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Random House) starts from the point of view of the nerdy doc. His ambitious bread-winner wife disappears, leaving him to care for their two kids while ogling women on his phone. We are on his side until the author pivots to truths about the mother and the doc’s childhood female friend—and it’s a revelation, punctuated by funny workout crop tops (NEVERTHELESS SHE PERSPIRED). Can you take the author seriously with a first name like Taffy? Yes!

I loved this one!

The author does an amazing job of setting up the story so we think we knows what’s going on and then completely turning it on it’s head.

The last third of this should be required reading for working moms. She completely hit the nail on the head with the guilt plus the mental burden and expectations of being both super mom and super employee.

Fleishman Is In Trouble, the story of a NYC doctor navigating online dating in the aftermath of a divorce while trying to co-parent two preteens with an ex who’s gone AWOL, is a difficult book to review. On the one hand, there’s no denying that Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a skilled and talented writer and her first novel is full of the kind of finely-observed details about the characters and their Upper East Side New York milieu that you’d expect from someone whose day job is writing celebrity profiles for The New York Times Magazine. (There’s a running gag about workout tank tops with pithy sayings—“Any Yoga I Do Is Hot Yoga,” “Nevertheless, She Perspired,” “Nah ‘Ma Stay In Bed” etc—that made me roll my eyes in recognition and said more about their wearers than pages of narrative description could.) The dialogue is funny and always sounds authentic, and Toby is a three dimensional character with real emotions and problems.

Which brings me to my problem: Toby is not the narrator of the book. Instead, it’s told from the point of view of his college friend Elizabeth, a married suburban mother-of-two who used to write profiles for men’s magazines and is now having a mid-life crisis moment of her own. At first this conceit seems merely a bit awkward—it bothered me that Elizabeth seems to have access to information in weaving her narrative about Toby’s life that she wouldn’t otherwise be privy to, and not being able to reconcile this point sometimes came between me and the story she was telling. But before long, the device began to seem manipulative—it’s clear that Elizabeth’s own biases are inflecting Toby’s story, especially in a late narrative shift that felt more gimmicky than revelatory. Elizabeth certainly provides little moments throughout the book that indicate that Toby’s situation is not exactly what he would have us believe, but by undermining Toby, her narration ultimately undercut my entire connection with his character, which was what had kept me reading in the first place. I know that one of the themes of the book is that there is always more to any story than what meets the eyes and that there are multiple— and often conflicting—impressions of the same events, but Brodesser-Akner’s narrative risk in using the structure of the book to convey this just didn’t work for me. (And while I’m on the subject of things that didn’t work, I found the comparisons between working moms and stay-at-home moms throughout mean spirited, distasteful and not in keeping with a book that has a feminist bent.)

This book will definitely find plenty of readers who will no doubt love it—wish I would have been more in this camp. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

The writing was engaging and characters very well fleshed out. I especially liked the final act of the book. On the negative side: I wanted about 50% less of Toby's inner thoughts about sex; I spent the first half of the book wondering if the target audience had to be millionaires living in Manhattan, although that became less of a problem as the character of the narrator was developed.

I loved the idea behind this book, and the commentary on money and feminism and marriage and middle age and all that, but it fell flat for me. I didn’t like it being told from a third party perspective in the way that it was. It made the whole thing weird for me even if that was the point. I also cared nothing about what happened to any of the characters and while I am sure she wrote a book of unlikable characters to prove the point she mentions in the book, I wanted to somewhat care about them even if I didn’t like them.

While I am the same age as the characters, and can relate in many levels, I struggled through this book.

Arrivals column in Toronto Star

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/07/02/five-beach-reads-for-a-weekend-getaway.html




Fleishman is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Toby Fleishman has it pretty good — a respected New York liver specialist, he is recently separated and enjoying abundant sex via his dating app. Fleishman’s trouble begins when wife Rachel, with whom he shares joint custody of their sullen daughter and sweet son, stops answering his calls. This remarkable first novel is an atomization of a marriage — before, during and after. It is also about envy, entitlement, feminism, ambivalence and all the other base and inspiring aspects of modern life. Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a senior writer at New York magazine. Bet this one gets lots of likes.

This is definitely not a heart warming novel but it does make one sit back and think about life. At the heart of this story is the innocence and ignorance of humans as we start off as children and how it gets lost as we become adults. Fleishman is going through a divorce and is breaking down his existence, questioning why decisions are made or aren’t made, questioning why people change in the directions they go, what makes individuals become what they become in the end. The only thing that bothered me about this novel is, although the title is Fleishman is in Trouble, suddenly the narrator, who’s Fleishman’s best female friend, and his ex wife are making it about them. They also break down their existence and now it’s all about being a woman in a man’s world. I liked reading about Fleishman’s thoughts and how he’s dealing with the direction his life has taken and he doesn’t come off as being whiny, just very retrospective. But these two women come along and they DO whine about everything. I know being a woman in a man’s world is challenging and we need our voices to be heard but now the story isn’t about a Fleishman anymore. Overall, though, it’s a very thought provoking story and brings up things maybe you never really thought about before.

This novel reminded me of the works of Tom Perrotta and Meg Wolitzer, because it's character driven, and full of quirky, realistic people, though it's not nearly well done as those other authors. I almost quite this a few times because it was dragging on and on. I stuck with it because I wanted to know what had happened to Toby's wife. Now I wish I had given up near the beginning and not wasted my time. The premise here is great, and at times it's interesting. But the writing is too wordy and repetitive. Here we have Toby, a newly divorced dad who is getting a lot of tail via dating apps. Then his wife drops the kids off in the middle of the night and goes MIA for weeks. There was so much potential in that concept, and it fell flat. I understand the author is trying to make a point about societal expectations on women, and I appreciate it but it was so redundant I stopped caring. I will say I liked the narrator, who is Toby's best female friend from their college years.

Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel, “Fleishman is in Trouble” has been advertised as a perfect beach read. I’m not entirely sure how marketers determine what qualifies as a beach read, but this is no light, frothy, confection of a book and not much time is spent at the beach. In fact, Brodesser-Akner recently questioned why her book was being marketed as a beach read. “I am confused as to why our taste for what we like would change in the location we read it, or the season.” So if the book is not a beach read, what is it?
I think it is an exceptional fictional examination of marriage in middle-age and how marriage’s initial promises can easily turn to discontents. Is that the fault of marriage, the prospects of aging, how individuals change over time?

“How could you be this far along in life and still so unsettled? How could you know so much and still be this baffled by it all? Was this what enlightenment felt like, an understanding that life is a cancer that metastasizes so slowly you only have a vague and intermittent sense of your dying? That the dying is happening slowly enough that you get used to it? Or maybe that wasn’t life. Maybe that was just middle age.”

Brodesser-Akner examines the lives of three friends who were close in college and have recently re-established their friendship. One is in the midst of divorce (with very mixed feelings about whether that is really the best resolution to the problems in the marriage,) one who is uncertain about her what dreams and desires are and how that fits within her marriage, and one who feels like it is finally time to settle down and get married. But is marriage really right for any of them? Do their expectations match the reality of married life?

“I dared him in the mornings to ask me questions so that I could tell him about how I didn’t know how to live anymore. God, I wanted to say, how are you supposed to live like this, knowing you used to answer to no one? How is this the arc we set for ourselves as a successful life? But he’d never understand that. He had the life he wanted. So did I. And yet. And yet and yet and yet and yet and yet. What were you going to do? Were you not going to get married when your husband was the person who understood you and loved you and rooted for you forever, no matter what? Were you not going to have your children, whom you loved and who made all the collateral damage (your time, your body, your lightness, your darkness) worth it? Time was going to march on anyway. You were not ever going to be young again. You were only at risk for not remembering that this was as good as it would get, in every single moment—that you are right now as young as you’ll ever be again. And now. And now. And now and now and now. How could we not impugn marriage, then? It becomes so intertwined with your quality of life, as one of the only institutions operating constantly throughout every other moment of your existence, that the person you are married to doesn’t stand a chance. You hold hands while you’re walking down the street when you’re happy, you turn away icily to stare out the window as the car goes over the bridge when you’re not, and exactly none of this has anything to do with that person’s behavior. It has to do with how you feel about yourself, and the person closest to you gets mistaken for the circumstance and you think, Maybe if I excised this thing, I’d be me again. But you’re not you anymore. That hasn’t been you in a long time. It’s not his fault. It just happened. It was always going to just happen.”

“Fleishman is in Trouble” is very well-written and insightful, while also being a smart, fun, and witty read. It’s certainly a book you can read at the beach or by the pool, but don’t restrict yourself to those locations or times. It’s a captivating read, no matter where you are!

My review was posted on Goodreads on 6/25/19.

A funny, smartly written novel about the dissolution of a marriage that avoids easy categorization. Taffy Brodesser-Akner proves as deft in her fiction as she is in her nonfiction. Fleishman in Trouble is a book that's fun to read, but it also presents real probing questions about relationships and gender.

At 41, Toby Fleishman finds himself divorced and thrown into the world of dating apps. While he’s busy seeing a new woman every night, his ex-wife disappears. Toby is certain she abandoned him and their kids out of spite, but there are two sides to every story, even a marriage.

I was a little unsure going into this book, worried that it would be yet another literary novel about a middle aged man finding himself. But I know and love Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s feature writing, so I trusted her, and I’m so glad I did. This novel turns those other novels on their heads in a wonderfully messy and feminist way.

It’s revealed early on that our narrator isn’t a nameless omniscient, but Toby’s longtime friend Elizabeth. Taking the story from her perspective gives our view of Toby a slightly judgy, bitter tone that is deeply enjoyable. She loves her friend, but forces us and Toby to see the true consequences of his actions.

I really liked how this book meanders in and out of memories. It feels true to the way memory works - recollections popping up here and there, but perhaps not in a totally accurate way.

I don’t want to give away too much plot, because the way this book builds and then crumbles is masterful. I hope you’ll consider checking it out!

Title: Fleshman Is in Trouble
Author: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Publisher: Random House
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"Fleishman Is in Trouble" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

My Rationalization:

This was quite a read of a 41-year-old man who was in the process of divorcing, a Jewish doctor, trying to be there for his two kids, however, he was also caught up in wanting to hook up with women thru via dating apps. As the story opens up we find that Toby Fleishman ex-wife [Rachel] has dropped the kids off at Toby's place without his knowledge and disappears leaving him to have to shoulder all their needs 24/7. Now, at this point I know one is asking why did she do this? What was going on with Rachel? We find Toby is left to ponder what went wrong with his marriage, his work, and his life.

I felt like this was a good story of a marriage that lets the reader see both sides of the coin. I did feel that the story was a little lull in the beginning, however by the end [part three] I was pulled back into the story which did explain quite a bit about the two main characters. I don't want to leave out the side characters that were so important in their own way to the story. I will say you will have to keep up in this literary read because the storyline will have several different stories going on which did bring out 'the meaning of commitment even as people grow older and do change.' There is definitely a story of lessons on 'marriage, sex life, motherhood, and family life.' What got me about the story was how I was left thinking that this mother didn't really focus on the children's needs at all. Be prepared for a good read about 'divorce, family life, dating and dealing with relationships' even from a man's viewpoint.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an early release in exchange for an honest and fair review

Successful talent agent Rachel Fleishman has separated from her physician husband, Toby. One day, she drops their two children off at Toby’s apartment and seemingly disappears.

Most of the book is devoted to two intersecting stories, the narrators and the one the narrator tells about Fleishman. Initially, I didn’t care for this style, but, near the end, the story pivots and the conclusion pulls it all together.

The author’s sense of humor is entertaining as she looks at the dating life of today’s middle aged single male. Her perception of the middle aged woman in today’s society is achingly accurate.

This was really quite a book, about which I have a complex mix of feelings. The Fleishman of the title is Toby Fleishman, recently divorced and fairly unhappy, dealing with his kids, dating again, and his very complicated and unhappy relationship with his ex-wife Rachel. The writing is really quite sharp, and the characters are flawed and interesting though all pretty unhappy people. My first problem with the book was that it was a little hard to get into, the beginning just talked way too much and in way too much detail about Toby's forays into sexting and hooking up with random women, and not in an appealing way; it was actually hard to believe at this point that the book was written by a woman. As it gets going though, the book definitely gets deeper and more interesting, though I will say it was a slower read than I would have expected for a relatively short book.

My second big issue with the book is that it uses a very strange narrative device - basically, the book mostly seems like it is being told in the third person about Toby, but then you find out it's actually being told by his old friend Libby in the first person - so mostly it will be in the third person, but then occasionally it will say something like "he called me," and even more occasionally it fully shifts over to her perspective. And then towards the end Libby shares with us Rachel's perspective as well. But if it's being told by her, how would she know what they're thinking? I just found that whole thing confusing and distracting, and feel like the book could have been more successful - maybe even close to a 5 star book - if it was just told from typical alternate perspectives instead. That being said, the book was just so interesting and thought-provoking, from funny satirical stuff about rich New Yorkers to really deep stuff about marriage, divorce, working, parenting, etc. And the last 20% or so of the book, told mostly from Rachel and Libby's perspective, was really quite impactful.

I would really love to discuss this book with someone immediately, so I definitely think this would make a good book club book. So I guess in the end, even though this book had its weaknesses, I'd still give it 4, maybe even 4.25 stars. I'm not necessarily going to be pressing it into the hands of everyone I know, and I have a feeling that this could be one of those love it or hate it books, but I feel like I'm going to be thinking about it for a while.

Fleishman is in Trouble is getting rave reviews and I expected to love it. Unfortunately, I didn't care that Toby Fleishman was in trouble - I hated him. Toby's wife has disappeared on the eve of their divorce and left him with their kids. Toby is trying to juggle his job as a doctor, his anger at his wife, and his newfound dating life, so despite being a loving father he is frustrated and floundering with having full time custody. Brodesser-Akner's book is really well written, and the characters are well drawn. This is a satire of rich Manhattanites and the way they always strive for more, as well as of dating apps and the way women (especially ambitious women) are treated. I usually enjoy unlikable characters, but I honestly didn't care what happened to Toby, who is narcissistic and hateful and put upon and never sees himself at fault and treats women terribly. I was interested in his wife Rachel - I wanted to know what was going on with her and where she was, but by the time we got to hear her story I wanted this book to be over. Brodesser-Akner has lots of interesting things to say, and like I mentioned, this one is getting great reviews so this may just be a case of it not being the book for me. But it really wasn't.