Toby is going through a divorce from his wife of 15 years. We watch him discover the whole new world of dating apps and struggle as a single dad. We hear about Rachel, his shrew of an ex-wife. But then, one day, Rachel disappears. Is she dead? Missing? Having an affair? We eventually learn the truth—and discover that there are two sides to every story and that everything isn’t always how it appears.
I loved this book. I was excited to read it, because I absolutely adore Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s celebrity profiles in the New York Times (her story about Gwyneth Paltrow is legendary). I had no idea what it was about when I picked it up, but wow—it was amazing. It delighted me, it hooked me, it made me laugh out loud, it made me think, it made me highlight particularly insightful passages in the book, it made me feel. This book is about divorce, yes, but so much more. It’s about marriage, feminism, ambition, workplace struggles, New York City, parenthood, friendship, and on and on. It’s incredibly smart and one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time. Highly recommend.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2766964367?book_show_action=false

A hilarious New York upper-crust novel slotted somewhere between Franzen, Salinger, and Candace Bushnell. The writing is sharp, satirical, and engaging. I'd recommend to anyone who likes their novels a bit hysterical and dishy. Fun.

I feel very conflicted about this book. It really "went for it," but came up short throughout. It might be something I reread in a few years and feel more definitive (one way or another) about.

Fleishman Is in Trouble was an unexpected treat! I didn't know what to think when I started this book, but quickly got wrapped up in the clever and entertaining story and the realistic and well developed character's lives. Looking forward to seeing what this author comes up with next!

I cannot say enough about this book. Spectacularly brilliant, poignant, funny, meaningful, interesting and relevant, I loved every word. It felt like a gift to have an early copy- completely genius debut.

I loved this. I don't have much else to say so I'm going to repeat myself. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this. I loved this.

Interesting story on a husbands viewpoiint of ending his marriage and dealing with relationships.
His humor, dating apps and attitude with woman were a little too much over the top for me.
Couldn't get into it.

A book that sweeps you in from the first pages a book of marriage divorce heartache emotional hilarious in other words a terrific read a true engrossing novel. #netgalley #Randomhouse

It took me a while to get into this book, but halfway through I couldn't put it down. It's a uniquely whimsical and surprisingly insightful read, with lessons on marriage, motherhood, and life. While none of the characters are particularly likable, their flaws are both realistic and recognizable.

I highlighted all over the place and finished this book thinking I'd read something important. Highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Extremely well-written and engaging story of a New York City doctor coming to terms with his impending divorce from his wife. The story's narrator is a friend of the protagonist's from college, and her story is complex as well. Without spoilers, the doctor's ex-wife disappears early in the book, leaving him to fend for himself with their two young children while he also manages his career which takes some surprising turns as well. Also very much a reflection on why people marry and/or marry the people they do. Read it in one sitting, a page turner.

I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t for me. The idea was a good one with a couple separating after years of marriage and after the children are unexpectedly dropped off in the middle of the night, the ex wife simply disappears. The busy physician dad’s life is suddly no longer just all about his patients and his sex life, but about his ex and the children. I just couldn’t relate to the main characters and found I could care less where the ex really went or why. Couldn’t wait for this one to end. I did like the line “How miserable is too miserable?” and found it quite fitting as friends and family are told of the divorce and worry about their own marriages all while pretending it’s about their friends lives as they express their concerns. Tried therapy, good sex, date night.....

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Men, they’re just like us. Except clueless.
But you can’t help but feel for Fleishman, although, as a 42 year old working wife and mother, I really didnt want to, but he sucked me in despite myself.

I am a long time fan of Taffy Brodesser-Akner's journalism, and I think she is a wonderful writer. In her fiction debut she is playing with interesting ideas around tropes, and who is allowed to tell stories and structure. Her ideas are ambitious and there are wonderful paragraphs and images, but I found it difficult to engage with the
characters, and found their engagement with each other to be fleeting as well. I wanted to like the book more than I did - and I retain high hopes and interest in her future work.

A gorgeous unflinching look at middle age, parenting, feminism, the work-life balance, friendship, and marriage. Brodesser-Ackner deftly nails the Catch 22 situations of being a grown up in the 21st Century.

I didn't finish this. It seemed like it was trying way too hard to be funny and just not succeeding.

I started out loving this book.. I was captivated by Toby and his family life, his children, his relationship with Rachel. I was also fascinated by his career as a hepatologist, and this side story about the woman that needed a liver transplant. I have to say at times this novel was very confusing because it would switch into the character of Elizabeth and I wouldn't realize who is narrating the story for part of the book. I also felt a drag on a bit in the end, Way too much conversation between Rachel and Toby. I was incredibly disappointed by the ending. I did however finish the book and I did like the book. Although I might not recommend it to friends and family I would still like to continue to follow this author. Thank you for my advanced copy

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.


** Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of the Book" Fleishman Is In Trouble ". **
It was an okay book. I just did not feel the book was as funny as it tried to be. It was forced to me. Maybe, someone else may enjoy. I did not just end it, I rumbled through.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I am quitting this novel at 27%. I have mixed feelings about it: I like the writing, but the subject matter is a little off-putting at times and nothing has yet happened, apart from the protagonists's wife failing to return from a yoga retreat. Toby has recently separated from Rachel after a marriage he spends a lot of time musing about, and in the intervening months has been sleeping with and sexting various women he meets on dating sites. We hear A LOT about this. We hear a fair amount about his children (he is a fond parent) and a little about his job (he is a compassionate doctor).

The "I" of the narration, who pops up occasionally is a friend from his youth called Elizabeth, but she is mostly absent. The back and forth between different periods of Toby's life is not confusing exactly, but it means the narrative lacks forward momentum. I think this is probably quite a good novel (it is wryly funny), but I can't summon up the interest to keep going and find out.