literatetexan 's review for:

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper

4.0

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Some spoilers follow: Silver is a forty-something divorcee with a single daughter. He used to be a drummer in a rock band that had one hit. He lives in a hotel called the Versaille, along with several other divorced men. His ex-wife is getting remarried, to a doctor. His teenage daughter tells Silver she's pregnant, and he has a mini-stroke. His ex-wife's fiance, Rich, the doctor, explains to Silver that he has a problem with his aorta, and without surgery, he'll die. Silver decides to skip the surgery. He makes a bucket list with four items on it--be a better man, be a better father, fall in love, and die. What happens after that makes up the bulk of the novel.

I'm sentimental, and the sentimental aspects of One Last Thing Before I Go were appropriately moving. But it's also a funny book, and even though I rarely laugh out loud when I'm reading, I did laugh during this one.

Tropper writes great sentences. I found myself highlighting something in almost every chapter.