EVERYTHING CHANGES (Jonathan Tropper) - February 5/08

Jonathan Tropper instantly joins the ranks of my favorite authors with this absolutely mesmerizing novel, which essentially comes off as Garden State the book (no higher praise, really). This story about a 32-year-old man who changes his entire life after learning he might have cancer gets off to a slow start, but improves considerably as it progresses. By the end, I was really rooting for Zack and Tamara to get together (if they didn't, I probably would have knocked off half a star). The whole thing is a little idealized and not entirely authentic, but there are certainly plenty of truths here. It just doesn't get much better than this. **** out of ****