V Read—Fleishman Is In Trouble

Generally regarded as one of the books of summer 2019 we bring you Fleishman Is In Trouble. A deceptively simple premise of a marriage breakdown reveals so many different avenues of joy, despair and character insights that you need to concentrate or you’ll miss them. Once we’d reconciled ourselves to the central characters diminutive height (disconcerting) we were fully drawn into this tale. Happy marriage. Sort of. Wife disappears. For all sorts of reasons we are left to wonder.

The eponymous hero navigates his way around his newfound singledom and internet dating encounters while we scream at him down the pages and curl our toes. But essentially here’s a book that makes you think. How a seemingly perfect New York Jewish match made in heaven isn’t all it’s made out to be and how things aren’t always as they seem. The narrator is Toby Fleishman's childhood friend Libby - and she provides us with enough background to fully engage with him and his decisions. It’s a page-turner because you sort of can’t bear what’s happening but you’re willing it to all be ok in the end. It’s a universal story we can all relate to. We loved this book over at team VB. It made us think about gender and love and betrayal and yoga. You’ll understand when you’ve read it.