Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen

Thumbs down for this book by Jonathan Rosen.  The character development at the outset of this book was encouraging.    An elderly man, seeing that he was likely to have another stroke that might dampen his quality of life seeks to end it with dignity. A Reform Rabbi who happens to be a woman feels great reward from visiting the sick and meets this man in the hospital when his attempted suicide has failed.  With this beginning, the reader expects that it might lead to an interesting adventure in literature.  The reader is sorely disappointed…

The writing is frighteningly weak.  For example, as opposed to having the story told from one voice, or even from alternating voices in each chapter, this author volleys from character to character every few paragraphs. Very confusing!  There is little dialogue and much too much detail about what the character is thinking.   Better to leave some of this to the imagination of the reader, with more subtle suggestion from dialogue.   (The author should give the reader more credit for figuring some of this out!)  And unfortunately, even the plot gets a little ridiculous (the boyfriend poses as a rabbi and conducts an entire funeral??  Really??).

It was a struggle to finish reading this, so my advice is not to even start!