This Is Where I Leave You

Paul, the eldest Foxman brother, is a main character and a foil to Judd throughout the novel. Paul is older than Judd by 16 months and looks like him, only “bigger, broader, and angrier; me on steroids” (37), as Judd describes him. Judd’s relationship with Paul is complicated. He looked up to and was jealous of Paul when they were growing up; Paul was athletic and admired by girls. When he won a baseball scholarship to college, the whole family was proud. Paul is headstrong, a bit arrogant, and not prone to revealing tender feelings. Judd is certain that Paul resents that Judd was intimate with Alice, who is now Paul’s wife, and that adds a layer of jealousy and competition to their relationship. Judd accuses Paul of not reaching out with condolences when Judd’s baby was stillborn and his marriage broke apart, but Paul resents that Judd never supported Paul through his many surgeries and grafts, when he was trying to be a protective older brother (and something of a stud) by punishing the bully who hit Judd. Paul is frustrated by his wife’s struggle with infertility and worried about the future of the family business, of which he owns half. Paul sees himself as being responsible for everyone else, but he also feels that he cannot show vulnerability, as evidenced by his showing off when he plays baseball with his friends and ends up straining his injured arm.

Phillip is the youngest Foxman sibling, born nine years after Judd. Judd calls him a “terminally screwed-up adult” (4), but he is handsome, graceful, and “effortlessly seductive” (37). Judd calls him the Paul McCartney of their family: “better-looking than the rest of us, always facing a different direction in pictures, and occasionally rumored to be dead” (4). Phillip, to his siblings, lives a reckless, adventurous life, dates famous and beautiful women, and falls out of touch for long stretches at a time. Wendy says Phillip was raised by the television, and he has a habit of quoting lines from movies. In addition to providing another foil to Judd, Phillip often provides comic relief with his honesty and teasing remarks.

For a year prior to the novel’s opening, Phillip has been dating, and living with, his therapist and life coach, an older woman named Tracy. She is classy and wealthy, and Phillip thinks he can turn his life to a better trajectory if he dates a woman like her. Hillary thinks this is evidence of “mother issues” (86), and none of the Foxmans believe that this relationship will be successful. Phillip is the most expressive of the Foxman siblings, the only one who is able to openly name and deal with his feelings. He fights Paul when Paul rejects Phillip’s effort to become part of the family business, but Phillip stands up for Judd when he fights with Wade at the hospital. In the end, while Phillip has the same lack of direction as Judd, their characters have made the same choice: They both have money (Phillip’s borrowed from Judd) and want to explore new opportunities.

Jen is a supporting character in the book but plays the role of antagonist in one of Judd’s important conflicts as the wife from whom he is separated due to her affair with his boss. Jen has dyed blonde hair and a fit body. She is strikingly attractive, and Judd has always felt proud and a bit amazed that she desired him. They met in college and have been married for nine years. It is not stated whether Jen has a job; Judd supports her and continues to support her though they are separated and she is in a relationship with Wade. In their time together, Judd viewed keeping Jen interested as a competition, since he considers Jen’s type as “genetically gifted man-boys with expensive sports cars, hairless Abercrombie bodies, and entitlement issues” (54).

Though Judd has fond memories of their time together, especially their once-pleasurable sex life, Jen is self-centered and concerned only with how she appears to others. She does not admit when she is wrong or apologize when she has hurt others. Though she expresses condolences to Hillary when she arrives at their home, Jen visits mainly to inform Judd that he is the father of the child she carries and to secure his care and support for her. She admits that she sought out Wade because she could please him, whereas she felt she had disappointed Judd in losing their baby and then feeling stuck in her loss and grief. Judd realizes, “She always cared a little too much about being liked, and the guilt over her betrayal isn’t nearly as upsetting to her as the fact that I now despise her” (79). Jen is a mostly static character who mainly serves as a catalyst for Judd’s character arc, and at the end, her future is inconclusive, much like Judd’s.

Wendy is the eldest Foxman child. As a wife and mother, she provides a parallel to Hillary Foxman, Linda Callen, and Jen, the would-be mother. Wendy also serves as a foil to Alice, who is trying to get pregnant; Tracy, who is considering marrying Phillip; and Penny, who is still single and lives alone. Wendy is extremely frank and unsentimental. Her typical way of relating with her brothers is through insults. She will always state the obvious, but in a way that clears the air. She is married to Barry Hollis, and they have three children: Ryan, who is six, Cole, who is three, and Serena, who is seven months.

Wendy’s relationship to Barry is a foil and contrast to Judd’s with Jen. Wendy was in love with Horry Callen, and they dated while she was in high school, but after the attack that resulted in Horry’s brain injury, Wendy returned to college and began dating Barry. Wendy still cares for Horry and seeks his affection while she is home. She does not see infidelity or her moments of unhappiness as reasons to end her marriage; she doesn’t imagine she would find something better. Judd, who is a romantic at heart and wants to be deeply and entirely loved, thinks this outlook is tragic, but it’s part of Wendy’s unsentimental approach to life in general.