"So real it hurts."--David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author of Mosquitoland.

A summer of basketball, first love, and the friends who've got your back when life gets crazy, set in a trailer park in small town America.

Travis never gives up.
Not when his mom takes off.
Not when he gets suspended from basketball.
Not when he cracks four ribs jumping off a bridge to impress a girl.
Not when he and his best friend Creature get into trouble deeper than they know how to handle.

From acclaimed author Peter Brown Hoffmeister comes a painfully-funny, sometimes-crushing story of growing up, making mistakes, and pressing on, against the odds.

"In my mind the best storytellers walk that high tight wire between tragedy and comedy. This Is the Part Where You Laugh is exactly the part where you laugh. And ache. This is a really good book "--Chris Crutcher

"A courageous novel. Incandescent and unflinching." --Jeff Zentner, author of The Serpent King

"A raw offbeat novel with an abundance of honesty and heart." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Hoffmeister crushes it. There is blood and truth on every page." --Estelle Laure, author of This Raging Light