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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780375726408 |
Awards
Powells.com Staff Pick
In lieu of the driving narrative voice of Straight Man, Empire Falls delves into a large cast of strong characters who will live on in the reader's mind long after the novel proper has ended. Russo's sprawling Pulitzer Prize winner impresses on many levels — it's a large-scale epic that doesn't gloss over its characters' most intimate longings, and Russo does a terrific job of balancing a large, diverse cast — but what astonishes me the most is how quickly it ends; the narrative plunges ahead at a breakneck pace. Ultimately it's heartbreaking and stirring, and the reader will remember Empire Falls as vividly as if they'd personally visited the town itself. Recommended by Bolton, Powells.com
Careful: Laboratory tests confirm that Richard Russo's prose promotes addictive behavior among committed readers of fiction. His fifth novel, Empire Falls, turns its own pages.
Booklist noted, "Russo follows up his rollicking academic satire, Straight Man (1997), with a return to the blue-collar milieu featured in his first three novels and once again shows an unerring sense of the rhythms of small-town life, balancing his irreverent, mocking humor with unending empathy for his characters and their foibles."
In fact, Empire Falls infuses the blue-collar landscape of Russo's earlier work with the high comedy of Straight Man. The result is a compassionate and hilarious story, the most ambitious novel of his career. "These books seem to be getting bigger both in the number of pages and the number of things I'm tackling," the author admitted during his visit to Powell's. Notably, the new novel presents his largest cast of characters yet. Sample any two reviews of the book and you'll discover that few readers agree who is best.
Salon.com calls Tick "surely one of the most appealing adolescents ever to grace the pages of fiction." The Baltimore City Paper likes Max, whose "confidence is almost touching, a warped expression of unconditional parental love." The Detroit Free Press can't decide: "Even relatively minor [characters] — Tick's vastly untalented art teacher — are fully formed. Russo's eye and ear for small-town life are evident on every page."
Empire Falls, Maine, is a shell of its former self; of this there can be no argument. The dying factory town is controlled by a domineering widow who seems to relish its demise. One might say the same of Miles Roby, manager of the Empire Grill, above which Miles lives now that his soon-to-be ex-wife's fiance is sleeping in his bed. Thank goodness for Tick, then, his daughter, who'll one day escape the doomed town if Miles has anything to say about it.
"Writing about blue-collar folks is something I've been doing right from the start," Russo explained. "It's a world I know pretty well, and its people seem worth talking about to me. I like most of these folks quite a bit." Dave, Powells.com
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)
"Richard Russo first made his reputation with a series of blue-collar novels that suggested a more antic and expansive Raymond Carver. But by the time he published Straight Man, in 1997, Russo was clearly interested in breaking new ground, and that foray into academic farce showed off his comic timing and sneaky construction to superb effect. Now comes Empire Falls, the author's most ambitious work to date." James Marcus, Atlantic Online (Read the entire Atlantic Online review here)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it's Janine, Miles' soon-to-be ex-wife, who's taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it's the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town — and seems to believe that "everything" includes Miles himself.
In Empire Falls, Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.
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About the Author
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
-
ellazmarie, December 1, 2006 (view all comments by ellazmarie)
am half way through this great novel. Russo, writes a great story with amazing characters. I love Tick and how she freezes out her mom, janice, who does deserves it. enjoy and am breezing through it at rapid speed. Thanks for the wonderful story.
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Hank Devereaux, April 17, 2006 (view all comments by Hank Devereaux)
One of my favorite novels -- I absolutely adore it! Skip the HBO miniseries, which is treacly and cheesy, and read this terrific novel instead.
View all 2 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780375726408
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Vintage Books USA
- Location:
- New York, NY
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Maine
- Subject:
- Restaurants
- Subject:
- Fathers and daughters
- Subject:
- Psychological fiction
- Subject:
- Working class
- Subject:
- Restaurateurs
- Subject:
- Domestic fiction
- Copyright:
- 2001
- Edition Number:
- 1st paperback ed.
- Publication Date:
- May 14, 2002
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 496
- Dimensions:
- 8.02x5.36x1.02 in. .82 lbs.
