13: Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Boy, they don’t just hand the Pulitzer out to hacks, do they? This 483-dense-paged book took me a whopping twenty days to read, but was well worth it. Russo’s characterizations are so lifelike they’re almost spooky. He skillfully juggles a huge panoply of characters, all of whom are complex, intriguing and believable. There are many jumps back and forth in time, but his narrative is so firmly anchored that I never felt a jot of confusion, even when reading at my most fatigued and distracted. Utterly satisfying and highly recommended.
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March 11th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
i loved that book too. i have read a lot of russo since. “straight man” is very funny.