I've long been a fan of Richard Russo, perhaps best known for Nobody's Fool (made into a good film starring Paul Newman) and Empire Falls, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002.
I was in a bookshop the other day and noticed he's released a new novel, Everybody's Fool, which I expect I'll get to some day.
Russo represents an unusual literary figure for me - a non-genre modern author, for whom I read almost everything they write. There are very few, if any, other authors who fit into this category for me. I 'discovered' Russo years ago when The Risk Pool was released and it was my favourite modern novel for many years - its absolute cracker. Hugely readable, with terrific pace and a real sense of reality. For those who don't know he writes beautifully of small New England town misadventures of those who are just making ends meet - 'ordinary' people, with ordinary desires and typical problems, but he presents them in a very warm and inviting way. He makes you want to go to Mohawk (or wherever) and take a booth in the diner and watch his world around you.
His fiction work:
I was in a bookshop the other day and noticed he's released a new novel, Everybody's Fool, which I expect I'll get to some day.
Russo represents an unusual literary figure for me - a non-genre modern author, for whom I read almost everything they write. There are very few, if any, other authors who fit into this category for me. I 'discovered' Russo years ago when The Risk Pool was released and it was my favourite modern novel for many years - its absolute cracker. Hugely readable, with terrific pace and a real sense of reality. For those who don't know he writes beautifully of small New England town misadventures of those who are just making ends meet - 'ordinary' people, with ordinary desires and typical problems, but he presents them in a very warm and inviting way. He makes you want to go to Mohawk (or wherever) and take a booth in the diner and watch his world around you.
His fiction work:
- Mohawk (1986) - his first and a good introduction to his style and to Mohawk, but not as good as the next two in my opinion
- The Risk Pool (1988) - terrific, the first book of his I read, also set in Mohawk
- Nobody's Fool (1993) - my favourite Russo
- Straight Man (1997) - more humour than some, this is quite comedic, but very Russo
- Empire Falls (2001) - This is a bit of a classic, I enjoyed it very much
- The Whore's Child and Other Stories (2002) - I have this but not read it yet
- Bridge of Sighs (2007) - Memorable, good, if not his very best
- That Old Cape Magic (2009) - in the TBR... I keep meaning to read it
- Everybody's Fool (2016) - just released - anyone read it? I presume its a sequel to the Pulitzer winner
