false <![CDATA[Risk Pool]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166501384m/12365.jpg 12365 7 A wonderfully funn and perceptive novel in the traditions of Thornton Wilder and Anne Tyler, <b>The Risk Pool</b> is set in Mohawk, New York, where Ned Hall is doing his best to grow up, even though neither of his estranged parents can properly be called adult.<br><br>His father, Sam, cultivates bad habits so assiduously that he is stuck at the bottom of his auto insurance risk pool. His mother, Jenny, is slowly going crazy from resentment at a husband who refuses either to stay or to stay away. As Ned veers between allegiances to these grossly inadequate role models, Richard Russo gives us a book that overflows with outsized characters and outlandish predicaments and whose vision of family is at once irreverent and unexpectedly moving. 938252 1988 Risk Pool total:1081|5:275|4:501|3:263|2:34|1:8| 1081 4244 1388 113 4 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 02 12:46:05 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 13 11:38:38 -0700 2008
the usual is all in evidence:
- lol-inducing humor
- affectionate brutal treatment of small-town folk and life (perfect internal echo: Sam constantly cuf...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Aug 15 14:47:14 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 12:08:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 20:47:18 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 20:47:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 06:36:03 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 06:56:08 -0700 2009
I love character-driven stories, and you write some of the best I've ever read. Does anything much happen in your stories? Not usually, and what does happen tends toward the quotidian. But the way you portray these events, and their effects on your wonderful charact...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 15:48:19 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 16:21:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 07:32:53 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 11:06:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Nov 10 10:45:02 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 10:45:02 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue May 06 11:48:38 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 11:59:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 13:44:22 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 20 21:38:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 20:35:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 18 14:03:34 -0700 2007 Empire Falls. I've probably read six or seven books since I started The Risk Pool; I'd discard it, or intentionally set it in some obs...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 30 19:11:51 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 21:08:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 12 22:12:44 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 22:16:12 -0800 2008
While the crush never panned into more then...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 05:34:15 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 05:39:44 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Wed Oct 07 11:16:07 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 11:17:47 -0700 2009 4 0 true false Sat Jan 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 15:52:41 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 16:38:06 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 04 20:37:49 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 21:05:44 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 11:32:26 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 18:39:58 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Sun Apr 05 17:52:50 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 17:54:00 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jan 03 00:28:58 -0800 2009 Sun Jun 28 04:26:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue May 12 16:26:23 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 16:27:42 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=12365