false 12368 9 The town of Mohawk may be provincial but it's far from sleepy. Its inhabitants seem perpetually awake, and not only on Saturday at two in the morning, "when the bars are closing and people are forced to consider the prospect of returning home with so many of the night's dreams unfulfilled." Richard Russo focuses on several characters who are leading lives of extreme--and extremely funny--longing. Dallas Younger, for instance, hit his peak playing high-school football, and it's been downhill from there. He has no idea what women, particularly his ex-wife, are thinking, which makes him really glad there are none in on the local poker game. And he's still at a loss to figure out why he has no relationship with his son (probably something to do with the fact that he never sees him). Even the calendar at the local grill is for 1966, since the owner figures "the months are the same" and being a few days out of whack doesn't matter. This same man has a private betting system. Choosing among the top jockeys isn't that hard--he tries to assess their current levels of pride, concentration, and desire. Richard Russo shows us that these same qualities exist in his hard-luck characters. 1813321 1986 Mohawk total:843|5:3|4:10|3:11|2:2|1:1| 843 3142 1045 70 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon Dec 15 18:00:36 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 18:02:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Nov 04 20:38:17 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 20:24:04 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Nov 10 10:42:45 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 10:42:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Oct 08 12:05:34 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 12:05:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 16:08:34 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 14:06:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 31 13:50:12 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 13:57:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Oct 18 18:48:49 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 21 20:38:38 -0800 2008 it was very good, but also very difficult to get through...russo's later work has deep tragic elements, but he tempers the adversity and misfortune with charm and wit...those features aren't so much at play in this book...
it is a good first novel, and all the ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 18:31:31 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 10:45:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 09:58:37 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 10:01:35 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 09:39:55 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 18:11:19 -0700 2009 hmmm, i'm not entirely sure what to say. i mean this seems like the sort of classic russo story that he further perfected with empire falls. brilliantly written, sort of depressing and funny, small town life. i liked it, but would recommend empire falls first. ]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Fri Aug 21 07:35:04 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 07:36:08 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 07:30:19 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 07:32:08 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 05 17:27:04 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 09 13:00:11 -0800 2007 Empire Falls and enjoyed the comparison and contras...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Aug 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 15:18:37 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 15:20:12 -0700 2009
Small town life and the eccentrics who make it up. I appreciated the humor, but didn't really end up caring about the characters.]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 07 19:07:39 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 19:08:38 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Oct 23 08:56:13 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 08:57:23 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 21:07:52 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 15:02:07 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 11:55:45 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 16:04:20 -0800 2009 But this one surprised me, especially since it was his first.
Mostly, it was the book's to...more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Nov 26 14:01:23 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 14:02:07 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Jul 05 04:25:26 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 03:25:03 -0700 2007
I can't help but love Mather Grouse, ...more...]]>