Originally published in 1986 in the Vintage Contemporaries paperback series—and reissued now in hardcover alongside his masterful new novel, ...
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reviews
Dec 15, 2008
Julie
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Straight Man is one of my favorite novels of all time, so when I saw that Russo had also written a novel set in a small town in central New York, I had to buy it immediately. I've finally maneuvered free-time for reading into my schedule---what a pleasure it was! Seeing that I live right next to "Mohawk, New York," the town in which the novel is set, I felt even more connected to the characters as names of all of the surrounding areas of my life kept coming up (Even though there isn't
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Oct 21, 2010
Felicity
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This is now the third time I've read this book...a privilege I have never afforded to any author. But this is Richard Russo, and Mohawk is comforting...a place to which you can retreat when you need familiar terrain. I first read the book in 2004, then again in 2007, and now again. This time around, I've noticed that it's clearly the earliest of Russo's books...his writing style is nowhere near as elegant or well-developed as his later novels. But Mohawk is, nonetheless, comforting...Russo h
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Nov 10, 2008
A study of small town life- one built around an industry that is dead or dying. In the case of Mohawk- the industry is leather. Similar to Empire Falls- except Empire Falls is a more mature and grown up version of Mohawk. If you read Empire Falls and Mohawk one after the other- in either order- you can see how the Russo has matured as a writer. Ok. I read something similar to that last statement somewhere- but it's true. I'd also read somewhere that- Amazon.com I believe- that the story or
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Oct 08, 2008
Ryan
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This was Russo's first book and it shows. Richard Russo is one of the best authors that I have run across in my short stint of a life. His narrative has a high-caliber voice that seeks the nostalgia within the reader and steadily draws it out. He's got a knack for craft that most contemporary authors are lacking. His stories offer a steady structure and a very unique as well as entertaining balancing act of numerous characters.
With that said, I think Mohawk is the weakest of the nove More...
With that said, I think Mohawk is the weakest of the nove More...
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Sep 24, 2009
Adele
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This was Russo’s first novel, published almost 25 years ago in 1986. While it was interesting to read Russo’s first book knowing what an accomplished writer he has become (I adored Empire Falls), and while Mohawk had moments of keen observation, this one began to drag for me around the halfway point, and I almost gave up about 3/4’s through. This is a tale about the inhabitants of the upstate New York town of Mohawk, which has become trademark Russo territory. It seemed unnecessarily choppy,
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Mar 31, 2009
Monica
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This is Russo's first book, but I read it after Straight Man. It's small town life in the North East, filled with characters dealing with a world that's changing and the loss of promise and potential. Like many of Russo's books, you get a great deal of poignancy and sadness, but you also get people who are just trying to make the best of what they have. I found it strangely uplifting. Oh, and for some reason I found Empire Falls much more depressing, I think because of the school incident.
Nov 21, 2008
Jason
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an extremely tragic novel...
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 aspects of russo's work that makes him great are here in a sort of embryonic form, but the story never really seems to coalesce or find its narrative focus...
russo really shines when he revolves More...
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 aspects of russo's work that makes him great are here in a sort of embryonic form, but the story never really seems to coalesce or find its narrative focus...
russo really shines when he revolves More...
Jun 09, 2009
Dan
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I very much enjoy Richard Russo's writing, though I have only read three of his books. Out of the three, this is my least favorite (Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool has Mohawk beat), but it's still quite good. Russo's writing is very clear, and he embraced brevity in this one far more than in Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool. I believe this was one of his earliest published books, and you can really tell how his writing has improved over the course of subsequent novels.
Russo writes wond More...
Russo writes wond More...
Jan 24, 2010
Coleenlou
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Russo flexes the character muscles that will lead him to Empire Falls and many of his other great books. In Billy, he gives us a great tragic character without ever having him say more than a few unintelligible words. If I had read this book first, instead of after all of his other books, I would no doubt have scored it higher. Knowing how well Russo can write, however, made this a teeny-weeny disappointment, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
Dec 04, 2011
Kingston
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Very goo dread. Having read Russo's most recent writings first, it is obvious this was an earlier novel. I enjoyed it though the style was much different than Straight Man, Bridge of Sighs and Cape Magic. There were similarities but the emphasis was less on a character's struggles with aging and coping with the surrounding changes than on a broader scope of characters and how they relate with each other. Russo did a good job living a small town showing how interconnected everybody can be. A
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Jan 04, 2010
Nancy
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This one was not quite as good as his others, for me. Doubly too bad, because now I'm out of Russo until I can get my hands on a copy of That Old Cape Magic. Anyway, the story here seemed awfully similar to that of The Risk Pool--or rather, since Mohawk came first, it seems like a tune-up for The Risk Pool. The Risk Pool was the better-told, more polished version of the story, but it's never a waste of time to read Russo's writing.
Aug 05, 2011
This is an early novel, but perhaps overly ambitious. So many characters! so many plot twists! I picked it up en route to a conference in upper NY State. Like the characters, I wanted better for their once thriving towns; unlike them, I could leave.. Russo went on to write other books set in New England, etc. AFter allowing time to cheer up, I may dip into another.
Jun 16, 2011
Barbara
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This was Russo's first book, which received critical acclaim, and was also the first that I did not especially enjoy. All the Russo elements are there: small, fading New York town; good guys, bad guys, and drunks; secrets hidden for years, gambling and divorce, and people loving those they should not. Lots of characters with intricate pasts. Unfortunately, this book was just the shell of what Russo's writing would later become; the characters lacked depth, the story was flat, with no exciteme
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Apr 08, 2011
Jami
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It was okay. His first novel. Many things that he'll carry through to Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighs, but here everything was too crazy and I think there were about three too many subplots. It got too confusing and had too many drawn-out, too-subtle implications to follow. Skip this one and just move on to Empire Falls, which it seems is what he was trying to do here anyway. This is like a rough draft to his future Pulitzer!
Mar 20, 2010
DRobb
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Mohawk is the least satisfying of the three Russo Book i have read. Empire Falls gave much food for thought; Risk Pool provided several engaging, albeit flawed characters.
I didn't find much engaging in this earlier work. Maybe the small town aura has dissipated. Not the same tension or character studies in this one.
I didn't find much engaging in this earlier work. Maybe the small town aura has dissipated. Not the same tension or character studies in this one.
Jul 22, 2010
Chris
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Having read all of Russo's later books, I didn't find this first novel to be as addictive; the dialogue doesn't yet pop consistently, and the story is a bit flat. The trademark Russo characters are present but only populate the edges here - Mrs. Grouse and her spinster sister are clones of my grandmother and aunt.
Nov 18, 2009
Diane
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I recently read Russo's newest book, That Old Cape Magic, and loved it; so, I thought I would try his fist novel, and I wasn't disappointed. It reminded me of Empire Falls for which he won a Pullitzer because the setting was a small town down on its luck and it had many interesting characters whose lives intertwined.
May 01, 2011
Pam
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Richard Russo is comfortable--a good read. But all his stories are so similar--I wait a couple of years until I want some of the same--then I pick up Russo and am not disappointed, just not surprised.
Empire Falls--hands down the best--but maybe I feel that way because I read it first?
Empire Falls--hands down the best--but maybe I feel that way because I read it first?
Oct 12, 2009
Anne
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This was a real disappointment. He also wrote Empire Falls - a book I didn't want to end! This was a gloomy tale of the residents of a small economically stressed manufacturing town. I almost put it down unfinished, but I kept hoping it would get better - it didn't.
May 14, 2011
Jin
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Richard Russo's first. I am a big fan of Russ but very disappointed. Don't read it -- it was just a poor rough draft of books that he would write later like Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighs. (Also bought this at big Borders sale but I shouldn't have.)
Apr 04, 2011
Lynn
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I really enjoy getting know the characters in Richard Russo's novels and the people of Mohawk were no exception. It's amazing to me that I can know them so deeply and care about them so quickly. Why did I let this book sit on my shelf so long before reading?
May 05, 2011
Elizabeth
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Richard Russo's first novel is set in a dying mill town of upstate New York, a setting which he has returned to several times since, and is peopled by the kind of small-town folks who urban sophisticates suspect should be dull but are, in his expert hands, as vivid and interesting characters as can be found anywhere in fiction. Here he focuses on two cousins -- Anne Younger and Diane Wood -- who are caught between aging parents, needy husbands and ex-husbands and, in Anna's case, a growing son.
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Jul 16, 2009
Simone
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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.
Aug 21, 2009
Yeti
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A good first book. A nice introduction to the work of Richard Russo. But so many of the elements here are similar to what you read about in the far superior Empire Falls.
Jul 10, 2009
Muriel
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This book was interesting and entertaining but certainly not a have too read. A good book to have on your list when waiting on your reserves from the library to get freed up.
Nov 09, 2007
Stephanie
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I'm just a big fan of Richard Russo. The way he writes his characters and the small towns in which they live is very evocative -- you feel like you know these people, this place. Apparently, this was his first novel. I read it long after reading Empire Falls and enjoyed the comparison and contrast between these two books. I like how Russo makes at least one his main characters basically a total screw-up, but still gets you to empathize with him (usually a him). A quick read on the surface -
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Mar 20, 2011
Monica
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Russo writes about contemporary rural male characters the way Jane Austen writes about well-bred, Victorian female characters..with accuracy, detail and humor!!
Jan 03, 2010
Violet
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I've now read several books by Richard Russo and totally think he's the cat's meow. There's something about his writing style that makes me feel rather content.
Aug 04, 2009
Steph
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Solid, but didn't captivate me.
Small town life and the eccentrics who make it up. I appreciated the humor, but didn't really end up caring about the characters.
Small town life and the eccentrics who make it up. I appreciated the humor, but didn't really end up caring about the characters.
Jan 10, 2010
Elizabethhaule
rated it:
Not as good as Stright Man, also by Richard Russo, but still a nice story with dark undertones about a small town and it's citizens individual struggles.
