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Jan 03, 2010

Daniel rated it:

This is one of those rare occasions when I wish GoodReads were to offer half-star ratings, because then I could give "Empire Falls" four and a half stars. It was almost a five-star novel in my estimation, but I had a few quibbles with it. It's nevertheless an excellent book, and one I don't feel much need to review at length; my friend Jennifer, who both recommended the book to me and lent me her copy, has already written a brilliant assessment. Her review is at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/483... More...

6 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2008

Linda rated it:

This was a book my brother really enjoyed and recommended to me as recently as this summer. So it went on my list. :o)

My brother passed away on October 9, 2007. Today (well, since it's after midnight, technically, yesterday) is his birthday, so it seems fitting that I've finally gotten around to posting this review today.

When I finish a book, I find I kind of have to let things simmer in my brain a bit before I can really parse out all my reactions to it. I’m not sure More...

3 comments like (15 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Angus rated it:

Disclaimer: This is not a review. This may have spoilers. Read at your own risk. Visit original post at Book Rhapsody.

***

Intro

Every Friday, I check the queue of books to be featured in this blog. And so I did it 30 minutes ago. Next one is Empire Falls. Richard Russo. Hmm.

This book is around 500 pages, and I can’t recall a single thing! I started to panic so I decided to put some random music on to relax my nerves.

Music is really relaxing because More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2010

Rick rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2008

Matt rated it:

I really, really like Russo. It's easy to plow through -- 480 pages gone in nothing flat, but the characters nonetheless come to life. For my sake, it doesn't hurt that his protagonists tend to be middling middle-aged nice-guys. But Russo is at his best when it comes to the oddball supporting cast -- the cantankerous Max Russo, the abrasive Minty clan, "batshit" Father Tom. I thought this book to be a step short of "Straight Man", but that's not putting it down much.
More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2009

Susan rated it:

SPOILER ALERT. I don't get the hype over this book. I normally appreciate tedious attention to detail (see my review on "The Corrections"), but this novel was a little too tedious even for me. I found it to be a big, long yawn. Not even HBO could save this story (the mini series was even worse than the book). SPOILER ALERT: if you want to read a better book that involves a school shooting, read Picault's "Nineteen Minutes"-- fresher and more exciting.

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2008

Jane rated it:

A small town in Maine. I could almost describe it from memory of my early years as a seasonal visitor there. The characters are so real, and we have a "silver fox" in our community, too. Teachers have to love the description of the art teacher's scene. The novel is wry and poignant, one of the best.

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2008

Johnny rated it:

"Diverting one's attention from the past was not the same as envisioning and embarking upon a future." (p. 19) While this seems to be the theme of Empire Falls by Richard Russo, my biggest problem with this novel is that there doesn't seem to be any move toward the future in this novel. Everyone in the book seems to be so entangled in the misdeeds of their parents and grandparents, as well as their own, that they can't cut free and live that future.

Even when the hopes and d More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2008

Rasmus rated it:

I bought this book having only read on the back of it's cover and seeing that it had won the Pulitzer. I half-way expected to find it sligthly boring for that same reason, simpy because I tend to like books with a fair amount of action. And "Empire Falls" has very little action.

But man, this book is so well written, I had to stop and curse out loud several times, being a writer myself. Small, everyday situations become intensely interesting, as the web of relationships beco More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2008

Caitlin rated it:

The book begins with a brilliant and unforgettable image but becomes increasingly less memorable as the book continues. Russo's style is pleasantly lulling and subtle--appropriate especially here for the description of the slow demise of a midland maine town. But the book goes on too long, and the ending is completely unsatisfying.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2009

Nick rated it:

There is something about the town of Empire Falls. While vibrant and currentally afloat, the reader has the feeling in the back of their throat that this town is slowly dying. Its businesses are slowly folding, it's people stuck on the side of the river of life. Everything is just sitting, slowly building up and then deteriorating.
This inner feeling is one of many that make Empire Falls one of the most gripping and thrilling, yet undeniably relatable and realistic novels I have read More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Brianna rated it:

The book is overflowing with symbolism, and was very interesting to analyze. Power and control are a big motif, and the symbolism of the river is used throughout the book. The plot really picks up about three fourths of the way through, and I couldn’t put it down. The lives of the small town characters are filled with scandal, affairs, murders, and mysteries. There are a lot of characters to keep track of which can get a little confusing. I found it a little boring for the first half at least, b More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

Bonnie rated it:

An award winner, deservedly so. More depth than Nobody's fool, but Russo's humour still intact.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Matt rated it:

Charming. Empire Falls is about the quirks and difficulties of small town life. The main character is Miles Roby, an intelligent but unsuccessful man stuck in the town of Empire Falls and its dreary life.

I think the two main strengths are its characters and its symbols. Some characters are quite funny, such as the dad, and some are sinister, but all are believable and interesting. I appreciated the role of every character.

Russo did a great job placing random as symbols. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2008

John rated it:

If future archaeologists have nothing but novels written over the past 20 years or so to judge our society by, they will come to the following conclusions:
1. Nearly everyone used foul language (although perhaps the future archaeologists won't know that it was foul language).
2. Nearly everyone thought about sex most of the time.
3. Almost all adults were either divorced, in the process of getting a divorce, or remarried after having been divorced.
4. Young people spent a por More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2008

Mike rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2009

Paula rated it:

What I found to be really remarkable about this book is its ending, not because it's so action-packed (especially in comparison to the rest of the book) but because the reader's sense of foreboding builds so subtly throughout the book until one can figure out which character it will be to cause the inevitable catastrophe.

Actually, this entire book could be a study in subtlety, because the nuances in each character are so lightly illustrated as to catch the unsuspecting reader off-gua More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2007

marg rated it:

Where has this book been all my life?? Ok, Khay, I know you and Yitzchak have raved about it but somehow each time I tried it I couldn't get into it, and finally last week I gave it one last shot and was totally hooked. It reminds me of a higher quality Maeve Binchy in Russo's ablity to draw such colorful, consistant characters who get a rise out of you and all that small town flavor. This was EXACTLY what I needed when I was looking for something light but gripping (ie, NOT The Manny) - well More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2007

Brendan rated it:

Filled with equal parts heartache and belly laughs, the book’s home is the fictional ex-mill town of Empire Falls, Maine, and its centerpiece is a high school football game, which Russo’s hapless hero Miles Roby reluctantly attends with his friend Cindy Whiting. (Why reluctantly? It’s the proverbial long story, having to do with the fact that Miles, who runs the Empire Grill, is in the throes of a divorce—his wife Janine having fooled around with the health club guy and then confessed it to a se More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Zach rated it:

My book of the year, at first, this story promised to be a loving read about a father and daughter, but it ended up turning into much more than that. The novels depths, reaches into your heart and allows you to really appreciate relationships between people. The best and worst of people is brought out in this book, it allows you to understand how people react when put into difficult situations and circumstances. It is amazing the Russo can fit the great amount of story into such a short novel.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 29, 2011

Ian rated it:

As I put down EMPIRE FALLS after its last page, it suddenly dawned on me: "I have to read another book now, don't I." From the first page, I fell in love with the wonderful but flawed characters of Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize-winner, and leaving the town of Empire Falls, Maine hit me with the force of parting with a dear friend.

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2008

Nate rated it:

5 stars all the way until the ending. I get the point he is making (Miles needs a shattering event to knock him out of his rut of a life), but this was over the top and unnecessary. Anyway, the book as a whole is a great portrayl of the bottom half of middle America (New England), and how people in this slice of life have often given up on their big dreams but still find little avenues of wishful thinking to keep them shuffling from day to day. The characters don't necessarily become your fri More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 20, 2008

Bethany rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 31, 2008

Brad rated it:

Keep in mind that it's been a while since I read this, but...

This book read like Die Hard: The Morality Play.

Not one character had a believable motivation, so when a vignette had run its course, Russo had nothing left to do but to jump ahead in time a little bit and let the next vignette recount the dramatic change that occurred in the gap between.

Kinda like John McClaine looking past his bare feet at a hall filled with shattered glass... cut to the next scen More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2008

Al rated it:

Perhaps the best part of the book is the Prologue wherein the family fortunes of the Whitings are described as recurrent and hilariously tragic. The meek Miles, son of the outrageous Max, has lost his wife when the chapters proper begin--lost her to the local fitness center operator whose knowing his way around her clitorus together burst her grudging fidelity. A great saga of a dying industrial town in Maine, but its small town dynamics could be shared by any small town dying or otherwise chall More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2010

Moira added it

"A thoughtfully-written Pulitzer winner with excellent character development. Spanning several decades in a declining mining town, the novel artfully reveals cause and effect, often unexpectedly. The all-italics 'flashback' chapters are a little annoying, but only from a typography standpoint; the plot and style shine throughout. Two of my favorite passages:

He'd planned on applying to the Maine Police Academy, and it wouldn't look good on his application if he'd gone and killed some gir

More...

0 comments like

Jan 22, 2009

Stefanie rated it:

review originally published at http://www.epinions.com/review/Empire_Falls_by_Richard_Russo_and_narrated_by_Ron_McLarty/content_54617869956

I am having a hard time fleshing out a plot line since this definitely isn’t an action filled novel. You won’t find James Patterson’s Alex Cross chasing murderers. And just because it takes place in a fictional Maine town, it isn’t Stephen King’s Castle Rock with ageless monsters living in the sewers. Instead, I found real people living real lives More...

0 comments like

Nov 27, 2008

Monique rated it:

Small time life at its finest or so the book purports to be, and I guess I woudld have to agree. For what it is,this book never claimed to be anything more and it is simply a glimpse literally at a small town diner , the owner, his family and the community at large. It begins with history of the diner, the owners and progesses to the modern day where the current owner is in the midst of a divorce so his wife could marry the town's aging health proprietor and his teenage daughter is in angst as More...

0 comments like

Jan 11, 2012

Julia rated it:

I’m not sure what drew me in to Empire Falls but I kept thinking they made a movie out of it with Rene Russo. (Anyone who notices the author’s name will see why I thought this. They did make a movie, but Helen Hunt was the female star. )

Anyway, it’s a story of a fortyish man, Miles, who has basically been a doormat for his entire life. He lives in Empire Falls, which is a fictional town in Maine, hit hard by loss of industry. Empire Falls started off a bit slow (don’t they all?) but e More...

0 comments like

Nov 04, 2011

Debra rated it:

Russo is one of my new favorite authors. I really like his writing style and this book, a Pulitzer Prize winner, did not disappoint. It is long read but I like how he writes from the perspective of various characters. It is a story of a small town kid who works at a diner as a teenager. He is privileged enough to attend college but he has to come home when his mom is sick and he ends up staying in the slowly dying town and running the same diner. This book is very human and real with some intere More...

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