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Empire Falls

Richard Russo

Discussion: SOLVED: Adult Fiction

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SOLVED: Adult Fiction

SOLVED. Adult Paranormal Romance about a female Veterinarian who is actually half werewolf and didn't know.
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SOLVED. Adult Historical Fiction, Colonial America. Woman with a baby is a new immigrant to the New World, gets lost walking to her nearest neighbors in dense forest/ woods. Read around 2005. Spoiler.
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What Members Thought

Oct 19, 2009 Daniel rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009

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/s 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/...

So what are my quibbles? They're not many, really, but I felt that, at times, Russo laid too much out for his readers. There is, for example, a scene in which David Roby details for his brother Miles the personality traits each sibling got from their father and which he received from their mother. It felt like something Russo should have allowed us, his readers, to figure out for ourselves. I wanted Russo to have more trust in his audience. Also, the book seemed to wrap up a bit too neatly; the lives Russo depicted were certainly messy, and they seemed to demand a less tidy conclusion.

Still, the book, overall, is a staggering achievement. Russo has an amazing eye for the human condition -- how the way our parents raise us often determines our directions us for the rest of our lives, even if we think we're smart enough to see those risks and do our damnedest to choose our own paths anyhow. (The novel feels, at times, like a book-length meditation on the poem "This Be The Verse," by Philip Larkin: "They fuck you up, your mum and dad. / The may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had / And add some extra, just for you.")

On a personal note, it was interesting to read Richard Russo's book at the same time I read George Eliot's "Middlemarch." Both, by depicting the lives of tightly knit communities -- the births, deaths love affairs, marriages, educations, careers and dreams both failed and accomplished of the members of those communities -- get at the bigger truths of all our lives. Both Eliot and Russo have a gift for the sardonic, and make us develop an affection for characters who, objectively speaking, we should not like. There's no way we should want to spend time with Russo's Max Roby, yet Russo is such a talented writer that we not only suffer him but develop as much begrudging affection for him as his sons Miles and David have.

I've already written more about "Empire Falls" than I intended to. Jennifer nailed it, and you should read her review instead. Then read the book. ...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Marigold rated it liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, states-maine, pulitzer-prize, fiction-2000-2010, families

Three & a half for this Pulitzer Prize winner that focuses on people & events in a small, dying town in Maine. I liked the writing - nothing self conscious or fancy here - just GOOD writing & good story telling - love that! Russo is a genius at writing dialogue, as well as striking that delicate balance between comedy, drama & pathos. I liked the plot overall, though in some ways I felt like I've read or seen movies with this same basic story before. Small town guy once had big dreams which were ...more

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Aug 23, 2007 Maggie rated it liked it

Overall this was a pretty good read. It was a little long and drawn out and could have been condensed. It moved pretty slow. The end definitely threw me for a loop. I was expecting a completely different climax/ending. It sort of felt like it came out of nowhere. And I haven’t decided yet if I like that or not. I almost feel like I put a lot of time into this book and it didn’t turn out at all how I thought it would, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It is a very good description of small town ...more

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Mar 02, 2009 Tiffany rated it liked it

The plot was a little slow (it took 500 pages), but the character development was rich and wonderful. It gave me a great picture into the small town life that I haven't experienced myself. ...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Ruth Soz rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

It took about 200 pages before I started to feel engaged with any of the characters. But I still liked the setting and the various story lines. It actually reminded me a lot of Peyton Place.

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