Book Review
May. 8th, 2006 05:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariEmpire Falls
by Richard Russo
I'd been meaning to read this book for quite some time, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. It's wonderful. The story centers around Miles Roby, his family, and the small, dying mill town in which they live. The first two thirds move slowly, being more concerned with character and setting than with plot. The last third of the book moves at breakneck speed as the frustrations and disappointments that Russo illuminates in the first part finally reach the breaking point. This structure works incredibly well and naturally. The thing I liked best about the book, though, was Russo's ability to write characters and setting. All the people in the book had the kind of complex and even contradictory personalities and lives that I see in the world around me. And Russo seems to have a boundless compassion for all of them, such that he was able to make me feel sympathy for the assholes and get exasperated with even the most likeable folks.
by Richard Russo
I'd been meaning to read this book for quite some time, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. It's wonderful. The story centers around Miles Roby, his family, and the small, dying mill town in which they live. The first two thirds move slowly, being more concerned with character and setting than with plot. The last third of the book moves at breakneck speed as the frustrations and disappointments that Russo illuminates in the first part finally reach the breaking point. This structure works incredibly well and naturally. The thing I liked best about the book, though, was Russo's ability to write characters and setting. All the people in the book had the kind of complex and even contradictory personalities and lives that I see in the world around me. And Russo seems to have a boundless compassion for all of them, such that he was able to make me feel sympathy for the assholes and get exasperated with even the most likeable folks.
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Date: 2006-05-15 04:48 am (UTC)Good to meet you at
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Date: 2006-05-15 12:12 pm (UTC)Good to meet you, too!