Book Review

Empire 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.

(no subject)

I had a pretty relaxing weekend, doing not much of anything. Except cooking - I made soup, and biscuits, and meatloaf, and brownies. I went to anacrucis' party, which included some delicious carrot cake, with surprisingly yummy fake cream cheese icing (the secret is to add bourbon). Plus, I got to finally meet qualario in person.

Last night my dreams got wonderfully cinematic. THe story sounds a little melodramatic, but in the dream it came off more like a folk tale or legend. I was a young woman in a place that was supposed to be India, but an older India, maybe the early nineteenth century. I think I was someone of European extraction who had been adopted by an Indian family, or something like that. The time to enter into my arranged marriage was approaching, but I barely knew the man. He had red hair and his only apparent qualification to be my husband seemed to be that he was also of European descent. And from the looks of things, he had no real interest in me as either a wife or a person. However, I had developed a romance with a young Indian man. We took to meeting in temples and having hushed conversations during meditation sessions, with the occasional furtive gesture of affection. Incidentally, the temples were incredibly cool - polished wood, statues, flowers, incense. A lot like the temple room at the MFA, but with plants and sunlight.
Of course, I was found out. For mysterious reasons, this led to exile as a kind of caretaker/servant at a remote shrine/sacred well sort of place. I was joined there by a strange woman who took it upon herself to aid me in my tasks and to also help me formulate a way of finding my lover and having a life of my own. I knew full well that she was an avatar of a goddess (I think she was supposed to be Durga), but didn't say anything, figuring she'd reveal herself when the time was right. I woke up before anything more could happen, unfortunately.