Empire Falls by Richard Russo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Empire Falls
Book Review: "Falls" flat
Summary: 3 Stars
I read and mostly enjoyed Russo's _Straight Man_ a few years back, but was disappointed with the ending, which didn't seem to bring an end to anything except pages to turn. I did expect _Empire Falls_ to have a real ending with some plot resolution because, perhaps foolishly, I thought the Pulitzer prize-givers would care about such things. Apparently not.I liked Miles Roby and his daughter, Tick (apparently a nickname for Christine, but how do you get to Tick from there? Never knowing the source of this nickname is minor unresolved issue, to be sure, but annoying nonetheless), but the remainder of the characters are cartoons and it is hard to get worked up over interactions between the Robys and any other inhabitants of the town. The dread Mrs. Whiting, equivalent of liege lord of Empire Falls, is a poor excuse for a villain, and her purported evil deeds are crippled by a convoluted pointlessness, even when her motivations are detailed. Reallyh, the worst thing she does to Miles is allow him to be exactly himself for years and years on end, which is no worse than his treatment by anyone else in the story.
The final pages of the book manage to bring up a few more questions that will not be answered while most decidedly leaving plenty of loose ends from earlier sections of the book. The "ripped from the headlines" ending is cringingly melodramatic, and I doubted that even the events described would have been enough to goad poor Miles from his midlife torpor... But by that time even father and daughter Roby had broken up into disorganized plot points instead of discrete characters, and I'd lost interest anyway.
Whenever I read a book that has won praise and prizes and I don't like it terribly much, I wish I could see some report of the deliberations leading up to the award. I'm certainly not alone in my opinion that there are plenty of better books out there. I really expected a lot more for a Pulitzer winner.
Book Review: "Just beyond the factory and mill..."
Summary: 5 Stars
A few weeks ago, while looking to take a break from all the history and biography that I usually read, I went online (to Amazon.com, of course!) in search of a novel. I wanted something relatively new and of high quality... something a little different; perhaps something containing a bit of humor and an examination of our human condition. It didn't take me long to find exactly what I was looking for: "Empire Falls," a novel by Richard Russo. Published in May 2001 and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. And, as luck would have it, a novel about Maine by a resident Maine author!!
Welcome to Empire Falls, a fictional small town in the fictional county of Dexter, in the real live state of Maine. Empire Falls is very typical of the small mill towns nestled alongside Maine's great rivers - the Kennebec, the Androscoggin, and the Penobscot. At river's edge, there's a shirt factory and a textile mill, both long closed and boarded up. Most of the small businesses along Empire Falls' main street are likewise abandoned; plywood has replaced plate glass in most of the storefront windows.
Meet the people who live in Empire Falls: Miles Roby, the book's protagonist... he's a really nice guy... early forties... soon to be divorced from Janine. He's the proprietor of the Empire Grill, a little "greasy spoon" that he runs on behalf of Mrs. C.B. Whiting, the owner. He hopes to inherit the eatery when Mrs. Whiting dies...
Janine, Miles' "almost ex-" is trying hard to dump Miles as fast as she can. Even before the divorce is final, she's taken up with Walt Comeau, the "Silver Fox," an obnoxious sixty-year old local "swinger" who owns the town's aerobics club. Since she and Walt have become an "item," Janine has dropped fifty or so pounds, rediscovered her libido, (something she thinks Miles has lost permanently), and is addicted to fitness.
Tick is Miles' and Janine's teenage daughter. Probably a borderline anorexic. Filled with teenage angst, but a source of comfort to many of her likewise angst-ridden high school friends. She lives with her mother, who she can't stand, and spends most of her free time working at the Empire Grill with Miles and her uncle David.
Max Roby is Miles' "sempty"-year old father - a real deadbeat, he thinks nothing of stealing money from Father Tom, the senile retired Catholic priest, or from his own son for that matter. Max, along with Walt Comeau, is one of the great thorns in Miles' side.
Overseeing this cast of characters is Mrs. C.B. Whiting, the last in the line of Whitings that settled in Empire Falls and built the textile Mill and shirt factory. Mrs. Whiting, nearing seventy years old, and as sharp as a tack, tries to rule her fiefdom with a "mailed fist inside a velvet glove..."
These and many other characters form part of the fabric of Empire Falls, a tiny dot on the central Maine landscape. peaceful, bucolic little community comprised of the noble, the venal, the humble, the vain, the rich, the poor, the beggar, and the thief. A community soon to be tested by a sudden, unexpected, senseless act of violence...
All of these people stumble and struggle their way toward the fulfillment of their hopes and dreams in this masterfully told story by novelist Richard Russo.
Two attributes of "Empire Falls" made this book a distinct pleasure to read, from beginning to end: first, Russo writes with tremendous wit. Many of the scenes in "Empire Falls" are very funny indeed, imbued with the same kind of tragi-comic satirical wit that graced the pages of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22."
The second endearing quality of this superb novel is Russo's accurate portrayal of small town life in Maine. Russo's descriptions of the town of Empire Falls - with its red brick mill buildings dominating the skyline; the old, dilapidated houses; the rusty cars meandering down Main Street; the rusty old iron bridge forming the town's lifeline with the outside world - form powerful mental images of many of the towns in which I've actually lived, worked, and played. Russo's characters bear a striking resemblance to many people with whom I've associated over the years.
"Empire Falls" is definitely not an "action" novel. You're not going to be bowled over by a riveting story line, or a well defined plot filled with thrilling escapades involving heroes and villains. No, this novel is instead a book that introduces the reader to a group of ordinary people with ordinary fears, anxieties, hopes, and aspirations. You get to follow them as they struggle through their ordinary lives.
MY VERDICT: "Empire Falls" is a wonderful novel... rich in detail, literate, alternately funny and tragic, and a powerful statement about small town life in America. I think it's destined to become one of the enduring novels of our generation. Read and enjoy!!
Book Review: "That's Not Supposed to Happen Here."
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in a small town of rural Maine, this story focuses on about a dozen of its citizens, young and old, most of whom work at or frequent its somewhat greasy spoon of a diner; and it is not an overstatement to say that the novel's appeal and strength derive from their attentive development by their creator. One needs only to read to a page midway before the key feeling hits, the feeling that you, too, are in the diner, and that you could easily contribute some dialogue of your own to the conversations, simply because you really are getting to know these people. Thus, this reviewer is in agreement with others who applaud the book's numerous characterizations. But I disagree with those reviewers who see the story's ending as rushed and indicative that Russo was unsure how to bring an end to his story. More, I suspect that a fine piece of craftsmanship was overlooked by these readers. Remaining outside the diner and community would make it appear that the ending is rushed and that the author is guilty of a terribly impatient act. But immerse oneself in the verisimilitude and the descriptive word becomes "surprising." And isn't that what the ending is to every character? Isn't that what similar events are to real people in real small towns? When Russo introduces the characters germane to the ending, its possiblity comes into play then and there. Moreover, the author switches tense from past to present in the chapters that empathasize these same people, as if to say that while there is lesson in the first, there is warning in the second. To miss this suggests a complacency of perusal.Book Review: "Empire" Falls Short
Summary: 2 Stars
I will rarely abandon a book but I came close a few times on this one. Having seen the title pop up in respectable places (although I was unaware of its Pulitzer at the time of my purchase) I was disappointed in this book. The characters were unremarkable. Plot lines I hoped would develop - expected even - didn't while others dragged on endlessly. And, frankly, I tired of Russo's over-reliance on forced, misplaced, syrupy analogies. I gave Empire Falls 2 stars since it kept my mind occupied on long flights. Unfortunately, when I bought it I was hoping for my mind to be stimulated.Book Review: "I was born in a small town..."
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, first with the criticisms:Yes, some developments are overdone and can be seen coming a mile away. And it's also true that the book is wordy and complex. Finally, the ending does disappoint just a bit.
Nonetheless, this book rocks! I read Russo's "Straight Man" a few years ago and enjoyed it, but it wasn't a book that stayed with me. "Empire Falls" will stay with me because the characters just ring so true.
I am another reviewer who grew up in a small town and left for college in the city. Unlike Miles, I never went back (except to visit briefly). I'm from Montana, but it seems a small town is a small town.
An author who can create so many fleshed-out, believable characters is something rare. I give this book my highest recommendation.
Oh, and I also loved "The Corrections," though many reviewers seem to view the two novels as an "either-or" proposition. Both are great books about people who feel real.