Empire Falls by Richard Russo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Empire Falls
Book Review: A Masterpiece of Character Creation and Development
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Empire Falls" is the kind of book that's just fun to curl up with and enjoy at a slow pace. A novel of "blue-collar life," "Empire Falls" follows everyman Miles Roby, a forty-two-year-old manager at the Empire Grill, the final restaurant holdout in the dying Maine mill town of Empire Falls. The enigmatic Mrs. Whiting owns everything in town, from the Grill to the defunct textile mills whose closing began the slow process of decay that led to the events in the book. Miles is joined by an enormous cast of characters, including his soon-to-be ex-wife, the fitness-obsessed Janine; their artistic but alienated child Tick; Max, Miles' Dionysian father; Jimmy Minty, Miles' friend from school and the main policeman in town; Zack, Minty's son, who isn't over being spurned by Tick in matters of love; and a whole host of other memorable characters.Russo breathes life into these people through lengthy historical flashbacks, usually in the midst of their day-to-day conversations, a technique that lends the book a leisurely pace and prevents what little action there is from taking precedence over the characters and their development. The "action," which is really just an extension of the character development anyway, mostly revolves around events that lead each character to become more complete people. Note: not necessarily BETTER people, but more COMPLETE people.
It's been said that an author can never create a convincing person, just a hollow shell. Russo bucks that wisdom in "Empire Falls," managing to create people so subtle and nuanced the reader would swear they are merely doppelgangers for the inhabitants of a real town - Somewhere, USA. For that talent, no doubt, Russo took home his Prize, and deservedly so. Engaging without being pretentious, and grounded without sinking into the muck, "Empire Falls" makes a fantastic read for anyone who enjoys a good, long character-driven book. Other authors, take note: this is how characters should be developed.
Final Grade: A
Book Review: A New Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book. It is a new classic that kids will be reading in school over the coming years. I loved the humor that so intricately interlaced itself with the mysterious, tragic plot. One of the best books I have ever read!Book Review: A Nice Read
Summary: 4 Stars
EMPIRE FALLS, the latest by the author of NOBODY'S FOOL (made into the movie with Paul Newman) and STRAIGHT MAN, is a good book about the fortunes of Miles Roby, the manager of the local diner (more or less, the greasy spoon of the place) and his family, friends, and acquaintances.
The book is similar in color and texture to Richard Russo's over novels with characters of blue collar origin and local pseudo-aristocracy. The plot is straightforward, the prose flows nicely and the characters are fairly believable, especially important at a time when so many authors choose to have protagonists with forced-uniqueness.
This is a good novel for the beach or the back porch on a cool summer evening.
Book Review: A Pleasure to Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll get right to it. I enjoyed Empire Falls from start to finish. I was not enthusiastic when I read the synopsis but since it won a Pulitzer, I thought I'd give it a try.
Richard Russo is a much beloved author and this is the first Russo novel that I have read. Many of the poor customer reviews for Empire Falls seem to be from Russo fans who simply thought it wasn't up to previous works like Straight Man and Nobody's Fool. Additionally, other critics thought the characters are cardboard cutouts. I've not read his other work and feel that the supporting characters are what make this novel so powerful.
The main character of the story is Miles Roby, a good man who's well liked because he has truly good heart. Miles has led a life letting others walk over him. He was a very good student with great potential who spent several years at college before coming back to Empire Falls to be with his sick mother. The plan was to temporarily run the Empire Grill, a modest diner, until his mother passed and then return to school. Twenty years have passed, his mother is long dead and he's still running the Empire Grill. Miles is a very complete, sympathetic, imperfect and at times frustrating character.
Miles really is the straight man in the story as he is surrounded by many vibrant and interesting characters. There's Janine, his ex-wife that's lost [...], hooked up with the local health club owner that everyone dislikes. She's done it mostly for good sex and doesn't care that her new man is an ass. There's Miles' father Max, a relatively harmless scoundrel who simply wants to scam enough money from people to keep himself in beer. He's always taking advantage of Miles and others. There are also a host of other intersting characters in this economically depressed place. It's the little stories, the slight quirks of character, the years of history between the people that make this such an interesting story. It's not just quaint rural stories that happen here as ,especially at the end, things come to a head and surprising events unfold.
From relatively mundane lives, there are great stories and Russo's skill at bringing this out is incredible.
A very powerful character in the story who deserves special mention is Mrs. Whiting, the matriarch of the family who owns most of the town. She's mythical in reputation and feared by all. She runs the town like a queen and has a special interest in keeping Miles under her thumb. She's almost like Sauron in Lord of the Rings in that she sees all and knows all in Empire Falls. In a few rare scenes when Miles speaks to her, it's like he's talking to an Oracle. She seems to know his thoughts and all events surrounding his life. She's a very powerful presence and is a core part of the story.
I simply loved this book and if it's not as good as Straight Man or Nobody's Fool then I can't wait to read them.
Book Review: A Powerful Story, Movingly Told
Summary: 5 Stars
I find myself wondering what I can add, considering there have already been more than 250 customer reviews for this book in its various editions. I'm a confirmed fan of Richard Russo's and had read all his books but this one, even including the newer collection of stories, 'The Whore's Child'; yet somehow this one had passed me by. It was only when I posted my review of the story collection that I realized I'd missed one - and a Pulitzer prize-winner at that! I wish to make only three points about this book, and about Russo; obviously there is little else I could add to the previous reviews:
1. Russo is a master plot constructor and this is very much in evidence here. All the pieces fall together and one realizes only afterwards that some odd little observations or passing comments turn out to be important to the plot. I like it when a writer can sow tiny seeds of plot that later come into full flower.
2. Russo is also a master at character description and development. I won't elaborate except to say that there are, by my quick count, at least ten characters in this book that are original, fully rounded and instantly recognizable as real and true to life. Even his minor characters - the reporter for the Empire Falls paper, for instance, or the principal of the high school - are not stereotypes. A major factor in this is Russo's great heart. He loves his characters, even the 'bad' ones.
3. Russo is a perceptive psychologist. The motivations and actions growing out of his characters' experiences and inner lives seem true, even inevitable, and I say this as a psychiatrist with almost forty years experience of listening to people's secrets.
This book will stay with you long after you've finished reading it.