So this is my fourth (or perhaps fifth?) Russo novel, and unfortunately, I was not overly impressed. Yes, I'm aware that it's an award-winning work, but maybe my expectations were simply too high. I found neither the characters nor the setting to be nearly as believable as those in Empire Falls or Bridge of Sighs. The book was entertaining to a certain extent, which is why I gave it a 4-star rating, but it definitely fell short of my hopes.

My biggest gripe with this book is the excessive repetition. It's divided into three sections, and it feels as if Russo wrote each one independently, perhaps with the intention of publishing them as short stories or novellas. Each section repeats the basic facts of Sully's knee injury and his ineffective court appearances, his relationship with Peter and Vera, the incident where Ruth made him visit Big Jim in the nursing home, Miss Beryl's habit of recognizing everyone as a grown-up version of their 8th grade selves, and descriptions of the basic sets like the Horse, Sully's flat, Upper Main, and Hattie's, as well as the characters. Why, for example, do we have to be re-introduced to Wirf, Carl Roebuck, Otis, and Jocko at Hattie's funeral? Additionally, Russo repeatedly illustrates the individual men's fear of women, both their own and others. The final straw for me was the third time I had to read the phrase "wouldn't have said shit if he had a mouthful" to describe Wirf.

I also found the writing to be a bit heavy-handed. Besides the frequent repetition, Russo was very expository in his descriptions. When he sets up the town in the first part, he includes a lengthy history of the two-lane road that existed prior to the Interstate and details the roadside fights and accidents. This wouldn't have been so bad if so many of the characters themselves hadn't already been part of these accidents, like Clive Sr., Sully's brother Patrick, and Clive Jr. in the end.

My last complaint is that Sully goes around introducing Peter to everyone. I understand that Sully wasn't an involved father and that Vera kept him away from Peter for most of the time. But Bath is a small town. It's so small that people hear about the gunshots on Main St. before the cops even arrive. So how is it that no one has ever met Peter and he doesn't know his way around? He's not new to the town. He knows the town; he knows which house was his grandparent's; he knows the people at the diner.

However, there were a few great quotes in the book, as one would expect from Russo. For example, "Where was the middle ground between a sense of adventure and just plain sense? Now there was a human question." And "Somehow old people, once the revered repositories of the culture's history and values, had become dusty museums of arcane and worthless information." Another one is "Who but Carl Roebuck, the little twerp, wouldn't be satisfied with such a woman, Sully wondered as he limped up the driveway of the Roebuck house. Well, most men wouldn't be, he had to admit, because most men were never satisfied." There are also quotes like "These girls knew from experience that their clientele were enthusiastically committed to the buffet concept in direct proportion to their physical inability to negotiate it." And "Which fit in with one of his theories about life, that you missed what you didn't have far more than you appreciated what you did have. It was for this reason he'd always felt that owning things was overrated. All you were doing was alleviating the disappointment of not owning them." Finally, "For fairness and loyalty, however important to the head, were issues that could seldom be squared in the human heart, at the deepest depths of which lay the mystery of affection, of love, which you either felt or you didn't, pure as instinct, which seized you, not the other way around, making a mockery of words like'should' and 'ought'. The human heart, where compromise could not be struck, not ever. Where transgression exacted a terrible price. Where tangled black limbs fell. Where the boom got lowered."

Overall, the book is certainly worth the time. As always, Russo is funny and engaging, and he manages to convey a lot about complex human emotions with his ironic tone.

I’m truly fascinated by the concept of small town America. I’ve never had the opportunity to experience it firsthand, only reading about it in books or seeing it portrayed in films and television shows. The idea seems so distinct from any English town I can envision. In England, towns often seem too closely adjacent to their nearly identical neighbors, offering little more than a homogeneous collection of chain stores, Costa Coffee shops, and charity outlets.

Perhaps I’m being a bit too critical of small towns in my own country, or maybe I’m taking an overly romantic view of what small town America has to offer. Nevertheless, this book presented what felt like an ideal candidate to solidify my rose-tinted perspective. North Bath, N.Y., a former spa town, has been in decline for approximately 100 years, ever since the mineral springs began to dry up. It is inhabited by people who “look funny,” and at the bar and diner, everyone not only knows your name but also your business. Perfect!

The lead character, Donald “Sully” Sullivan, is an engaging wiseacre. He resides in an apartment he rents from his former teacher, is haunted by his drunken, violent father, and has not really accomplished much in life. That being said, he doesn’t seem to demand much from life either. At the age of 60, with a severely damaged knee that is likely to put a permanent end to his working life sooner rather than later, Sully stumbles (literally at times) through each day in the company of his occasional employer, his downtrodden friend and coworker, and others whose company I came to enjoy. Not much of great significance occurs.

It is a long, slow-paced book held together by some minor adventures and a great deal of verbal sparring that all the characters actively participate in, sometimes brilliantly. There is really not much more to it than that, but in saying this, I know I’m not doing the book justice. The relationships are astoundingly well observed, and in Sully, I believe Russo has created a memorable character that I can’t wait to reconnect with in the recently released sequel, Everybody’s Fool.

I listened to Nobody's Fool while driving a rented moving van across the country.

I regretted only that I was by myself and had no one else to share those precious moments with - to laugh with, cry with, commiserate with, or just plain hug when it ended.

I've read a few of Richard Russo's books and I truly don't understand why he doesn't have a statue on the National Mall. It must be only because he is still alive.

Of all his books, Nobody's Fool is, by far, my favorite. And Sully, the main character, is, to my mind, an American hero.

He's a beat-up aging contractor, and I can truly identify with him. He just can't bring himself to take shit from anybody. He's not violent (well, maybe a little), he's not vengeful (well, maybe a little), he's not mean (really), but he just has to do what he has to do.

The problem is, he screws up a lot. In fact, he screws up most of the time. But we keep pulling for him because, despite being an asshole, he is lovable as hell.

I keep trying to find another character in literature to compare him with but, to Russo's credit, Sully is a dead-on original.

He will be overlooked by academia and the literati because he is no Raskolnikov or Jean Valjean or Captain Ahab, but he is a true working class hero.

Russo's empathy for Sully and his razor-sharp and yet gentle wit bring Sully to life against the backdrop of a depressed, upper NY state town and the characters that only such an environment can produce.

Sully manages to ride roughshod over most of them, including, or more precisely, especially, his own dysfunctional family, and maintain their friendship at the same time.

The plot is secondary and there is no point in rehashing it here. If you enjoy the foibles of humanity and the depth of characters who have eternal hope in the face of one failure after another, the citizens of North Bath, NY will entertain you through the laughter and tears of their long, slow slog through their gray, endless winter days.

“Nobody’s Fool” (1993) by Richard Russo is the prequel to “Everybody’s Fool” (2016). Set in Bath, NY, a once-thriving mill town now facing decline with an aging population and high unemployment. Bath is a typical American village, filled with internal strife and lively debates over even the smallest matters. For example, the high school football team’s recent name change to the Sabertooth Tigers has sparked a passionate discussion in the letters to the editor about whether it should be Sabertooths or Saberteeth.

This book is a character and dialogue-driven masterpiece, rather than one focused on action and mystery. Russo’s writing is so engaging and humorous that it keeps the reader hooked from start to finish. He has a remarkable talent for delving deep into the psyches of his characters and creating witty and entertaining dialogue that makes you want to keep turning the pages. His attention to detail is evident in every word, as if he agonized over each one to ensure it was just right.

Donald Sullivan, or “Sully,” is a sixty-year-old man with a limp who seems to always choose the wrong path. Despite this, he is beloved in the town as he provides entertainment. He boards with his former high school teacher, Beryl Peoples, or “Miss Beryl,” who is eighty years old and has some rather unique conversations with the photo of her deceased husband, Clive, and his African antelope mask named “Driver Ed.”

Sully suffers from a bad knee and is on partial disability, hoping to get full disability. To make ends meet, he is considering going back to working under the table in construction. He has many acquaintances and perhaps a few true friends, including his dimwitted sidekick, Rub Squeer. Rub is not the sharpest tool in the shed but is completely devoted to Sully. Sully’s ex-wife, Vera, is a difficult woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and her new husband is a passive type who somehow manages to get along with her. They have a son, Peter, whom Sully has largely ignored for thirty-five years, much to Vera’s satisfaction.

Overall, the residents of Bath are a rather sorry bunch, with few prospects and often at odds with each other. However, beneath all the small-town drama and social tension, they truly have each other. They may be on a sinking ship, but they are determined to go down together. Russo’s ability to bring these characters to life and create such hilarious dialogue is truly remarkable. You can’t help but fall in love with Sully and his friends, despite their flaws and the chaos that surrounds them. This character-driven book is a real delight!

Five stars.

RATING SYSTEM:

5 = I would certainly read another work by this author

4 = I would probably read another work by this author

3 = I might read another work by this author

2 = I probably would NOT read another work by this author

1 = Never! Never! Never!