There are such works that are so much greater, better, and cooler than you that you seemingly have no right to write about them, for you are a trembling creature, and should say thank you for even being allowed into the yard. "Empire Falls" is precisely such a book - in it, seemingly nothing at all happens, but the finale yanks you out of the cozy cradle-baroque room where you dwelled in the descriptions and were spiritually healed.

It is a story about ordinary people who live in the neighboring (or even your own) apartment. They get divorced, quarrel, make up, make plans, go to a hated job, are afraid of cats, fall in love, fight, promise to start a new life on Monday, but then take the word back. The domestic details here are just the tip of the iceberg, and beneath the water lies an enormous ice sheet that plays the role of the proverbial closet with a skeleton. There are so many bones in the thickness of the ice that it would be enough for an army of the dead for any crazy necromancer.

I am in awe of Richard Russo's ability to present information and lead the reader to the moment of "aaaa, what's that!". While you are following the weathered facade of an American town, somewhere underground, the giant mechanisms from the movie "Jaws" are churning and imperceptibly moving the chess pieces - so that every gun fires at the right time, and every owl turns out to be not what it seems. If others throw plot twists in your face, like pies in silly comedies, then Richard tells you in advance that in two hours a new plot depth will open up, get ready. You smoothly approach the event in a state of a heart attack, because the anticipation of misfortune is worse than the misfortune itself.

And also, this is a hilariously funny book. And then not so much. And then funny again. And then you start to feel strange. And then you laugh again. Just like in the movies of Martin McDonagh.

I recommend that everyone read the introduction. If you get hooked (and you definitely will), then continue to the very end. The concentration of giggles and laughter will decline, but the sharp sardonic jokes will not leave you until the very last page.

Music: Julianna Barwick “Inspirit”

Empire Falls, Maine is a town whose glory days are long past. The once-thriving mill and factory that were the mainstays of employment have been shuttered for years. The only person with any real wealth in the area is the very rich Francine Whiting, who essentially owns and controls everything of value.

Miles Robey was on the verge of graduating from college and leaving Empire Falls forever when he returned home to care for his dying mother. He ended up working for Mrs. Whiting as the manager of the Empire Grill.

Two decades later, Miles is a middle-aged man who is still slinging burgers and is probably brought to tears every time he hears Pearl Jam's "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town." His selfish wife, Janine, is divorcing him to marry Walt Comeau, the owner of a health club who likes to stop by the diner every afternoon to rub it in. Miles' father, Max, is a town ne'er-do-well who is constantly trying to get money out of him and is impervious to guilt. Town cop Jimmy Minty starts approaching Miles under the guise of friendship but has a long-simmering grudge against him. Worst of all, Miles has to report the meager profits to Mrs. Whiting while she refuses to pay for any improvements to the increasingly shabby diner. The one bright spot in Miles' life is his teenage daughter, Tick, whom he loves dearly and has a close relationship with.

This is the first book I've read by Russo (although I've seen the movie version of "Nobody's Fool"), and I absolutely loved it. At least until the ending, but we'll get to that shortly. The portrayal of a small blue-collar town slowly going under was done incredibly well, from the opening description of how the Whitings have ruled Empire Falls for generations and how heir C.B. went from his dream of being a poet and artist in Mexico to running the family business and marrying Francine.

The characters are another big selling point. There are many more than I described in the brief summary above, and all of them seem rich and fully developed. It's a testament to Russo's skill that he was able to create a cast that includes some truly infuriating and unpleasant people and still make you understand them. There were times when I wished that Miles would push his father out of a moving car or throw a pan of hot grease in Walt's face, but there was also a certain obnoxious charm to them most of the time.

Miles is the heart of the book, and I was initially worried that I wouldn't like him much. I'm generally not a fan of passive characters who are so consumed by regrets and unearned guilt that they're essentially just pawns for others to use, and Miles fits this description perfectly. Raised Catholic by his selfless mother, he believes that wanting anything is almost a sin, and he's almost pathologically unable to stand up for himself. However, Miles' brother is constantly calling him out for taking the easy way out and urging him to at least try to change his circumstances. That awareness of his nature and the occasional flashes of backbone that Miles shows make him sympathetic despite being a bit of a doormat.

As for the ending, I loved that Mrs. Whiting had essentially turned Miles into an indentured servant because of the affair his mother had with her husband. Miles seemed incredibly slow to realize this, but it's often hardest to see a trap when you're already in it.

However, I was less satisfied with other aspects. John Voss shooting the people in the high school was a dramatic moment that was necessary for Miles to make a big gesture like leaving Empire Falls to protect Tick. While I wasn't entirely convinced by the idea of this character-driven story about small town secrets and regrets turning into a ripped-from-the-headlines tragedy, it did make sense in that regard. But I didn't like how everything seemed to be resolved a bit too conveniently after that. Mrs. Whiting drowns, Jimmy Minty is disgraced, Zach gets shipped off to Seattle, Janine leaves Walt, and David and Bea get the new restaurant up and running. It all just seemed a little too easy for Miles.

Despite these complaints, this was still an exceptionally well-written book that did a great job of establishing and exploring all the complex relationships in a dying town. It also has enough humor to keep things from getting too overly grim and depressing for the most part. It's easy to see why it won a Pulitzer.

It is a wonderful multi-layered work, with an amazing translation language (I read it in Russian, but towards the end, I took the original in the library and directly compared some fragments). Of course, time needs to be set aside for such literary masterpieces, but this is precisely the real literature that one wants to read and know more of the same.

I would call this a family saga if one can consider the residents of a small provincial town in decline as "one family". Everyone knows each other, and all the big and small secrets, the problems of individual households and the relationships between neighbors, colleagues, and acquaintances are well known. In the plot, social and economic problems that were relevant yesterday and today are intertwined: the strength of family ties, the succession of generations, conflicts between parents and children, the rich and the poor, dependence on public opinion, love and contempt for traditions, the weakness of the spirit and the strength of the heart. "The weak link", in my opinion, is the beginning of the book, the first 10%, when only the characters are being introduced, the origin of different storylines, and then suddenly the whole picture unfolds, intertwined from individual storylines.

I am pleasantly impressed and would like to watch the adaptation, the miniseries Empire Falls (2005, with a whole cast of actors - Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt, Paul Newman, Robin Wright, Aidan Quinn) when the opportunity arises.

This was a book that my brother held in high regard and recommended to me as recently as this summer. Naturally, it found its way onto my reading list. :o)

My brother passed away on October 9, 2007. Today (or rather, since it's past midnight, technically yesterday) is his birthday. So, it feels peculiarly appropriate that I've finally managed to post this review.

After finishing a book, I often find that I need to let my thoughts percolate in my brain for a while before I can truly dissect all my reactions. I'm not entirely sure why, but this particular book took me a bit longer than usual. I suspect it may be because the book didn't have one overarching point. Instead, it was a complex tapestry of numerous smaller points that all came together to paint a vivid portrait of everyday life in a specific time and place.

I had an immense liking for this book. I relished the pace and the mood it set. The author has an incredibly natural sense of tone that conveys a wealth of information about the characters and their situations in a mostly unobtrusive and seamless manner. I also deeply appreciated how he was able to write many of his characters in such a way that the reader could like them and sometimes even empathize with them, even when they weren't exactly being likeable. I found myself developing an affection for characters even when they were occasionally – or more than occasionally – annoying. It was kind of like with real people I know. :)

My first and most frequent response while reading the book was to hear Thoreau's line in my head: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Empire Falls is clearly a town full of people leading such lives. Although I think Thoreau meant it in the context of people being trapped by the daily grind or leading an unexamined, insufficiently spiritually nourishing life. Whereas I mean it more in the sense of someone becoming fossilized in ordinariness, having given up on their dreams or not daring to dream at all. Miles Roby, the central character of Empire Falls, gave up on his dreams as a young man and has become firmly rooted in Empire Falls. Although he doesn't go around despairing of his life or choices and does hold onto some hopes (however unrealistic) for the future, he has become settled into his small-town life and narrow existence. Several other characters are undone by disappointed dreams. Grace Roby, who once gets tantalizingly close to realizing a dream, only to have the rest of her life marred by its failure to materialize. Janine Roby, who leaves her husband in pursuit of a dream that ultimately disappoints her. Tick Roby, who is in serious danger of giving up on her dreams before she's even really had a chance to explore them.

Inertia plays a crucial role in this sense of quiet desperation in the novel. It is often intertwined with wishful thinking. Over and over again, we see characters stuck in a particular pattern of behavior, with seemingly no hope of breaking free. The characters who are the most tragic or pathetic (I'm not sure which, or if it's even possible to distinguish between the two) are those who are or become trapped by their own wishful thinking. Miles, once again, is the prime example of this, but you can also see it in Cindy Whiting, Janine, Charlie Whiting, and even Max Roby. And, inertia in this story is true to its nature – it takes an extraordinary event to disrupt it and set things in motion again.

Looking over what I've written, it all seems to be painting a rather gloomy picture of the book. But it's not all doom and gloom. It is, in fact, a very human story about human relationships. And as much as you see the flaws and foibles of human nature in the book, you also witness moments of ordinary human grace. On the one hand, the book is filled with all the secrets – both petty and not so petty – that permeate daily life, whether we keep them out of personal shame or because we're unsure whether telling or keeping a secret will cause more harm to others. On the other hand, the book is also replete with quiet acts of self-sacrifice that some of these secrets entail, whether in the keeping or the telling (for example, David Roby keeping a secret from his brother to protect him).

My one minor dissatisfaction with the book (not significant enough to call it a complaint) had to do with the final act. Although there needed to be a turning point event to jolt Miles Roby out of his inertia, I think the author might have gone a little too far. I didn't think it was terrible, but I do believe that was the one weak point in the story.

Two random, unconnected thoughts that I wanted to mention but couldn't find a suitable place to fit them neatly into my review:

Disconnected Thought 1: Francine Whiting reminds me more than anyone else of the Mary Carson character in The Thorn Birds, especially as portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck.

Disconnected Thought 2: There is a brilliant moment in Miles' final scene with Cindy Whiting when Cindy calls Miles out for pitying her and for automatically assuming that she had never had any other romantic possibilities. Up until that moment, Miles has only ever seen Cindy as a one-dimensional cut-out, taking for granted that she had no existence beyond him. And suddenly, in an instant, she is revealed as a fully three-dimensional human being. That moment is so unexpected for the reader that it almost takes your breath away, and the reader is left feeling supremely uncomfortable, just as Miles is at that moment, because the reader is exposed right along with Miles – as Cindy's accusation lays bare exactly what we've been thinking all along.

Finally, one quote that actually represents a much longer recurring motif:

“The passenger seat and floor of the Jetta were now paint-flecked, thanks to Max’s refusal to change into clean clothes when they quit for the day. He made no distinction between work clothes and other clothes, and since he had started helping Miles at St. Cat’s, the old man’s shirts and pants and shoes were all paint-smudged. When people pointed this out, he offered his customary “So what?” Few men, Miles reflected, lived so comfortably within the confines of a two-word personal philosophy.”

-- pg. 204 - 205

I’ve truly fallen head over heels in love with the characters in this one.

To me, in the realm of literature, the most arduous task is to develop a character. Character-driven novels are a risky endeavor. If not managed properly, they can fizzle out before even taking flight. Plot-driven novels are a more secure option, but then you’d be forfeiting the opportunity to truly engage and provoke your reader. I was particularly fond of Empire Falls due to how incredibly real Miles, Max, Mrs. Whiting, and the others felt to me.

This book encapsulates what it must have been like (albeit I’m merely imagining here) to reside in a small New England town grappling with a period of economic decline. It is indeed depressing, and yet it isn’t precisely that because of the characters. Somehow, Miles instills hope in the reader, and Max’s exasperating personality actually serves a purpose (apart from offering comic relief), which is to convey the message that you don’t necessarily have to approach life with such solemnity. I mean, you can if you so desire. But it’s not obligatory. And even Mrs. Whiting has a great deal to say. She may seem vicious and manipulative on the surface, but as the reader delves deeper and discovers more about her, he becomes increasingly able to empathize with her. She has endured more hardships than any other character in the novel and yet presents herself with stoicism. How quintessentially “New England” of her. And so, do we ever find out for certain whether there’s a heart of gold beneath all that armor? Nope! Because, in all honesty, not a whole lot occurs in this story in terms of the plot. But it almost doesn’t matter because it is this remarkable cast of characters in this book that, for me, made it an absolute delight to read.

Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Empire Falls, presents the finest aspects of what is often regarded as old-fashioned in the American novel.

Rich in characterization, it offers hard-earned insights and slow-burning drama that compete for prominence in the story of Miles Roby. He is a father, son, brother, ex-husband, and the manager of the Empire Grill, striving to succeed in a small Maine township that is on the verge of ruin.

The writing style is conversational, with the first hundred pages reading like a gossipy chat. This serves to introduce the major characters while also drawing the reader into deeper psychological territory. The relationships among neighbors, friends, enemies, and lovers are ancient, like mighty oaks with deep and complex root systems. These relationships have somehow managed to withstand the harshest of nature's offerings and the challenges brought by fate.

While many things are taken for granted among the residents of Empire Falls, secrets do remain buried, and memories itch to resurface. Additionally, there is a stellar B-story involving Tick, Miles' teenage daughter, which, quite frankly, outshines most of the Young Adult fiction I've read.

This novel is everything I seek when looking for the quintessential American tale. It contains no cheap tricks or easy solutions. Richard Russo has crafted a work of substance that, at every turn, refuses to insult the reader's intelligence.

Russo has truly emerged as one of my all-time favorite authors. I find myself wondering what on earth took me such a long time to come across him. In his novels, he has this remarkable ability to make every single word matter. Each word seems to be carefully chosen and placed, serving as a crucial element that propels the novel forward through its intricate plot. It's not the kind of reading where you can skim through. Instead, you want to read his novels slowly, savoring and paying close attention to every tiny detail.

He is simply fantastic. I have made up my mind to acquire all of his books and embark on a reading journey through them in the near future. If you haven't yet discovered the genius of Russo, I wholeheartedly suggest that you start reading his novels without delay. He is most definitely a stand-out writer, and I firmly believe that his works will stand the test of time and remain relevant and captivating for generations to come.

Where have I been?

I finished "Chances Are" by Richard Russo a couple of weeks ago due to a recommendation. Then the question was put to me - "Have you read 'Empire Falls'?" No, I replied. As it turned out, "Empire Falls" became one of those novels that accompanied me everywhere in case I had a few spare minutes to read.

"The Empire Grill was long and low-slung, with windows that extended the entire length. Since the building next door, a Recall drugstore, had been condemned and razed, it was now possible to sit at the lunch counter and look straight down Empire Avenue all the way to the old textile mill and its adjacent shirt factory. Both had been abandoned for the better part of two decades, yet their dark, imposing shapes at the foot of the avenue's gentle incline continued to attract the eye." After reading these few lines, I took a seat at the lunch counter and immersed myself in this wonderful novel. The story is set in Empire Falls, Maine, where the small mill town has been in decline over the years.

The characters are constantly evolving and are extremely "deep and complex." They have made both good and bad decisions and experience the consequences of their choices. Richard Russo allows his readers to get to know the innermost core of a person. What drives them to do what they did and why. The plot gradually unfolds. The novel is over 500 pages long, perfect for long, slow summer days or a winter snowstorm.

"Lives are rivers. We imagine we can direct their paths, though in the end there is only one destination, and we end up being true to ourselves only because we have no choice."

This book really reminds me of a cross between a John Irving novel and The Shipping News.

Just like in a John Irving novel, it is set in a small town where the lives of different people intersect. There is a certain darkness and whimsy to the story that keeps you engaged.

And similar to The Shipping News, it also takes place in a small town and explores the relationship between fathers and daughters. The plot has a symmetry to it, with symbolic events that add depth and meaning.

I have really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely read more by Richard Russo in the future.

The ending of the book was quite unexpected. It went from 0 to 100 in an instant, leaving me on the edge of my seat.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story set in a small town with complex characters and a well-crafted plot.

This was my very first encounter with Richard Russo's remarkable prose and his incredibly lifelike characters.

The book delves into the lives of Miles Roby and his family within the fading industrial town of Empire Falls, Maine. As the story unfolds over the course of a school year, specifically Miles' daughter Tick's senior year at Empire High, the town is vividly described throughout.

I was truly enamored with the way Russo crafts dialogues, both external and internal, along with his keen sense of humor and irony. Most of the time, it felt as if I was seated in the Empire Grill, listening to Walt performing his Perry Como impersonations while Horace defeated him in gin, Max attempted to pilfer money from the till, David flipped burgers with his one good hand, and Tick rang the bell above the door as she entered, burdened by her heavy backpack.

Russo's use of "beats" in the dialogues significantly enhanced the realism. Additionally, I found the two antagonists, Francine Whiting and Jimmy Minty, to be excellent foils to Miles. The book weaves beautiful parallels between the past and the present and is rich in analogies.

The central message revolves around taking responsibility for one's destiny rather than blaming circumstances for one's shortcomings. Both the Prologue and Epilogue serve as wonderful bookends to the main narrative.

I can clearly understand how he earned his Pulitzer in 2002 for this outstanding book. Subsequently, I have read Nobody's Fool and Everybody's Fool and adored and reviewed both here on GR.

2.5 Stars
"Empire Falls" by Richard Russo is a captivating story that delves into the intricate web of relationships and the nuances of life in the small town of Empire Falls, Maine.

The narrative is masterfully crafted, with the characters being developed in such a detailed and vivid manner. At times, it feels as if one is peering through the windows of the characters' homes, observing their daily lives unfold. The portrayal of the relationships between the characters is truly remarkable, and a wonderful sense of time and place pervades the novel.

However, despite these strengths, I still found the novel to be just \\n  OK \\n. As the story progresses and the details of small town life are meticulously laid out, it begins to feel somewhat拖沓. Around three-quarters of the way through the book, I found myself growing bored and even started page-counting. What initially promised to be an interesting and entertaining read gradually became tedious, and I simply looked forward to reaching the end.

In conclusion, while I highly赞赏 the writing and the character development in "Empire Falls," and I thoroughly enjoyed how Russo depicted the relationships in this small town, I felt that a bit more drama was needed to maintain my interest throughout the entire novel.

"O carte minunată!" This simple exclamation holds a world of meaning.

A wonderful book has the power to transport us to different realms, to introduce us to new characters and ideas, and to evoke a wide range of emotions.

It can be a source of entertainment, a means of escape from the daily grind, or a tool for self-discovery and learning.

Whether it's a thrilling adventure story, a heartwarming romance, or a thought-provoking work of non-fiction, a great book has the ability to leave a lasting impression on our lives.

It can inspire us, make us laugh, make us cry, and make us see the world in a new light.

So the next time you pick up a book and find yourself completely engrossed in its pages, remember to cherish that moment and give a silent "O carte minunată!" to the wonderful world of literature.