A bittersweet story unfolds about the everyday life in a small town, or that's how it initially appears.

I must confess that at the very beginning of it, specifically the prologue, I found myself a little bored. In my view, it was rather dry and didn't immediately capture my attention.

However, as I delved deeper into the present-day scenario, Russo, the author, skillfully began to bring the storyline to a powerful culmination.

Slowly but surely, the characters and their relationships came to life, and I found myself completely engaged.

The events that unfolded were both relatable and引人入胜, and before I knew it, I was hooked until the very end.

This story serves as a reminder that sometimes, even the most ordinary of lives can hold extraordinary tales if only we take the time to look beneath the surface.

Lives are indeed like rivers, flowing towards an inevitable destination. We often believe we can direct their paths, but in the end, there may be only one way. Richard Russo's Empire Falls makes us question this. After reading it, I've been thinking about whether we truly have no choice in the course of our lives. Do we just think we have options when in fact our paths are set? Or is believing this just an excuse to blame circumstances that can be overcome?

The novel is set in a small Maine town that was once prosperous due to the logging and textile industries run by the Whiting family. Now, it's run-down, but many still hope for its revival. The Empire Grill is the focal point of the town's happenings. Here, we meet Miles Roby, the manager. What's interesting about small towns is that many people stay despite hardships. Miles managed to leave with his mother's help but had to return due to circumstances beyond his control.

Miles lives in a shabby apartment, is getting divorced, and has many responsibilities. Through him, we meet a diverse cast of characters, each complex and fully realized. The interactions and dialogue in the book are excellent, making it a captivating read. The novel is a character-driven story with a slowly revealed plot that has some unexpected twists. In the end, it makes us realize that we should take control of our lives and pursue our dreams, not let the current of life carry us away.

"Lives are rivers. We imagine we can direct their paths, though in the end there’s but one destination, and we end up being true to ourselves only because we have no choice. People speak of selfishness, but that’s another folly, because of course there’s no such thing."



I’ve been pondering this quote for some time now after having finished Richard Russo’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Empire Falls. Is it true that we have no choice in where our lives take us? Do we only perceive that we have choices and opportunities, whereas in fact our paths are predetermined? Or does believing such a precept just mean that one is placing blame on circumstances that can in fact be overcome? The message may be found within the pages of this extraordinary novel.


Empire Falls centers on the lives of those characters that live in this small town of Maine. During its glory days, the town flourished due to the logging and textile industries run by the all-powerful Whiting family. Nowadays, the town is run-down, yet many of its inhabitants remain hopeful that some day it will once again prosper. This is due largely to the fact that the mill and the factory remain intact, a vision of what used to be and what could be if someone would only grasp the opportunity. What does remain and stands as the focal point of the actual happenings in the town is the Empire Grill.


"The Empire Grill was long and low-slung, with windows that ran its entire length, and since the building next door, a Rexall drugstore, had been condemned and razed, it was now possible to sit at the lunch counter and see straight down Empire Avenue all the way to the old textile mill and its adjacent shirt factory. Both had been abandoned now for the better part of two decades, though their dark, looming shapes at the foot of the avenue’s gentle incline continued to draw the eye."


It is here that we meet Miles Roby, manager of the Empire Grill. What fascinates me about small towns is the fact that many of its people really never get away. Despite economic instability, there is a core of folks that seem to stick it out – perhaps they don’t perceive a means of escape or maybe they see the town for what it once was and that memory eclipses any sense of hardship. Miles Roby, with a major push and the support of his mother, did get out only to return once again due to circumstances that seemed out of his control. Now under the thumb of Francine Whiting, reigning heiress to the Whiting fortune, Miles seems to have reached a dead end, much like the town itself. He lives in a shabby apartment over the grill, is soon to be divorced, and has responsibilities to his teenage daughter, Tick, his deadbeat father, Max, and his recovering alcoholic brother, David. Through him we also meet a wealth of other complex individuals – some good, some not so good, and some downright cringe-worthy. And yet, under the masterful pen of Russo, each character is written in a way that completely absorbs your full attention. However mundane each person appears on the surface, he or she still manages to throb with life on each page. The interactions and dialogue in this book are superb – believable, gripping, sometimes sad, and often humorous.


The novel is at heart a character-driven story. There exists a plot that is very slowly and deliberately revealed – a couple of turns that I did not fully anticipate. Don’t expect quick action – you will be disappointed. And yet, I found myself nearly holding my breath towards the end of the book; I was that entangled with the lives of the characters. I was hopeful for the future of the town and its people. There was something in nearly each person that I could relate to and understand. What I came to realize in the end is that we should each grab hold of our dreams, take control of our circumstances, and in fact change the direction of that river. We may not end up exactly where we imagined, but neither do we need to flounder and succumb to its currents.


I think it would be safe to say that even though this is my first (I know right, where have I been?!) Richard Russo novel, he will be on my list of favorite authors! This book has those elements I adore in my books - memorable and extremely well-drawn characters, brilliant writing, and surprising plot twists. 5 stars


"After all, what was the whole wide world but a place for people to yearn for their hearts’ impossible desires, for those desires to become entrenched in defiance of logic, plausibility, and even the passage of time, as eternal as polished marble?"

Overall, the writing is quite good.

The characters are believable, and the dialogues seem natural and engaging.

However, there is one major drawback - the ending.

It fails to provide a sense of satisfaction or closure.

After following the story and becoming invested in the characters, the ending feels rushed and incomplete.

It leaves many loose ends and unanswered questions.

Despite the strong start and the well-developed characters, the unsatisfactory ending somewhat dampens the overall experience of reading the piece.

It makes one wish that the author had spent more time crafting a more fulfilling conclusion that would tie up all the loose ends and leave the reader with a sense of fulfillment.

Nonetheless, the good writing and believable characters do give hope that the author has the potential to create even better works in the future if they can improve on the endings.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel features a slow-paced narrative with the longest, dullest, and least significant dialogues about insignificant things, such as the clog in the dishwasher at a restaurant or Janine's weight loss and sex life after finding a partner who satisfies her, or why the daughter doesn't eat, pokes with a fork, and her parents pull pieces from her plate. It failed to resonate in my heart and left no vivid impression.

The characters have a distinct division into positive and negative. As is the case, the positive characters are idealized. Miles is an overly ideal father, extremely attentive to his daughter's affairs - (all this is unnatural, it doesn't happen like this). His daughter, Tick, with a flat chest, thin legs, and an appearance promising to be a model, in her idealness, is annoying. She supports John Voss, a boy whom everyone bullies and teases, refuses the most popular boy, Zak, in friendship, helps her father in his "Imperial Grill," wins art competitions, and, of course, is a beauty. The negative characters, of course, are not blatant villains, but the author doesn't miss the opportunity to emphasize their negativity, the unworthiness of the success of some, the glee at the wrong decisions of others, and the condemnation for the desire of others to borrow money.

The main characters belong to the middle class, the entrepreneurial environment in provincial America. Among the secondary characters, there are also the rich, who own everything in the town, and the truly needy. It is not clear what idea was behind the excursions twenty years ago about the nascent but undeveloped romance of Grace and Charles.

The abandoned child, John Voss, whom his parents often forgot hanging in a laundry bag in the closet as a baby, remains abandoned by society. He is treated and humiliated - he endures, and when his patience snaps and his long-suppressed feelings of humiliation spill over into a mass killing, society can't find anything better than to hide him in a psychiatric hospital. No lessons are learned, only immersion in post-traumatic stress disorder.

The author raises a whole range of problems - obviously, for this he received such a high award - from bullying to school shootings, from dementia to invalids, from corrupt policemen to the body of a grandmother dumped on a landfill - the entire spectrum of possible problems. It seems that this also affected the volume of the book and made it a real pile. In my opinion, it is better to develop one theme well than to tackle the whole bunch at once. So it remains unclear what idea or spectrum of ideas all this was written for. In general, I didn't like the novel.

In a time when one has to regain at least a minimal joy of life and the will to live further, there is no better reading material than a classic or a regular drama.

"Empire Falls" is a novel about declining and destroyed lives, about songs and loves that are doomed to failure in the heavens, about death and illness, about the manipulation of people's lives, about capitalism, etc. There are many themes here. It is an intense, multi-layered tragicomic story. It's a pity that such high-quality novels are rarely translated into Latvian. There is also a film adaptation with great actors, but it was made at a time when miniseries were not even planned to compete with feature films after the idea. Therefore, the film that came out seems rather comical and rushed, because the entire novel is compressed into approximately three hours. I think that at least twice as much time was needed to show all the nuances. Anyway, it is obligatory literature.

The book I just finished reading is extremely well written. The characters are so wonderful that I genuinely cared about them.

However, I must admit that I found the middle of the book dragged a little. It seemed to lose some of its momentum and became a bit slower-paced.

Also, the ending was tied up a little too neatly. Everything was resolved in a very tidy and almost perfect way, which took away a bit of the realism for me.

But despite these minor flaws, this is otherwise an exceptional read. The author truly knows how to create people and places that stay with you long after the ending.

I was completely immersed in the story and the world that the author had built. I'm really looking forward to reading more of his books in the future.

I'm sure that each one will be just as captivating and engaging as this one.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good story with well-developed characters and a unique setting.

It's definitely a book that you won't want to put down once you start reading.

Overall, I give this book a very high rating and can't wait to see what else this talented author has in store for us.

After a bit more than four chapters:

I still struggle with this. It deeply depresses me. There is humor, but it's not my cup of tea. It's sarcastic and mean, making you laugh at people's stupidity or crude behavior. I object; I prefer to laugh with people in joy, not at their weaknesses. There's a demented priest who wants to hear confessions to know what's going on and then tell others. I don't think that's nice. Sure, it might happen in the real world, but how often? There's Miles' alcoholic father who constantly throws out cruel, snide criticisms of his son and others. Miles' mother died of cancer, and her death was painful and horrible for all. I find this depressing. I'm not avoiding life's reality, but what's the point of immersing myself in the worst of human behavior?

Mid-life crises kind of bore me.

None of this is a spoiler as I haven't gone far into the book.

I haven't even mentioned the prologue, which was utterly disgusting. I don't find it appealing to read about a decomposing moose, even if it leads C.B. to make a foolish decision - BTW, I'm just guessing here. Let me point out that I never shy away from gruesome historical events, but what's the point of reading about how people are so cruel to each other? What does that teach me?

The writing is absolutely nothing special; the author's ability to depict an emotion, a place, or an event is just ordinary.

This won a Pulitzer. Would someone who loves this book please explain to me why I should keep reading? I just don't understand. SHOULD I continue? I need advice.

*****************************

After 14 chapters (about half of the book):

So I continued; several people said that Tick is a great character. She plays an increasingly larger role starting in Part Two. But she can't save this book for me. I don't like the humor. I find the characters one-dimensional - cardboard cutouts. It's easy to make two piles, the good ones and the bad ones. I can't accept such characterization. People are complex and can't be sorted like this. And the dialogues sound like those perfect for a popular weekly TV series. Perfect sitcom dialogues.

In desperation, I read spoiler reviews...... No, what's coming isn't to my liking either. Enough is enough. I won't read any more books by Richard Russo. This is my third and last attempt.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ron Mclarty. That was the only outstanding thing. Great narration. His intonation perfectly matched the lines. So if you want to read this book, don't hesitate to choose the audio format and this narrator.

I firmly believe that there is nothing quite as wonderful as a great long novel. However, I also firmly believe that there is nothing quite as despair-inducing and frustrating as an overly long, meandering, and overly descriptive one.

Unfortunately, "Empire Falls" falls into the second category. To me, it felt as if it was a whopping 2000 pages long. There were moments when I actually had the urge to hurl it against the wall. But then I had to keep reminding myself that I had to work for a few (far too long) hours just to afford my Kindle.

I started to suspect that I wasn't going to love this book by the time I had finished reading the prologue. In fact, the prologue was as long as some of the best novels I've read in recent times! Yes, that was when I first felt a hint of despair creeping in.

After that overly long prologue, I was (finally) introduced to what I thought was going to be the main character. And I was quite pleased to get to know the guy. He seemed like a nice chap to me. In fact, he was even quite relatable, to be fair (Well done, Mr Russo!). But unfortunately, my enjoyment didn't last long because soon I came across another overly long flashback/backstory that took me away from the main narrative. What is this obsession with flashbacks and background stories?!

Anyway, there are no real main characters here. This is one of those overpopulated stories where at some point you feel like you're reading a screenplay for a very predictable soap opera rather than a novel.

I craved more forward motion. I needed a main character and to understand his inner feelings and thoughts, not all of his background life story.

Bloody hell, how I longed for (more) darkness and despair, violence and pain.

However, what pleasantly surprised me about this book was the way Russo can handle dialogue perfectly. I never felt as engaged with this story as I was during those moments when the characters were having a conversation or an argument. For that, Mr Russo, I must congratulate you again.

I will definitely recommend this to lovers of Fredrik Bachman's "Beartown" trilogy. I can tell that Bachman is definitely a fan of Russo's style.

I know that by now all of this might sound like a very negative review, but it actually isn't. Consider it more like a frustrated review. I really did enjoy this novel at times. The writing was good, and the dialogue was great. Also, I never once thought that I wasn't going to finish it.

3.5 stars. 4 stars when compared to its Pulitzer Prize-winning predecessor.

The novel has such a wonderful preface that I squealed with joy because here it is, finally, the American David Lodge. (After that I stopped squealing; it will be less funny but no less cool.) Empire Falls was once a prosperous industrial town where almost everyone was owned by one family, and they had only one problem: all the men of the family at a certain moment desperately but vainly dreamed of killing their wives. And only Charlie Wating decides that it will be much easier to kill himself.

The main character of the novel is the forty-year-old Miles Roby, a kind and orderly manager of a small diner in Empire Falls, who fell together with Charlie Wating. In the quiet and, in general, dying backwater, everyone knows everything about everyone, and the most knowing is the old usurer, that is, the very wife who could not be killed. The old woman scares all those few residents who have not yet fled to work or to universities; the young pastor of the old church quietly mourns that the building will soon be given over to a hotel; the crafty drunk - Miles' father - is always trying to extort twenty bucks from his son and flee to Miami, where it's warm and there are girls; Miles' almost ex-wife has lost weight but has not become any happier; in the school with Miles' daughter, a strange boy studies who does not talk to anyone and draws ominous eggs - in general, it's only fun for the reader in Empire Falls.

Indeed, this novel is good for its soothing everydayness, and it seems that we all know quite a few such heroes - a little inert, a little fussy, decent people. And what's the use of hiding, if we ignore the fact that we have a little more diners than two, the action of the novel could easily be transferred to St. Petersburg. People here also do not know how to make money, but they are proud of their rich inner world (TM), they like to have soulful conversations, remember the past and (co) suffer.

Separately, I would like to note the finale of the book, where, just like Keanu Reeves recently came to us, the invisible Bruce Willis arrived and arranged a magical action. There are, in general, men in American villages.

4.5 Stars

This rating of 4.5 stars indicates an extremely high level of satisfaction. It suggests that the product or service being evaluated has exceeded expectations in many aspects. With such a rating, it is likely that customers have been highly impressed by the quality, performance, and overall experience. The 4.5 stars could be a result of excellent customer service, attention to detail, and a commitment to providing value. It sets a high standard for competitors and gives potential customers confidence in choosing this particular offering. Whether it's a restaurant, a hotel, a product, or a service, a 4.5-star rating is a significant achievement that should be celebrated and promoted. It shows that the provider has truly gone above and beyond to meet the needs and desires of their customers.

School is coming to a close this week.

This year has been an extremely challenging one, with the kids having to learn at home online. I'm really looking forward to not having to wake the kids up for school every day, remind them to log into class, and be on call all the time in case someone needs help with their homework. Although this year was cut short for me, summer vacation also means not having to work in my role at school a few mornings a week.

Summer for me usually means baseball games and a trip to the beach. I'm really hoping that at least one of these things still happens this year. Even without my usual markers of summer for nearly three glorious months, I'm excited about not having to be on a schedule. And for me, that means almost unlimited time to read.

Long, unstructured days make me gravitate towards long, family sagas. These types of books really draw me in and I can usually finish them in just a few days. With summer vacation so close, I decided to start my reading early with a book from my Pulitzer winners' stack. My goodreads friends have been telling me about the writing of Richard Russo for a long time. I felt it was finally time for me to read his work for myself.

Empire Falls, Maine is a perfect example of small town America. I'm always drawn to books about the unique personalities that make up small towns. But Empire Falls is not the typical, charming small community that I usually read about. The town was once a thriving mill community, but as the factories closed, it has fallen on hard times. Under the rule of the Whiting family, the town repeated the same cycle year after year. But things are changing, and the future of Empire Falls is uncertain.

At the center of the story is Miles Roby, a forty-year-old man who has lived in Empire Falls his whole life. He works as the manager of the Empire Grill, a restaurant that is as rundown as the town itself. Miles' mother always wanted him to leave Empire Falls and go to college, but he came back to take care of his family and never left. Now, as he enters middle age, he starts to wonder if he made the right decision.

Another important character is Miles' daughter Tick. She's a smart and talented teenager who dreams of leaving Empire Falls and making something of herself. But with her parents'即将离婚 and the town's limited opportunities, she's not sure if her dreams will ever come true.

The characters in Empire Falls are complex and well-developed. Russo does a great job of showing the struggles and hopes of the people who live in this small town. Although none of the characters are particularly likable, they are all relatable in their own way.

Overall, Empire Falls is a great book that checks off all the boxes that the Pulitzer committee looks for in its winners. It's a story about life in a small town, generations repeating mistakes, wisdom coming with age, and a sliver of hope for the future. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good family saga or is interested in small town life.

5 star read

In this past year of reading, I've found myself breezing through books with ease. I quickly decide whether I enjoyed a book or not and then move on to the next one in the seemingly endless pile. Most books I can finish in about a week, and I approach my leisure time in a rather methodical way. It's relaxation time, but it also follows a fairly regular schedule. However, there are rare books that make me slow down and delay finishing a novel just to prolong the enjoyment of reading it.

"Empire Falls" is precisely that kind of book. It's the perfect book for winter. It progresses at a leisurely pace, is rich in character development, and has truly stunning writing.

"Empire Falls" comes as close as you can get to a perfect novel. But when you read the synopsis on the back of the novel, you might not expect it to be pitch-perfect. Miles Roby, a soon-to-be-divorced manager at the Empire Grill, is trying to raise his high school-age daughter (Tick) in rural Maine. He's under the thumb of Mrs. Whitting, a local woman who owns much of the town's real estate, businesses, and a significant portion of the populace. There is a plot, but the novel builds a story that revolves around the characters, and it's those characters that drive the book forward.

Oh, the characters are truly impressive. Miles is the one the reader spends the most time with, and the conflict between his desire for a better life and the desire to be a good man lies at the heart of the story. While I loved Miles, what's truly remarkable is that Russo brings an entire town to life in entirely believable detail. You'll remember Max Roby and share Miles' disdain for his father. But you'll also get to know Max and feel a familiar excitement for his appearances and the humorously twisted moral compass he uses. Each and every character, even those with the most minor of appearances, feels as if they could walk through your door as soon as you put the book down. My grandfather and I did a buddy read of this book, and we both remarked that we knew so many of the characters because they were so similar to the people from the rural lives we had lived.

The writing here is, as I've mentioned, breathtaking in its beauty and insight. Russo has packed a lot into this almost-500-page novel, and not a single word feels wasted. He effortlessly transitions from a scene at the grill to a brief accounting of a newly arrived character's life and back to the scene without ever making the story feel meandering. So much of the beauty of the book stems from Russo's ability to build an entire town piece by piece, with POVs from characters that vary in social standing and disposition, each serving to highlight another aspect of Empire Falls.

Russo also makes profound and poignant statements in the novel that result in some of the most personally genuine writing I've ever read. At first, I started jotting down passages I wanted to include in this review, but I gave up after 100 pages because there's just too much to try to include it all. I can't even begin to recall how many times I finished a chapter, set the book down, and took a moment to ponder what I'd just read.

As for the themes, "Empire Falls" deals with all the big issues you'd expect to see in Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction. Miles is constantly pulled between duty and desire throughout the entire novel, but his inertia often keeps him from taking any major action to effect change in his life. Russo explores the events in life that shape complex adults from the malleable clay of childhood. He examines morality from all different angles, with all of his characters caught in some sort of ethically gray dispute throughout the story. Not all the characters make the right decisions, but I would never fault Russo because the decisions are always supported by the characters' upbringing, personality, or recent changes in their lives. Life, death, what makes a good life, and the influence we have on others - it's a heavy set of themes that Russo handles in an admirable way.

To sum it all up, "Empire Falls" is simply one of the best novels I've ever read, and perhaps the best novel I read in 2016. I loved the characters, the setting, and the overlapping pursuits, desires, and interactions of the township, which make for a novel that never once bored me throughout the entire read. The book is long, I'll admit that, but it's more patient than slow, and embracing that patience led to one of the most rewarding reading experiences I've had all year. If you exercise the same patience, you too will be rewarded with an absolutely breathtaking novel.