I think at this juncture, I truly require a serious hiatus from Russo for a while. I still have an affinity for his work.

Although the pagination in this particular one was rather irksome. My Kindle indicated it was 464 pages, yet it transpired that this didn't incorporate the epilogue which was another 20 or so pages.

The tone, style, and commentary are all of a high standard. However, I am commencing to become mired in the similarities.

All of these novels essentially occur in the same town (Mohawk again for this one, but it isn't significantly distinct from Empire Falls) in upstate NY.

All the men are well-intentioned drunks or deadbeats, and all the women are doing their utmost with what they have.

The difference here was, in part, with the narration. Instead of his more customary third person, Russo utilized first person for this novel.

This is slightly astonishing only in that the narrator's father, Sam, is arguably the main character.

The novel spans from when Ned is a child until the birth of his own son, but all the crucial elements of the book revolve around his relationship with his father Sam.

Given some recent discussions I've had regarding honesty (mostly prompted by my recent rereading of Rand's Atlas Shrugged), I was especially cognizant of Russo's comments.

"Even as a child, I never had much use for conventional honesty." And "Rigid slavishness to the truth had never been one of my particular vices, and it was during this period that my mother's and my relationship was entirely rewritten, grounded firmly in kind falsehoods. It would never change again. For the rest of our lives I would lie and she would believe me." And later, "In spite of ourselves we'd had an honest moment or two, and they'd managed to spoil our former innocence. Often I'd catch her looking at me strangely, with equal shares disappointment and sympathy."

As always, Russo has excellent quips on people, relationships, and intentions. Some of my favorites are as follows.

"She either liked unfinished sentences or couldn't think of how to finish them, and I resented her unwillingness to spell out consequences. It was impossible to weigh alternatives without them."

"I ritually confessed that which I was not guilty of in order to make up for not confessing what I was guilty of."

"That's the way he'll tell it, even if she dies, I remember thinking. It will always be his story about how he hadn't believed it could be true, about how nobody who knew my mother could have believed it."

"I began to develop a firm conviction that most efforts to teach people things were wasted. All they needed was to go off some place quiet and read."

"things always worked better when my mother got her way...if you thought you were going to enjoy something else even more, you were wrong because she'd see to it that you didn't."

"Most people who stole weren't taking what they believed to be others' property. They were taking what they themselves deserved, all the things they'd been cheated out of."

"Things are always normal here, no matter how abnormal."

"people changed, with or without wars, and that we sometimes don't know people as well as we think we do, that the worse errors in judgment often result from imagining we understand what has escaped us entirely."

Overall, it was typical Russo. Easy to read, comfortable, and quietly insightful. Nothing spectacular, but reliably decent.

What an absolutely beautifully written book!

The story is so exquisitely crafted that the reader is effortlessly drawn in, almost becoming an integral part of the narrative.

I truly felt a deep sense of empathy for the narrator, the protagonist of this tale. He is merely a shy and uncertain child, attempting to navigate through life all but alone. His father is absent, and his mother turns out to be rather crazy. Along his journey, Ned, the narrator, makes some rather significant mistakes. However, in the end, he manages to figure out life and his parents, despite their best efforts to the contrary.

It is a remarkable story of growth, self-discovery, and the power of perseverance. The author's ability to bring the characters and their experiences to life is truly commendable. This book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a well-written and engaging story that will touch their hearts and make them think.

At first, I regarded the book as merely amusing. Indeed, it has its fair share of quite funny moments that can make one chuckle.

However, as I delved deeper into the story, it gradually grew to be more than just a source of entertainment. By the end, I was truly affected by the characters. Their lives were messy, filled with complications and challenges.

Yet, beneath the surface, there was an unspoken, and sometimes even denied, affection for each other. It was this aspect that really tugged at my heartstrings.

I couldn't help but think that Russo might have intended an echo of "gene pool" with the title. Throughout the book, the subject of "inheritance" of character came up numerous times.

It made me wonder how much of our personalities and behaviors are truly passed down through our genes and how much is shaped by our experiences and the environment around us.

This book really made me reflect on these profound questions and left a lasting impression on me.