Cannonball Read 11

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Three’s Company

Chances Are... by Richard Russo

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Something I read about Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury has always stuck with me. Faulkner said the novel began with an image in his head that he couldn’t get rid of. I don’t know for sure if that’s what happened with Richard Russo and Chances Are…, but if it did, I have a pretty good idea what that image was. On December 1, 1969 the U.S. conducted a draft lottery for the faltering and unpopular Vietnam War. The draft went by birthdate, the earlier yours was drawn the more likely you would be called up to serve. In Russo’s […]

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8/14/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:26 |

Shoulder Shrug – The Destiny Thief: Essays on Writing, Writers, and Life

The Destiny Thief: Essays on Writing, Writers, and Life by Richard Russo

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Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors, so when I saw this on the “HOT PICKS” shelf at my library I was intrigued. It was fun to get some insight into his life, inspiration and musings, but I won’t be recommending this as much as I recommend his fiction. I enjoyed the stories on writing and life, in particular where he shared the graduation speech he gave to the graduating class of 2004 of Colby College. As that is also my graduation year that essay allowed me a look back to that time in my life, and his “rules […]

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12/12/2018 's CBR10 Review No:45 |

Not giving a shit, she decided, is like the defrost option on a car’s heater that miraculously unfogs the windshield, allowing you to see where you’re headed.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

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I started reading this book in 2003 or so when it first came out and it felt like a big huge book that became too much to take on at the time. I realize now that the story is much smaller, and part of that bigness probably comes from the kind of expansive and misleading opening section, and the fact that I was looking through a long view of my future life and not seeing a lot of familiarity with the first few chapters. I am not a divorced dad in a small town, but I am close to the […]

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11/8/2018 's CBR10 Review No:398 |

Airport fiction, a great read, and a new favorite.

Die Trying, What the Hell Did I Just Read, A Man Called Ove by Lee Child, David Wong, Fredrik Backman

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69. Die Trying by Lee Child (3 stars) I’m not entirely sure why I keep returning to these kinds of books. I don’t know what “kind” of book it is, other than “airport fiction”. You know the kind; the mass market vaguely defined fiction that goes down easy without leaving much of an aftertaste. Easily digested and forgettable, these books cover the literary landscape without leaving any kind of quantifiable mark. They exist to sell books, and they sell books because they exist. I don’t mean this to be acidic. I have nothing against Lee Child or Jack Reacher (or […]

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11/17/2017 's CBR9 Review No:72 |

Fools in the Northeast: Round 2

Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

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Richard Russo is a masterful storyteller. I always enjoy falling into one of his novels, filled with a rich cast of characters. He manages to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary, as he examines common people in small town Americana. This book is a sequel to “Nobody’s Fool” that I read back in 2011. I took a look at that review to see what I had to say about it, as a precursor to this novel. “Russo is one of my favorite authors because of his ability to weave incredible narratives with layered and believable characters. It almost feels […]

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3/1/2017 's CBR9 Review No:6 |

I Miss Paul Newman

Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

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I have a soft spot in my heart for Richard Russo and his ability to make hapless and problematic white men, often working-class white men, likeable protagonists.  These men make questionable choices, they have huge blind spots about themselves and others, and they exasperate the women in the their lives quite a bit.  Yet, they are enjoyable to spend time with, perhaps because at their core, there is decency. In Everybody’s Fool, the sequel of sorts to Nobody’s Fool, Russo returns to the small upstate New York town of North Bath, where most folks are down on their luck and […]

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2/5/2017 's CBR9 Review No:3 |

I lure you in with pictures of Paul Newman, then meander through conflicted feelings about straight white male protagonists.

Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo

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Let’s get one thing out of the way before we review this book. This novel was adapted into a perfect movie. A perfect movie staring the inimitable Paul Newman. No, not that Paul Newman. He’s a few years older. Nope, keep going. Pretty close. But less huggable. More irascible. A Paul Newman who’s been through the ringer a few times. A Paul Newman who’s going through a stupid streak, and knows it won’t end until he’s messed things up completely. A Paul Newman who, while charming and endearing in his own way, is pig-headed and generally regarded as an asshole […]

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1/16/2017 's CBR9 Review No:3 |

Empire Falls Lite

Mohawk by Richard Russo

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I read Richard Russo’s Empire Falls a few years ago and described it as a slow burn. I put it down several times, thinking I was bored with it, but after a few days, I found myself thinking about the characters and then devouring 150 pages at a time. Mohawk had the same effect on me, only reduced by about 50%. Set in Mohawk, NY, a dying northern industrial town, Mohawk is very much like Empire Falls in that it’s not really about anything other than the stories of the town’s residents. There are unhappy marriages, unhappy wives, unhappy factory […]

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5/14/2016 's CBR8 Review No:11 |


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