Reviews

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

cnorrick's review against another edition

4.0

Reminded me of "I know this much is true"

jenmat1197's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 

This is the story of Miles Roby.  He has been running the Empire Falls Grill for 20 years hoping that the owner will leave him the restaurant when she dies.  A town that his mom had hoped he would escape from after he went to college, Miles wonders why he stays.  He thinks it is due to his daughter, and maybe his wayward brother and his unreliable father - all whom he feels responsible for.  However - those closest to him tell him it is time for him to start thinking about himself and planning a future outside of this small town.

This was a great book.  It was part of the Rory Gilmore reading challenge, and I am glad I decided to read it.  It is beautifully written, and even though it is a book that is mostly about the mundane every day life of Miles, it didn't feel mundane at all.  This man - whose love for his family  - even for the people who have always let him down - is endless.  The characters make you feel how you should feel about them.  The author has the ability  to make you love the expanse of a whole community as well as get interested in their individual lives.  Very deserving of the Pulitzer Prize in my opinion. 

lauraborkpower's review against another edition

4.0

I didn't realize how much I liked this book until I'd gotten about 2/3 through it. I think about it every once in a while, and that's usually a good thing for me. It's a very quiet book, and a bit slow (which is why I think I was resisting it), but ultimately a really good story about "small town life" (not as trite as it sounds, really).

cpoole's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

mbpartlow's review against another edition

2.0

I've loved several of this author's other books, especially Straight Man and Nobody's Fool. But this one just fell flat for me. I had to force myself to keep reading it. It dragged and shuddered limpingly along until about the last 30 pages. The main character was missing something redeemable that made the other two books so engaging. With those two, I kept thinking "I shouldn't like this guy but I DO." With this one, I kept thinking "I hope he falls in a ditch and doesn't climb out."

alexadaggett's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

cjvphd's review against another edition

5.0

So similar to Nobody's Fool in style and characters, but I read that one first so it gets 5 stars while Empire Falls gets 4. Falls is by all accounts a heavier book, but the added gravity often subtracts rather than adds to the story. Still a fantastic novel, but I prefer Fool to Falls by a narrow margin.

bhnmt61's review against another edition

4.0

It’s remarkably rare to find a 500-page literary novel that you can’t put down, and Empire Falls is that rare novel. Once I got past the first 150 pages or so, I was so thoroughly engrossed in the lives of the citizens of this small town that I put aside everything I could for the past couple of days to find out how it would all turn out.

This is the first Russo novel I’ve read, but it’s clear he’s a master at creating characters. There’s Miles, who’s spent his entire adult life wondering if he’s in the right place; his soon-to-be ex-wife Janine, who is just really grateful to finally be having good sex; their daughter Tick, a sweet, prickly teenager; David, Miles’s brother who almost died after he spent the night suspended in a tree after a car accident; Mrs. Whiting, the wealthy woman who has strings to pull all over town. I could keep going. There are a lot of great characters, and I really wanted to know what was going to happen to them. But it seemed to me that somewhere about two-thirds (3/4?) of the way through, it started to drift, and not in a good way, like Russo just couldn’t figure out how it should end.

It’s still a terrifically good book, but … I’m not a novelist at all, let alone as good a one as Russo, I have no idea how it could have been fixed. I just know that the novel ended without the sigh of satisfaction I was expecting two hundred pages previously. It’s not that I need everything tied up and spelled out, it’s more like there was too much end-of-book wrap-up for some characters, and not enough for others, and one or two that just didn’t seem right. Definitely worth reading. I guess it’s “just” a home run instead of a grand slam.

jlsjourneys's review against another edition

2.0

After two weeks of slogging through this, I’m putting it down without finishing it, a mere 180 pages (a mere 1/3) through. It does a good job of telling the story of a defeated middle aged man in a blue collar American town 20 years ago, I guess. I am just not enjoying that story.
(Note: I attempted to read this in 2022, just edited my “read” dates so it doesn’t show up on any reading challenges.)

baxtervallens's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0