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Daily Telegraph
Funny and tender
Book Description
'Funny and tender' Daily TelegraphAuthor of the Pulitzer Prize winning Empire Falls
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a typically wonderful Russo book, full of the love of comic human frailty and the understanding that some things "better left unsaid" are actually far better articulated and how! It is multi-layered and well worth a second and third read, a book forever.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In STRAIGHT MAN, Russo performs a balancing act of surface playfulness combined with searing truths about life's missed opportunities and moments of quiet despair. Behind the one-liners and the buffoonery of Henry Devereux Jr.'s comic mask, exists an enigmatic, compassionate, troubled soul, whose personality disorder has been triggered by a single incident he shares with his mother when he is a young teen. His humorous guise is something he has created so as to safely retreat from the seperation anxiety that is his constant companion. To his friends and colleagues he is "Hank," easy to dismiss or to to ridicule, or in two instances, to physically attack (OK, three, if you count the goose!). Russo does a very subtle and masterful job of slowly developing the interior Henry Devereux Jr., however, and by the novel's end, the reader has been granted the full revelation of character and the whole man stands naked (figuritavely speaking) before us.
STRAIGHT MAN is definitely my recommendation of 2003, thus far. The funny bits are truly hysterical. The dramatic bits ring true to life. This certainly not just another humorous novel about Academia. It's as well written and well rounded as any novel I've read in recent years. I look forward with great anticipation to reading EMPIRE FALLS.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is quite possibly the funniest novel I've ever read!
OK, it probably does help to be one of those unfortunates who has insider knowledge of the grim comedy that is the politics of academia. I cannot honestly say for sure, being a recipient of said knowledge. Anyway, Russo does a great job of decanting the ridiculous protocol of academic heirarchies, such that every character is, in some way, part of a never ending HR intrigue. Even if you're a fortunate innocent, this book is certain to have you howling with laughter. Truth is it's been years since any book actually made me laugh out loud. Straight Man had me falling out of my armchair.
But this is no simple joke a minute text. Chock full of self-aware pathos, Hank, the central character, is almost certainly one of the great anti-heroes of contemporary American literature. It is impossible not to warm to him and his response to the ridiculous world he inhabits.
For anyone who's read Russo's other books, it will come as no surprise to enter a literary world in which a precise economy has an extraordinary capacity to express so much depth. Russo is certainly one of America's greatest authors. But this particular book is treated as though somehow out of character, as though he's strayed into the wrong territory.
Such a shame to take this view. Because Straight Man really is a spectacular achievement.
OK, it probably does help to be one of those unfortunates who has insider knowledge of the grim comedy that is the politics of academia. I cannot honestly say for sure, being a recipient of said knowledge. Anyway, Russo does a great job of decanting the ridiculous protocol of academic heirarchies, such that every character is, in some way, part of a never ending HR intrigue. Even if you're a fortunate innocent, this book is certain to have you howling with laughter. Truth is it's been years since any book actually made me laugh out loud. Straight Man had me falling out of my armchair.
But this is no simple joke a minute text. Chock full of self-aware pathos, Hank, the central character, is almost certainly one of the great anti-heroes of contemporary American literature. It is impossible not to warm to him and his response to the ridiculous world he inhabits.
For anyone who's read Russo's other books, it will come as no surprise to enter a literary world in which a precise economy has an extraordinary capacity to express so much depth. Russo is certainly one of America's greatest authors. But this particular book is treated as though somehow out of character, as though he's strayed into the wrong territory.
Such a shame to take this view. Because Straight Man really is a spectacular achievement.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Russo's Poignant Tale
Richard Russo's 1997 novel Straight Man is his fourth novel and, as with much of his work, focuses around a small town American community, tracing the lives, loves and complex... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Keith M
Heartily recommend
Superb mixture of comedy and pathos and kicking myself I have not got into Richard Russo until my 35th year. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. M. Ogborn
The killing fields of academe
This has to be the best novel I have read in some time. It is funny, literary, intelligent and tender. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
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