All of Richard Russo’s book have enough in common that I’m always looking forward to the next one. The downside is that I also already know what it’s about, more or less.
Russo writes so well that I sometimes feel guilty reading him. An author who knows how to tell a story like that can’t be serious, right? I haven’t yet come across any book by him I didn’t like, and I’ve re-read so of them. The one I’ve read three times now is The Risk Pool, which recounts his childhood in upstate New York, growing up with a partly absent, sometimes violent and always hard-drinking father. Nobody’s Fool and Everybody’s Fool are great novels too. Nobody’s Fool was turned into a movie starring Paul Newman that I’m re-watching every few years and that has just the right amount of sentimentality and snow for the holiday season.
Nehaveigur 