Books

Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter, Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it's Janine, Miles's soon-to-be-ex-wife, who's taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it's the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town -- and seems to believe that "everything" includes Miles himself. In Empire Falls Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.

Empire Falls came recommended to me by a professor of mine from a few semesters ago. From many talks about books after class, she suggested I look into this and Last Days of Summer.

The book briefly describes the lineage of the Whiting family -- the family with nearly sovereign status over the small town -- and the Roby family -- one of many families who serve the Whitings, though in a manner different from all the rest. A man (Miles Roby) with a teenage daughter hides from the conflict in his life. He avoids dealing with his wife who leaves him for a man who frequents the diner he manages and he avoids dealing with the oppressive woman who owns the diner.

The story was set in a small town in the state of Maine. I had expected the story would spend more time championing the little guy, though it opted to keep him down a little longer.

The writing was pretty good, though there were random interjections of harsh language and sexual situations which stuck out like sore thumbs. Those two things can easily be an acceptable addition to any story, though it has to fit. In a story about a man struggling to earn his living and keep his family together, an excerpt from an erotic novel that he found in a friend's school bag over 15 years earlier does not fit. I don't think so anyway.

The book, overall, was just ok. I did like the simple theme in every character's life that they were just doing what they needed to do to find happiness in their own world. Unfortunately, some of the rest of the book left me bored.

| Buy it from Amazon | Discuss it |