He satisfies every expectation without lapsing into predictability, and the last section of the book explodes with surprises.

He is, in all the best senses of the word, a natural * Sunday Times * Richard Russo can write like Edith Wharton leavened with a touch of David Lodge * Economist * Russo's command of his story is unerring. Russo makes an enormous job of story-telling look effortless. In the Empire Grill he has created a place so involving that not only can you see and smell it, but you start to feel a bit left out of the gin rummy. Whats more, the 1994 screenplay created by Robert Benson for Russos novel 'Nobodys Fool' received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. In Empire Falls Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.I loved Richard Russo's Pulitzer-winning Empire Falls, a moving, brilliantly imagined and intensely satisfying novel about the slow death of a small town: Russo's characters are as loveable and as exasperating as family - Nick Hornby His natural grace as a storyteller is matched by his compassion for his characters - John Irving Like Anne Tyler, Russo is interested in how people rub along in kindness and responsibility in cutting slack without being asked. Empire Falls, which I just rewatched a second time, features one of his greatest performances. Or perhaps it's the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town-and seems to believe that everything includes Miles himself. Or maybe it's Janine, Miles' soon-to-be ex-wife, who's taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Dexter County, Maine, and specifically the town of Empire Falls, has seen better. 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. Richard Russo - from his first novel, Mohawk, to his most recent, Straight Man - has demonstrated a peerless affinity for the human tragicomedy, and with this stunning new novel he extends even further his claims on the small-town, blue-collar heart of the country. The Washington Post Welcome to Empire Falls, a blue-collar town full of abandoned mills whose citizens surround themselves with the comforts and feuds provided by lifelong friends and neighbors and who find humor and hope in the most unlikely places, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo. A stirring mix of poignancy, drama and comedy. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Russo writes with a warm, vibrant humanity.

Empire falls novel