The Straight Man : A novel

Rating:
Summary: One of the wittiest, zaniest books I've ever read
Review: Even if you've never tread the hallowed halls of any college or university, Richard Russo's Straight Man is a witty, zaney rollercoaster of a novel. But if you've ever been on the faculty or staff at an institute of higher learning, this is a novel that you just can't miss. You'll recognize your colleagues; you'll laugh until you choke because the situations in this novel are all too accurate. Frustrated with your Dean? Straight Man is your answer to catharsis!

Rating:
Summary: A now Russo fan...
Review: I read The Risk Pool and enjoyed it, but I really LOVE Straight Man. The characters are ones we can relate to and can find a counterpart in our own lives. It gives the academic life the perfect satirical pitch, you laugh at the characters' own sense of importance at this university that few care about outside its own realms, yet you also pity them for finding themselves stuck in this place they once thought would be a stepping stone for greatness but is now just familiar and a life of going through the motions, something Hank realizes and gives a great voice to. Hank's voice is funny yet wise and this book has some great lines: "Always understate necrophilia" "there are lots of boring professors. You can't make them all deans." This is a very funny book and I dare you not to laugh or to learn something.

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Summary: If you're a John Irving fan...
Review: ...you'll love Richard Russo's writing and "Straight Man" in particular. Russo and Irving both share the ability to find the absurd in the most mundane places. By setting the world as we know it on its ear, they create characters and situations that are once familiar and hysterically unreal. And yet their themes are serious, thought-provoking. In this, his fourth book, Russo takes on academia, marriage, middle-age, parent-child relationships, loyalty to ones co-workers, father-son conflicts -- all weighty issues -- and does so with brilliant insight and laugh-out-loud hilarity. And I mean hilarity. If, like me, you read in public places, be prepared to embarrass yourself by your constant chortling.

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Summary: A goose a day....
Review: William Henry Devereaux, Jr., is the reluctant; some would say undisciplined chairman of a small university's smaller English Department. Hank has taken to talking to his dog (Occam's Razor) about softball. Particularly how the move from his "Zen" position in left field to first base has left him spiritually damaged. Hank has an incongruous sense of humor, towards most people, including himself. Exhibiting a whimsical attitude in the face of out-and-out raving lunacy no longer shocks his wife but I promise you, it'll scandalize and amuse the reader. Read this book. You'll love it.

Rating:
Summary: It's No Goose Chase
Review: Laugh-out-loud funny, Russo's is the funniest academic novel I've ever read. Imagine an English prof with a urinary tract problem and a funny bone that won't quit. A clearly stand-up book!

Rating:
Summary: Seriously, this book is funny!
Review: For all those people interested in academia, this book is a soothing must. The plot is very creative, and the situations that Russo creates are extremely funny. Once you start the first few pages, you cannot stop until the last page. I rigoroysly recommend this book to anyone with an open-minded sense of humor (and an empathetic itch for academics...)

Rating:
Summary: A very funny, serious novel
Review: Like one of the other reviewers here on Amazon, I stumbled across this book on a bargain rack and picked it up on a whim. I am an english major and thought the premise for the book looked promising, although having read it I think the duck cover does the book an injustice because this is not a slapstick, absurdist novel like the cover might suggest. Russo has written a contemporary masterpiece, a brilliant, serious novel that includes occasional scenes so funny you will laugh out loud. He pokes fun at today's climate of political correctness (one the of the assistant professors has been nicknamed "Orshee" because he is always correcting the automatic use of the male pronoun) and similarly lampoons academia with terrific results. You need not be a professor to enjoy his writing, and Russo's dialogue is maybe the best being written today. I have recommended this book to many people since I discovered it, and also enjoyed The Risk Pool and Nobody's Fool by the author. I can't wait for his next book. Read Straight Man you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Dry Wit at its Best
Review: This novel kept me from studying for finals- I couldn't put it down! Russo's characters are so fully detailed that I found myself completely immersed in the plot of Straight Man. Hank has to be one of my favorite characters throughout all literature, his sense humor is stellar and keeps the reader turning the pages to see just exactly what he will say or do next. Utterly outrageous and unpredictable, this novel is one of my top ten favorite books.

Rating:
Summary: Many laughs throughout!
Review: It is w/o question the funniest tale of teaching I've ever read. The funds-challenged liberal arts department with its washed-up, burnt-out profs running only on ego and envy is perfectly drawn. It is a tale told by a wag of a wit acting as the interim head. While it does feel more like a man's than a woman's narrative (the way Kingsolver does w/ women), it is such a hoot that all can enjoy it. The goose on the cover cryptically says it all! Otherwise, the book probes many interpersonal snafus, puzzles, and conflicts within a family of intellectuals.

I've already sent it off to friends embarking on their myriad campus careers. Two have already informed me that they're busily taking notes....

Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone in academia
Review: I'm not sure those outside of academia will appreciate this book--those in academia (especially state universities) will love it. The nonsense that gets in the way of scholarship is skewered in this wickedly funny book. Russo has it just right....this book lead me to laugh outloud many times--I couldn't put it down! Wonderful!