Rating: 
Summary: Read this book
Review: This book is one of the best I've read in years and better than the only other Russo book I've read (Mohawk). The comparisons to Jane Smiley's "Moo" in some reviews are completely misguided. This book is SO much better. The main character is extremely well developed, it's highly enjoyable reading without being inane, and it's pretty nearly believable. I honestly laughed out loud many times. I think the comparisons to John Updike's "Rabbit" books are quite appropriate. Hank Deveraux and Harry Angstrom have a lot in common -- I'm not sure I want to know either one real well, but a good author can certainly make them interesting to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and perceptive
Review: This is a superbly constructed novel, with rich and varied characters enmeshed in multiple sub-plots. William Henry Devereau, Jr. will be remembered as one of the most brilliantly crafted characters in the academic satire genre.
Rating:
Summary: If you like John Irving, you'll love "Straight Man"
Review: I am a lazy reader - I want a book to be exceptionally written and entertaining at the same time. This book does that. My favorite book up to now was "The World According to Garp" - this book was as good as "Garp". Both Russo and Irving tip you off and let you see the chracters as deer stuck in the headlights of an oncoming train, yet you still get sucked into the characters. I haven't laghed this hard reading abook since "Garp", and I was sorry when I finished the book. I highly recommend it!!
Rating:
Summary: Keenly observed, droll version of academic life
Review: Russo's excellent characterization and thoroughly observed situational sense, combined with his beautiful form of subtle humor makes this a very enjoyable read. If you have any memories of the academic life, especially if those memories are mixed, you will love this book. It keeps your interest in the machinations of its main character - a crotchety college professor - from start to finish.
Rating:
Summary: This book is SO funny!
Review: I really liked this book. It was so funny right from the beginning--and you can get right into it. Other reviewers here say it is not as good as Russo's other books, but I think it is just a different style. While his three other books are very good, they are all similar to each other. This one is a little more wild. This book follows a theme similar to Moo, but I think it is much better. Straight Man is very funny, interesting, hard to put down, and a good read. Plus the ending is a little of a surprise!
Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt and Funny from Russo
Review: It is so rare to read a work of fiction that really makes me laugh, but doesn't quickly become silly. This novel by Russo is told in a voice that is richly entertaining and genuine. It's as if the narrator is sitting next to you, making you laugh, cry, and jump, all in one sitting. I hope to read more from Mr. Russo in the future. I truly enjoy his work and his style. I'm sure you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: Barry is a one minute egg;Russo is a complete dinner.
Review: You do not need to be an academic to enjoy the adventures of Hank Devereaux in Straight Man. You may need to be a man around fifty dealing with obsolescence and renewal. Devereaux's irreverence is over the line, however it's where all of us want to go- if we could just be that witty.This is not a chick book, but which of this guy's books are? From difficulty with urination, to turmoil with kids, co-workers and authority Straight Man should resonate with guys cresting the hill and realizing their breathing is labored. Humor and philosophy are what we need to deal with life's never ending speed bumps. Straight Man provides a lot of both. Buy this book so this guy will write again.
Rating: 
Summary: good, but not vintage Russo
Review: After looking forward to another masterpiece from Russo, this novel is a bit of a disappointment. The shaggy dog story which serves as prologue is wonderful, as is Hank's other newspaper op-ed piece which opens the second part, and the madcap chapter in which the English department meets. And there is a pleasing symmetry to the book's structure. But perhaps because of the claustrophobic fake-world-in-a-bottle feel of the setting, and the stereotyped nature of all characterization beyond that of the narrator (a common problem with first-person narratives), my impatience with the book grew as I read on, and my attention was increasingly concentrated on the quality of the prose: as another reviewer noted, surprisingly flat for Russo.
Rating:
Summary: Life IS this absurd and Richard Russo knows it!
Review: It is the private thoughts of William Henry Devereaux Jr., Russo's protagonist in "Straight Man," that make this book the thing of beauty that it is.Who among us has not shared similar angst when mentally sorting through our tangled relationships with our spouses, our friends, our children, our workmates and secret objects of desire? Whether Devereaux is lusting after his secretary or contemplating his academic future while precariously perched above ceiling tiles eavesdropping on colleagues, Russo makes us laugh at the preposterous notions that stream through his main character's head. The chuckles come freely and frequently only because oftentimes those same half-baked notions have surely applied to our own lives. In short, Devereaux is the most likeable dislikable guy we've seen in some time. It's a cliche, but this book ends too quickly. Another 100 pages of Straight Man would have been easily accommodated!
Rating:
Summary: A novel that works with the stuff of real life
Review: Don't let Richard Russo's charmingly disarming prose mask his many moments of profundity. Beneath the quick quips and witty asides of Hank and other minor characters lie astute observations on the oddities, ironies and beauties of this life. The comparisons to John Irving are well-founded. Like Irving, Russo develops characters made of the stuff of real life. Russo's characters are not literary types, but rather the friends, neighbors and family of readers everywhere. And like Irving, Russo elicits a powerful feeling of compassion and empathy for his characters. In the sense that this novel is about a middle-aged white male character struggling to make sense of the changing culture around him, a comparison to John Updike's Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom may also be in order. Like Rabbit, on the surface Hank's tacit dismissal of "political correctness" reeks of sexism. But also like Rabbit, a closer examination of Hank's relationship with other characters reveals not so much ignorant sexism as perhaps unadorned straightforwardness. Granted Hank is a more self-conscious and sophisticated character, but in this writer's opinion, in the end we as readers profit by the author's refusal to indulge in the common oversimplification of the question of a middle aged man trying to make sense of a modern world. Delightfully witty with a consistent, even pace and not a trace of self-righteousness, Straight Man is a great read.
|
