Rating: 
Summary: A quick read
Review: For a book of almost 400 pages this is a surprisingly quick read. William Henry Devereaux is an English professor at what seems to be any college in the country. The novel follows his exploits of about one week or so but in this week he grapples with profundity at every turn. Fears of infidelity (both his and his wife's), losing his job, losing his friends even losing his dog, it's all here and it's all funny. At one point he crawls into the ceiling of his office to avoid being caught peeing his pants, who of us has not been in the same situation?
And it's always funny.
Rating: 
Summary: If you work in the academy, you must read this book!
Review: This book puts David Lodge to shame! Russo captures the essence of modern academic life and all of its absurdities --humorous from a distance. All of Russo's novels have amazing characterization, but you if you work in the academy, then you actually know these characters.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing book from an intelligent writer
Review: Russo knows how to write, but this book is mostly episodic, and lacks the complexity (in both characters and story), depth, and dramatic arc that make a really good, enduring novel. It's also not as funny as I'd expected it to be -- granted, some of the humor is very good, but at other times it's just stale. (A middle-aged man having trouble peeing has been done to death...) It also seems that he had either an incompetent editor or no editor at all -- tiny flaws and fissures appear throughout the book that any good editor should have caught (unnecessary repetition and overexplanations being the main ones), and that mar the writing. Finally, the use of present tense is not successful -- present tense works in a short story, but it's awfully difficult to sustain it and keep it interesting in a novel, and in this case the author doesn't pull it off. Too bad, because I do think Russo is a good writer. But I kept wanting to put this book down -- and, having read it, I'm now less than enthusiastic about reading _Empire Falls_. For really good academic satire, read David Lodge's _Small World_.
Rating:
Summary: A book that will make you smile.
Review: I am confused to see that some people found this book, 'dull' and 'boring' because I could not put it down. This is a book to escape too, and once you finish it, you will feel better than you did before you started it. This book will not dramatically change the course of history, but it may have an effect on your life, and will inevitably put a smile on your face.
To those reviewers who said that it inaccuratly depicted the life of a teacher, well, I would not know because I am not a teacher, and of the crazy things that happened in the book I can see why one would say that it is innacurate, but the book is after all, fiction. It is perhaps, just a huge exaggeration.
The book follows it's main character through about a week of events, where we get to see in depth the life of William Henery Deveraux, the book is true to a persons emotions, it is witty, sad and all-together life-affirmiing.
The Epilouge at the end leaves nothing to be desiered, Russo wraps it all up, and leaves us with another situation that the main character will have to go through. The book is about going through life solving problems, coming to other problems and solving them. This book has no climax, because there is no climax, just a series of problems that lead to others, and resemble the life of a regular person.
With words Russo can make you feel like you live in the small town that he describes, he can make you feel like you know the people that he illustrates, anyone of any age can relate to the main character and genually feel for the characters, this is the book that you go home running too and don't stop unil you finish.
Rating:
Summary: Get it?
Review: The novel is droll, dry, wry, witty. An endless stream of one-liners and punchlines that roll off the tongue of William Henry Devereaux, Jr., an English professor at a state college in central Pennsylvania. Having read Empire Falls, the protagonist in this novel is more proactive, decisive and optimistic. I enjoy the good natured wit of Russo and the way that he rounds off his story lines like a refreshing ellipse. His characters are fully drawn and unique individuals with eccentricities and nuances that distinguish them in their behavior and speech. My only criticism is one that Russo leveled against his own protagonist: sometimes, he is a bit too much of a "clever man." I liked the leitmotif of Occam's Razor throughout the novel. One of his best characters is, unfortunately, a woman we saw too little of in this novel -- Henry's wife, Lily. Though not as powerful or profound as Empire Falls, the consistent wit of Straight Man makes it well worth the price of admission. I recommend that you get Russo -- Straight Man is a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: This was a book I read only reluctantly, as it was touted as "funny" and I generally react unfavorably to contemporary comedy. HOWEVER, once in my hands, I couldn't put this book down. Fast paced and engrossing, Straight Man is deliciously cynical, while somehow also managing to be humane. I found myself chuckling aloud on the train as a read it, much to the consternation of my fellow passengers. I highly recommend adding this to anyone's "must read list".
Rating:
Summary: My FAVORITE book to recommend!
Review: I loved this book so much! I've just finished my "Richard Russo" summer (which went well into the Fall); started with Empire Falls, then Straight Man, and just finished Nobody's Fool. He's such an oustanding writer that I'm having trouble moving onto someone else. Straight Man was my favorite - as I was reading it, I kept thinking that it is simply a "perfect" book - funny, beautifully written, and so tight in its construction that it's almost scary. You will love it.
Rating:
Summary: Oh groves of academe!
Review: A great read. Having just finished Empire Falls by Richard Russo, I was interested in further work. This is different - it's lighter, more wry, and the lead character is the antithesis of the hero of Empire Falls who is passive/weak/wimpish depending on whom you ask in your Book Club! William Henry Devereaux has spent his life in his father's shadow, and decided he would mock everything, and act outrageously as his own way of setting himself apart. At the age of 50, he tries to act like he doesn't care. Interleaved with the description of a pivotal week in his life is the description of academic life in a very minor university, where the students are ill-served by their academic tutors. The author has great sport with the characters who are professors (settling old scores, Mr Russo?) and juxtaposes neatly their vanity and pettinesss, fulfilling that old adage that those in academic life fight hardest because the stakes are so low. He pokes fun at their mediocre success in making their lives fulfil their (assumed) early promise as academics. As with so many books about Boomers, the over-50 generation seems a pale imitation of its early promise and great expectations. Goodness knows what authors will be writing when Boomers are in their 60s and 70s. Read it and laugh, and if you have any irritating friends or relatives in academia who have lorded it over you for years with their supposed superior brain, buy it for a present and tell them "when I read this, I thought of you".
Rating:
Summary: A sitcom in book form.
Review: This book came to me at a time when I needed a bit of a laugh, and I admit, it did lift me out of the doldrums. It's quite a funny story overall. Several times while reading it I felt that it was like watching a good sitcom, the main character Hank Devereaux Jr. manages to get himself into some really crazy predicaments (my favorite being the time he was trapped in the ceiling overlooking the meeting where his fate is being decided upon). If these, and many other similar scenes don't make the reader laugh out loud, they will at least cause a smirk or smile.
But the book, the STORY, I did not find all that compelling. Not very deep! (Again, like a sitcom).
The gist: As chair of the English department in a university, Hank is hit with budget demands that call for a 20% reduction in staff. While his colleagues are suspicious of where his allegiances lie, Hank juggles his own personal problems, which include a blocked urethra; the possibility of his own marriage falling apart; the surety of his daughter's marital problems, and the problem of living in his father's shadow of greatness. But this Hank began to annoy me. He is the kind of person that never gives anyone a "straight" answer about anything... he keeps everyone else in his life waiting, and offending other people does not concern him whatsoever. If he could only appreciate the value of keeping friends onside! The redeeming grace of this book is the superb Epilogue. I found that I liked (and understood) the Hank of the Epilogue. Its worth getting to the Epilogue.
Straight Man is more like ice cream than meat and potatoes. A well-written jolt of calories that makes no promises about long-term nutrition.
Rating:
Summary: Russo's best to date
Review: I had read three other Russo novels, including Empire Falls, before this one. The review did not whet my interest, but his others are so good I decided to read Straight Man. His easy humor laced with so many mid-life truisms made it a delight, maybe even better than his award winning Empire Falls. I laughed outloud often, and even blotted a tear as I finished the epilog. He has a real gift ... I hope he will keep at it.
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